Plate M-13 · 199 stores · 151–199 of 199 · curated ORBIS register
Kurabo Mills produces denim within a wider Japanese textile business founded in 1888, with its range also extending to medical textiles. Le Mont St Michel takes the selection towards workwear through the cotton moleskin jackets associated with its French history since 1913. Alexandre Milan revived the workwear brand in 1998, retaining the jacket silhouette originally worn by farmers and artisans.
What makes great denim & workwear?
This plate lists 199 shops in 23 countries. Tokyo has the most with 18, followed by Los Angeles with 11. Among these shops, 4 describe made-to-order work, 5 offer repairs and 6 sell online, going by their own descriptions.
Ask about the fabric: ask for the fabric weight and whether it is raw or washed, since raw denim can shrink and fades with wear.
Ask about hemming: many shops hem jeans to length, so ask whether they do it and how long it takes.
Ask about repairs: ask whether the shop mends the jeans it sells.
Explore denim & workwear
Use the city plates when they appear below, or open any store for its official door and related ORBIS city and craft links.
French workwear brand founded 1913, offering traditional work jackets, ready-to-wear, and accessories with heritage craftsmanship.
Best for Workwear, traditional
Le Mont Saint Michel is a French fashion brand with roots extending back to 1913, when it established its signature work jacket—described as "Le vêtement de travail 'inusable'" (the indestructible work garment). The brand specializes in workwear and ready-to-wear clothing, positioned around the philosophy "Un vêtement pour chaque usage" (a garment for every purpose). The product range includes work jackets in various fabrics such as moleskine, denim, and wool, ready-to-wear for men and women (knitwear, outerwear, shirts, pants, dresses), and accessories including bags, home goods, and stationery. Le Mont Saint Michel offers curated collections focused on timeless pieces and denim heritage. The company operates an e-commerce platform and maintains physical boutiques throughout France, offering free relay point shipping within France and select European countries, reflecting its commitment to accessibility and customer service.
Founded in 1913 in Pontorson, near the abbey it's named for, by the Ariès family, Le Mont St Michel made cotton moleskin work jackets for Breton and Norman farmers and artisans; textile heir Alexandre Milan revived the heritage brand in 1998, keeping the original workwear silhouette.
Best for Workwear, Chore Coats
Le Mont St Michel was launched in 1913 in Pontorson, a small Normandy town a few miles from the Mont-Saint-Michel abbey after which the brand is named, by the Ariès family as a workwear workshop. Its signature product, the 1913 work jacket, was designed for the practical needs of Breton and Norman farmers and artisans, and its durability came from cotton moleskin — at the time a relatively new fabric prized for combining toughness with enough give for physical labor. The jacket built a following among local agricultural and artisan workers through the 1920s and 1930s. Like many heritage workwear labels, the brand's profile faded over the mid-twentieth century before being revived: in 1998, textile industry figure Alexandre Milan took over stewardship of Le Mont St Michel, updating cuts and fits for a contemporary market while preserving the jacket's functional design and moleskin construction. The brand today positions the 1913 jacket, still offered in various washes and colors including a made-to-order configurator, as its core heritage product, alongside broader ready-to-wear collections, and has been covered by menswear press including Mr Porter and Man of Many for its role in popularizing French workwear internationally.
German trouser and denim specialist founded 1973 in Wald/Rossbach near Regensburg by Max Gansbuhler; family-run, sells over 6 million pairs of men's and women's trousers annually.
Best for Precision-fit jeans
MAC Jeans was founded in 1973 in the small Upper Palatinate community of Wald/Rossbach, near Regensburg, Bavaria, by Max Gansbuhler. What started as a specialist trouser maker grew into one of Europe's leading denim and trouser manufacturers, now moving more than six million pairs of men's and women's trousers per year. The company remains headquartered at the same Rossbach site, with roughly 330 employees, and has stayed a family business focused narrowly on fit: its product range is built around dozens of cuts across jeans, chinos, dress trousers, shorts and capris. The brand has run collaborations, including with Brigitte magazine and rally driver Walter Rohrl.
Marlea, at Metropole Shopping in Monte-Carlo, sells women's dresses, jumpsuits, denim and swimwear made from sustainable natural fabrics such as cotton, viscose and silk, featuring embroidery and prints inspired particularly by India.
Best for Embroidered womenswear in natural fabrics
mocko store is a clothing brand trading as mocko est2018. Its collections cover outerwear, dresses, sweaters and denim, along with tops and accessories, in neutral tones including black, gray, cream and sage.
