Junya Watanabe has had a long-standing relationship with denim, and his love for it seems to be growing stronger than ever.
His sophisticated Spring 2025 men’s collection, one of the highlights of Paris Fashion Week, was made up of blue, black and white denim but often unexpected pieces, particularly the tuxedo jackets, which were painstakingly patchworked and shown on the red carpet runway.
WWD decided to take a closer look at how the collection was brought to life, as it illustrates how extensive research and development around a single fabric can result in an original, impactful show.
In an interview conducted over email, the Japanese designer told WWD that the concept required more time than usual to source fabric.
Junya Watanabe
Photo courtesy of Ebisu Yasutomo/Courtesy of Watanabe Junya
“First, we re-investigated denim production factories in Okayama Prefecture, and spent most of the collection production period making fabric with the cooperation of fabric manufacturers and denim processing factories,” he said, emphasizing, “Okayama, Japan’s denim production center, is home to many high-quality denim fabric manufacturers.”
Ultimately, Watanabe and his team narrowed down the denim fabrics to 50 different types. Then the real work began.
“Because the appearance of denim fabric changes depending on the dyeing method and thread count, we first tested all the fabrics and selected the ones we needed from a huge number of samples,” the designer explained.
Indeed, Watanabe relished the self-imposed challenge of working exclusively in denim, a material he has long favored, and he often bases his collections on specific fabrics and garment archetypes, such as trench coats and biker jackets.
“The creative concept for this collection was to discover something new by incorporating a different perspective from past experiences,” he said of the men’s collection for Spring 2025. “In that sense, denim was a theme worth challenging, and by narrowing it down to one fabric, it was also necessary to expand the variety.”
The first thing that struck me when I saw Watanabe’s show during Paris Men’s Fashion Week was the large number of designs typical of formal wear, such as white shirts and bow ties, and the striking surface treatment that made it hard to immediately tell that it was denim.
Junya Watanabe Men’s Spring/Summer 2025
Giannis Vlamos/Courtesy of Junya Watanabe
“We were able to achieve these variations by combining various denim processing techniques, combining it with other fabrics through patchwork, and processing it by hand through the craftsmen’s work,” Watanabe explains. “By categorizing it into three types – black denim, indigo denim, and white denim – we were able to successfully expand the variations.”
The tuxedo jackets alone featured a variety of patchwork techniques, intricate embellishments, as well as sequins, jacquard and leather patches, adding to the dressy, formal atmosphere of the show.
Watanabe said all of the patchwork was done by hand by the company’s in-house sewing team.
But for the made-to-order spring 2025 collection, “we are introducing computerized mass-production systems to five embroidery factories across Japan,” Watanabe said.
The designer acknowledged that many of the collection’s key pieces are “quite expensive” as they are made using complex, labour-intensive methods.
Junya Watanabe Men’s Spring/Summer 2025
Giannis Vlamos/Courtesy of Junya Watanabe
Asked about the commercial response to his spring 2025 collection, he acknowledged that global inflation has meant buyers’ budgets are shrinking, “but there will always be fans who support our work and I believe they will be happy with it,” he said.
Born in Fukushima Prefecture, Watanabe graduated from Tokyo’s prestigious Bunka Fashion College in 1984 and immediately joined Comme des Garçons, first as a pattern cutter and eventually designing the Comme des Garçons tricot knitwear line. Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo decided to give Watanabe a brand under her company’s umbrella in 1992, and added Junya Watanabe Man in 2001.
Levi’s is said to be one of the main collaboration partners for the Spring 2025 season, and the designer highlighted that the iconic American brand, which is almost as synonymous with jeans as Kleenex tissue paper, has been present since his first men’s collection.
“The reason I wanted to use denim in my first collection was because of Levi’s 501s. I think that this historical presence is one of a kind, and the reason for the collaboration was that I wanted to present it in a collection. Nowadays, there are no rules when it comes to fashion style, and I think that many designers and people on the street are freely dressing it and proposing a variety of styles.”
He described his relationship with the denim industry giant in similar terms.
“Levi’s guarantees us the freedom to create, and in return we create items that don’t exist under the Levi’s brand. I think it’s a very good and stimulating relationship for both sides,” he said.
The designer made multiple trips from Tokyo to San Francisco to visit Levi’s headquarters.
“We have a completely different business approach to big American companies, but I think it’s great that they accept us and allow us creative freedom,” he enthused.
Watanabe said he remembers loving “a little Levi’s Red store that I visited in London in the early 2000s.” He was referring to the experimental Red Line, conceived in 1999 as a laboratory for denim innovation.
Watanabe acknowledged that he collected some early Levi’s Red products, but noted that it was “not for research and development purposes.”
Editor’s note: “Anatomy of a Collection” is an occasional feature that explores what goes on behind the scenes at fashion shows with unique context and methodology.
Junya Watanabe Men’s Spring/Summer 2025
Giannis Vlamos/Courtesy of Junya Watanabe
