The response to the Beams thread has been very good, so I figured I would put this thread together to share some information, and introduce some discussion around one of my favourite brands.

Toyo Enterprise is one of the most respected Japanese brands in the world. Their story begins in the 1950’s manufacturing kimonos and sukajan jackets and selling them in street stalls to US servicemen stationed in Japan, by the 1960’s the sukajan or souvenir jacket was being sold all over Japan and in US bases. Toyo’s relationship with the US Army grew and by the time of the Vietnam war they were manufacturing garments for the Army and recirculating surplus military wear into the Japanese domestic market. After the Vietnam war Toyo pivoted to manufacturing American heritage-wear for the Japanese market and adopted the name Sugar Cane.

Now, many brands fall under the Toyo Enterprise umbrella including Sugar Cane which exists today as one of the most revered denim brands in the world. Buzz Rickson creates exacting replicas of military-wear and capitalizes on Toyo’s expertise with military garments and constantly draws from their archive of vintage garments.
Also under the umbrella is Tailor Toyo which continues the tradition of the sukajan, Sun Surf creating authentic rayon hawaiian shirts, and Whitesville.

Across all of Toyo’s brands is a maniacal passion for detail and authenticity. From period-accurate zippers, authentic vintage fit, and reverse engineered materials everything is ‘new-vintage’.
toyo-enterprise.co.jp

buzzricksons.jp/news/71

vintage-souvenirjacket.com

This is a very interesting interview with William Gibson that touches on his collaboration with Buzz Rickson, as well as some of his personal philosophy regarding clothing.

heddels.com/2015/03/william-gibson-interview-buzz-rickson-line-tech-wear-limits-authenticity

You been on this style for a min now & I'm always seeing your fits & thinking, "damn I wish I could pull some of this off" good s***

Thanks fam, Sugar Cane make everything some items are very flexible!

Imma check it out!

Amazing content!
Looking forward to learning more
Thanks for mentioning the beams thread too

Great thread, thanks for puttin me on to somethin

Yup! Looking forward to going through this later

Thanks everyone! Looking forward to adding more here

I've been using my William Gibson (great author btw) x Porter x Buzz wallet for years now. S*** is bulky AF and kind of heavy because of the MA-1 materials, but the details alone are amazing.

Gibson himself has an encyclopedia type knowledge on military clothing lol