Best for In-house made outerwear, dresses and denim in neutral tones
Momotaro Jeans is the flagship denim brand of Kojima's Japan Blue Co., known for its deep-indigo Gold and Copper label fabrics dyed through repeated natural and synthetic indigo baths. The line ranges from standard five-pocket cuts to naturally dyed, hand-woven limited runs sewn in the Kojima workshops.
German denim maker founded in 1932 in Künzelsau by Luise Hermann as a workwear factory; in 1948 her son-in-law Albert Sefranek traded schnapps for six US-made jeans, took them apart to copy the pattern, and made Mustang one of Europe's first jeans producers.
Best for Germany's first jeans (1948), from the Künzelsau denim house
Mustang's history starts in 1932 in Künzelsau, in what is now Baden-Württemberg, where Luise Hermann founded a small clothing factory with six seamstresses producing workwear. The jump into denim came in 1948: Albert Sefranek, who had married into the Hermann family, traded six bottles of local schnapps for six pairs of original American jeans, then took the seams apart to use as pattern templates for the factory's own production — a workaround for building denim expertise in postwar Germany without direct access to American manufacturing know-how. That improvised reverse-engineering made the company one of the first denim producers in Europe. Mustang also developed what it describes as the first jeans made for women in Europe, marketed at the time as 'girls camping pants,' a notable move given how far outside conventional women's fashion denim then sat. The Mustang brand name itself, evoking American car and cowboy imagery, was adopted in 1958, a decade after the company's first jeans left the Künzelsau factory.
Not a Cliché sells its own-design, limited-series womenswear and menswear, including tops, hoodies, blouses and denim, with some pieces made in organic cotton. The Bulgarian label also runs collaborations, such as Not a Cliché x World Up, alongside its regular collections.
Direct from the source — Okayama-based, exclusive collaborations, and the online shop that connects the denim mills directly to international consumers. Known for hard-to-find Japanese exclusives.
Best for Okayama direct, exclusive collaborations, Japanese exclusives.
Family-run label founded 2009 by Joe Oldfield, reproducing 1920s-40s British menswear and womenswear patterns using British cloth made in the UK, including Fair Isle knitwear from a family workshop in Shetland.
Best for Vintage Style, Workwear
Oldfield Outfitters was founded in 2009 by Joe Oldfield, who built the label around his family's textile history rather than a general nostalgia for vintage style. His grandfather worked his entire career for Courtaulds Textiles, starting as a tea boy at 18, with his service interrupted only by World War II, during which he commanded a fleet of minesweepers. That family connection to British textile manufacturing shaped Oldfield's approach: rather than sourcing vintage-look clothing from wherever was cheapest, the label set out to recreate specific 1920s-40s British patterns using cloth woven in Britain and garments made in the UK. The first piece the fledgling company produced was a knitted sweater hand-made over three weeks by an elderly woman named Dorothy Massingham, which became the pattern the young factory then worked from. Oldfield's Fair Isle sweaters are made by a family-run business in Shetland, tying the brand's supply chain to the same small-scale regional manufacturers associated with the original garments it reproduces, rather than a mass contract factory. The label covers both men's and women's vintage-pattern clothing, positioned around authenticity of construction and cloth rather than costume-style vintage reproduction.
The secret denim demon — reclusive weaver of "secret denim," the most irregular, natural-looking cloth in Japan — no site of its own; sold via specialist stockists such as Denimio.
The Onomichi Denim Project sells jeans and workwear washed and worn in by local craftspeople as part of its worn-in Onomichi story, alongside RESOLUTE denim, tees, socks and accessories. Its official online store ships these pieces and lists ongoing pop-ups at Japanese department stores.
Women's denim boutique carrying jeans and casual apparel from brands such as KanCan and Flying Monkey. The locally owned shop focuses on fit-driven denim and everyday wear.
Outland Denim was founded in 2011 by James Bartle with a mission to provide employment and training to women who have survived or are at risk of human trafficking and modern slavery.
Best for Ethical Australian denim made by survivors of human trafficking
Outland Denim was founded in 2011 by James Bartle with a mission to provide employment and training to women who have survived or are at risk of human trafficking and modern slavery. Based in Byron Bay, Australia, the brand operates a factory in Cambodia where it trains and employs female survivors, offering living wages, comprehensive education programs and career progression pathways. Each team member earns compensation sufficient to afford rent, healthcare, nutrition and children's education, with additional training in budgeting, health, computing skills, human trafficking awareness, English and self-defense. The company produces organic, sustainable denim using ethical practices throughout its supply chain and received B Corporation certification in 2018. Outland Denim publishes regular sustainability and social impact reports demonstrating commitment to transparency and accountability in every stage of production, positioning the brand as a humanitarian approach to contemporary denim manufacturing.
