Clothing & Textiles

Japanese textiles are amongst the worlds most beautiful. With magnificent hand dyed silks and lovely cottons Japanese fabric is sought after all over the world, with the Kimonos being one of the more popular items.

Kimonos are the traditional garment of Japan, and are still regularly worn as formal clothing. Kimono are T-shaped, straight-lined robes that fall to the ankle, with collars and full-length sleeves.

The sleeves are commonly very wide at the wrist. Women’s Kimonos are often made out of the most decorative silks with magnificent patterns and embroidery.

It is not unusual to pay hundreds of thousands of Yen for the best Kimonos but far less expensive items are readily available in the 10000 to 40000 price bracket in many shopping centres, department stores, markets and arcades these Kimonos are usually made of cotton or a synthetic material but are still very beautiful.

The Kimono worn by men are usually a far more simpler garment and are usually of a subdued dark colour. While a formal Kimono is kimono is plain black with five kimono on the chest, shoulders and back. Slightly less formal is the three-kamon kimono. These are usually paired with white undergarments and accessories.

Everyday Japanese clothing is fairly modern on world scales. People are quite comfortable in a pair of jeans or slacks with a T-shirt, usually with some English wording that in many cases does not make a lot of sense.

With the average size of the Japanese a little smaller than many of the western world, clothing sizes are on the small size. A XL size in Japan would pass as a small to medium in most other countries. Japanese clothing is usually very casual and with the huge market and amount of retail outlets fairly cheap.