in Between Blues

in Between Blues is an indigo dye studio based in Tokushima Prefecture, founded in 2016 by Leki Nagahara, who grew up in the town of Kaiyo and competed as a four-time national collegiate surfing champion while at Josai International University. After working in Tokyo, the United States and Australia, Nagahara returned to Tokushima in 2010 to join the textile company Tortoise, where he ran its Kaifu Ai indigo project before starting his own studio, Ocean View Indigo Studio, six years later.

The studio dyes with organic sukumo — fermented indigo-leaf compost — produced in Kamiita, the Tokushima town regarded as the prefecture's leading indigo-production center. Its fermentation follows the traditional lye method: wood and shellfish ash, wheat bran and sake are combined with sukumo to sustain the microbial fermentation that produces the dye, rather than relying on a synthetic reducing agent.

Nagahara has framed the studio's outlook as "Think Global, Act Local," pairing Tokushima's indigo heritage with his own background in surf culture. The studio runs dyeing workshops alongside its product line and has taken on collaborations spanning fashion, media, wellness and the arts, while remaining a small, single-founder operation rather than a mass producer, with sales run through its own online store.