LA denim since 2004 — Paige Adams-Geller's fit-obsessed premium jeans now expanded to lifestyle wear.
Best for Soft polos, modern; Soft denim
Paige is a Los Angeles denim brand founded in 2004 by Paige Adams-Geller, Michael Geller, and Michael Henschel. Paige Adams-Geller, a top fit model early in her career, brought deep expertise in achieving perfect fit to the brand's foundation. The company is headquartered in Culver City, Los Angeles, and now employs approximately 300 people across Los Angeles and London. PAIGE launched its original all-female line in 2004 before adding menswear in 2006. Over the years, PAIGE has expanded from focusing on denim to becoming a comprehensive Los Angeles lifestyle brand, now offering leather, outerwear, silks, knits, footwear, swimwear, accessories, and many additional categories. Paige Adams-Geller sits at the helm of PAIGE as the only female founder in the denim industry, continuing to challenge convention and infuse her colorful spirit and chic sensibility into every collection she designs. The brand guarantees the So Cal casual look with fit-obsessed craftsmanship.
German workwear label founded in 1919 by Adolf Ahlers in Jever; expanded into denim as Pioneer Authentic Jeans in 1970, now made and distributed by the Ahlers Group in Herford, Germany.
Best for Men’s jeans and trousers
Pioneer traces back to a cloth-trading company Adolf Ahlers founded in Jever, Germany, in 1919, which relocated to Oldenburg in 1925 and then to Herford in 1932, opening its first production facility in 1936. The company began making workwear under the Pionier name starting in 1942, formalized as Pionier Workwear from 1971. In 1970 Ahlers extended the label into denim with Pioneer Authentic Jeans, drawing on the workwear line's rugged construction and cut. A higher-priced Pionier Jeans & Casuals line followed in 1977. All three lines are still produced and distributed today by the Ahlers Group, a Herford-based clothing company that also holds the Pierre Cardin and Otto Kern licenses in Germany.
Aspen's original clothing store, open downtown since 1969, this independent boutique built its name on denim. It carries contemporary apparel alongside the jeans.
Handmade denim workshop founded in 2008 by married co-founders Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough in Raleigh, North Carolina, initially sewing jeans in their apartment before opening The Curatory flagship store in 2010 and a NoLIta, New York store in 2012.
Best for Cone Mills denim, hand finished
Raleigh Denim Workshop was founded in 2008 by Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough. They began by hand-sewing jeans out of their apartment before an order from Barneys pushed the business further. In 2010 they opened The Curatory, their North Carolina flagship, and in 2012 they debuted a full collection at New York Fashion Week alongside opening a second store in NoLIta, New York.
Red Ants Pants designs curve-friendly workwear for women, sized 0-24, from its hometown storefront in White Sulphur Springs, Montana. The brand ships nationwide via its online shop and hosts an annual music festival supporting its workforce foundation.
Best for Women’s work pants and curve-friendly workwear, sizes 0–24
The 875, 1907, Iron Ranger — not Japanese, but the boot that every Japanese denim wearer pairs with their jeans. The unofficial official boot of the raw denim community worldwide.
Best for 875, 1907, Iron Ranger, unofficial official boot, pairs with denim.
Japanese vintage-wash label founded around 2007-2008 by designer Yutaka Goto, whose name blends 'remix' and 'relief.' Known for 'SP processing,' a technique replicating 1930s-60s sulfur-dye fading, applied to sweats, fleece and denim to mimic decades-old wear.
Best for Processed vintage, special wash
Remi Relief is a Japanese apparel brand founded by designer Yutaka Goto around 2007-2008; its name combines 'remix' and 'relief,' reflecting a philosophy of stripping garments to essential, timeless forms. The brand draws visual inspiration from Californian skate and surf culture and 1960s-70s retro style. Its best-known technical signature is 'SP processing,' a proprietary treatment reproducing the fading behavior of direct and sulfur dyes used from the 1930s through the late 1960s; the SP Processed Fleece line has been part of the range since the brand's founding. Beyond fleece, the technique is applied across sweatshirts, T-shirts and denim.
