About Scrap Weaving

Weaving the Teared Cloth …「SAKIORI」

Sakaori is a plainly woven fabric made from tearing old cloth. The cloth is teared into a thin tape-like shape and used as weft for this particular weaving style.
This is a very old weaving style, commonly seen in work clothes worn by farmers and fishers in Northeast Japan or areas close to Sea of Japan, which is quite colder then the rest.

Why was it seen so much in colder areas? Around the middle of Edo Period, cotton farming has prospered and clothes made from cotton became a standard for peasants and commoners.

In the colder areas, where growing cotton was impossible, the only source of clothes and cotton fabrics were those that were brought by trading ships like the “Kitamaebune”

So those clothes were rare and they couldn’t afford to waste it, which they tried very hard to wear it as long as possible.

The very last resort for those old and beaten clothes were to tear them apart and weave them again to make something new out of it.

This kind of recycling ideas are seen in many parts of the world.

For example, we see “Transmatta” from Sweden and “Poppana” from Finland.

Recycling precious resources is the common theme we see in Sakiori, Transmatta and Poppana. We can confirm that “Sakiori” is truly an earth friendly fabric.