Founded in 1994 in Vila Nova de Famalicão by siblings António, Beatriz and Filipe Vila Nova, growing out of their family's textile-dyeing business; the denim brand opened its first store at Porto's NorteShopping in 1998 before expanding to more than 40 countries.
Best for Denim, fit-focused
Salsa's origins trace to Grupo IVN, a Portuguese company that entered the textile business in 1987 doing laundry and dyeing work for other manufacturers, then added its own garment manufacturing in 1990. The Salsa brand itself was born in 1994, started in a garage in Vila Nova de Famalicão by siblings António, Beatriz and Filipe Vila Nova, building on the family's existing textile know-how to launch a denim label of its own. The brand's first standalone store opened in 1998 at the NorteShopping mall in Porto, followed in 1999 by stores in Lisbon, at the Vasco da Gama mall, and in Braga. From that base in northern Portugal, Salsa grew steadily into an international denim brand best known for fit-focused, shaping and push-up jean constructions, expanding its retail footprint across Europe over the following decades. Today the brand is present in more than 40 countries, with continued store openings across European markets reported by its home municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão, where the company remains headquartered and manufactures under the Grupo IVN umbrella.
Shinya Mills has worked in textiles since 1951 and still weaves denim on the shuttle looms that American manufacturers replaced after the Second World War. In the early 1980s an American brand came to the factory to revive its original selvedge jeans. From the 1990s the mill has worked closely with young Japanese brands reproducing vintage denim. Its stated aim is denim that goes beyond the original.
Best for Slub yarns, nep effects, irregular weaves, texture.
Shinya Mills has worked in Japan's textile industry since 1951. Its own account focuses on the survival of shuttle-loom denim production after American manufacturers replaced that machinery following World War II. A limited number of those looms remained active in factories in Japan, preserving a slower method associated with original denim. In the early 1980s, an American brand approached Shinya Mills to revive its selvedge jeans. During the 1990s, the mill began working closely with younger labels in Japan that reproduced vintage denim. Those episodes explain the company's place in the broader denim story without reducing it to nostalgia. The mill's stated aim is to produce fabric that moves beyond the original, using inherited machinery as a working tool rather than a museum exhibit. For a buyer, the key distinction is process. Shuttle looms and selvedge construction, plus collaboration with reproduction labels, create a specific manufacturing context. Shinya Mills represents the industrial side of denim in Japan: fabric development and loom knowledge before a finished pair of jeans carries another label.
The pre-1960s technology — the shuttle carries the weft yarn across the warp, creates the self-edge (selvedge), and produces denim with character that projectile looms cannot replicate. Most Japanese.
Best for Pre-1960s technology, self-edge creation, Toyoda looms, character.
SoCal's heritage outpost — curated Japanese and American brands, the Long Beach location, and the California retailer with impeccable taste in raw denim.
Best for SoCal heritage, curated Japanese American, impeccable taste.
Sugar Cane reproduces American workwear and denim while experimenting with sugar-cane fibre blends. The wider range includes military pieces and Hawaiian shirts, so each sub-line has its own historical reference.
Best for Vintage Workwear, Denim; Sugar cane fibre, vintage shirts
The Strike Gold is Klaxon’s Japanese denim brand, created in Kojima in 2007 by Yūji Hamamoto. Its jeans use original denim recipes and construction developed around long-term fading and texture, including current heavyweight selvedge models.
Best for SG2103, ultra-slubby, 17oz proprietary, pure indigo, Toyo.
Hezy Shaked and Tilly Levine opened 'World of Jeans and Tops' in Los Alamitos, California in 1982, later renamed Tilly's after Levine; the Irvine-headquartered chain went public in 2012 (NYSE: TLYS) and now runs roughly 247 stores across 33 states.
Best for West Coast surf skate retail
Tilly's began in 1982 as 'World of Jeans and Tops,' opened in Los Alamitos, California by Hezy Shaked, a former Israeli Navy officer, and his then-wife Tilly Levine. Shaked later renamed the store Tilly's after Levine; the couple divorced in 1989, though Levine continued working for the company as director of vendor relations. From a single Southern California store, the chain grew under Shaked's leadership into a nationwide surf, skate, motocross and youth-lifestyle apparel retailer. Tilly's went public in May 2012, raising $124 million in its IPO and trading on the NYSE under the ticker TLYS. The company is headquartered in Irvine, California, and as of recent reporting operates roughly 247 stores across 33 U.S. states.
Los Angeles-based denim label founded in 2011 by siblings Adam, Ania and Mark Taubenfligel; relaunched in 2017 around organic and recycled cotton and, developed with Italian mill Candiani, natural-rubber stretch denim that replaces standard plastic-based elastane.
Best for Responsibly-made, eco-manufactured jeans
Triarchy was founded in 2011 in Los Angeles by siblings Adam, Ania and Mark Taubenfligel, Canadian-born designers who set out to build a denim label from scratch. Early success gave way to reflection: by 2016 the founders had grown troubled by how resource-intensive conventional denim production is — one pair of cotton jeans can take roughly 2,900 gallons of water to manufacture — and Triarchy paused operations to rethink its approach. It relaunched in July 2017 built around organic and recycled cotton, Refibra lyocell, and reduced-water processing. The label's most distinctive innovation followed: working with the Italian denim mill Candiani, Triarchy developed COREVA, a stretch-denim technology that replaces the poly-based plastic elastane used in most stretch jeans with a biodegradable natural-rubber yarn, aimed at cutting the microplastic shedding associated with synthetic stretch fabrics. Adam Taubenfligel, who leads the company as CEO, has continued to position the brand around sustainable manufacturing rather than volume growth, working directly with mills on fiber and dye choices instead of outsourcing sustainability claims to certifications alone. Triarchy sells direct-to-consumer and through stockists including Holt Renfrew, and has been covered by Forbes and trade press including Sourcing Journal and WWD for its stretch-denim work. Company materials and press describe it consistently as Canadian-founded and Los Angeles-based.
Nottingham workwear label founded in 2008 by David Keyte and Stephanie Porritt from a kitchen table, drawing on Keyte's Midlands working-class background and prior experience at Paul Smith and Maharishi; British and Japanese-sourced fabrics cut into utilitarian menswear.
Best for Workwear polos, British; British workwear, thoughtful; Workwear Jacket
Universal Works was founded in Nottingham in 2008 by David Keyte and Stephanie Porritt, launching its first collection in 2009 while Keyte worked from his own kitchen table. Keyte had previously worked at Paul Smith and Maharishi, and drew the brand's founding inspiration from the utilitarian workwear that surrounded his upbringing in a working-class 1970s Midlands town. The label's identity centres on functional, workwear-influenced menswear made using a mix of British fabrics and mills, alongside sourcing that has included manufacturing in Portugal and England. Universal Works has since grown into an internationally stocked independent brand, retaining Keyte as co-founder and designer, while continuing to operate out of Nottingham.
The craft jeans maker — hand-finished details, custom hardware, small batch, and the Okayama brand that bridges artisan production with contemporary design.
Best for Hand-finished, custom hardware, small batch, contemporary.
Wabi-sabi offers one way to read denim’s irregular weave, indigo variation, wear and repair as accumulated character rather than manufacturing perfection.
Best for Beauty of imperfection, irregular weaves, repairs enhancement.
Workman sells durable workwear and technical outdoor clothing at value-focused prices across Japan. Functional fabrics, pockets and weather protection attract both tradespeople and shoppers using the pieces as everyday streetwear.
Great Yarmouth workwear maker, incorporated 1898 as Johnson and Sons before forming Yarmouth Stores Ltd. Once supplied Scottish herring-fishing crews with oilskin smocks and aprons; today a family firm with about 20 machinists making natural-fibre smocks.
Best for Smocks & work jackets
The firm's recorded history begins on 1 February 1898, when Johnson and Sons became a limited company in Great Yarmouth. Three days later, four of its partners joined other local businessmen to found Yarmouth Stores Ltd, set up to trade as outfitters, clothiers, hosiers and sellers of waterproof clothing, oils and drapery. The company relabeled its waterproof lines under the Yarmouth Stores name and built an export trade in oilskins, knitwear and workwear that reached markets abroad.
Before the Second World War the firm employed more than 1,200 people, most of them machinists in Great Yarmouth factories sewing overalls, uniforms, smocks and other workwear. During the herring-fishing industry's peak, the company was a major supplier to Scottish fishing crews and the women who processed the catch, providing oilskin skirts, aprons and boots suited to gutting and packing work on the quaysides. When the herring industry declined between the 1930s and 1950s, the firm lost a core part of its market and some retail branches closed.
The 1960s brought a new customer base after gas was discovered off the Norfolk coast: the company began supplying vessels and crews working the gas fields with chandlery, equipment and protective clothing, a service line that continues today. The business remains family-owned, still making its smocks and oilskins in Great Yarmouth with a factory of around 20 machinists working in natural fibres to original historic patterns.
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