WORKERS_Forestier_Heavy Corduroy Brown

SPIRAL COMMENT

The fabric alone makes quite an impression.

The WORKERS Forestier, Heavy Corduroy Brown has arrived at Spiral, bringing back one of the brand's winter favorites.

We've brought in the Brown version only this time.

Inspired by the legendary Forestière jacket from the French fashion house Arnys, WORKERS studied the original and developed its own interpretation.

The silhouette is surprisingly simple: a straight body without waist shaping, much like a shirt or coverall, and straight sleeves. There's an understated elegance to it, without feeling overly dressed up.

But the real star this time is the incredibly substantial 14oz heavyweight corduroy!

The wide, thick wales are packed tightly together, creating an exceptionally dense fabric.

Despite its rugged appearance, the fabric has a beautiful sheen and a surprising suppleness. It's not simply heavy for the sake of being heavy. There's something quite special about it.

In fact, the corduroy is so thick that constructing the collar entirely from the same material proved difficult. WORKERS solved this by using cotton flannel on the underside of the collar.

The body is lined with cotton twill, while the sleeves have smooth polyester twill lining for easier dressing.

Wear it casually over a shirt, or layer it with knitwear or a sweatshirt when the weather turns colder.

The warmth and texture of heavyweight corduroy, combined with the slightly refined character of the Forestière.

It feels like workwear, yet there's something effortlessly stylish about it.

A jacket that really captures what makes WORKERS special!

Spiral Note

Made in Japan, and What It Really Means to Make Something Good

The heavyweight corduroy used for this Forestier weighs an impressive 14oz.

And here's something you might not expect: the fabric is made in China.

WORKERS and its fabric supplier set out to create a corduroy that could stand alongside the finest fabrics from Britain's renowned Brisbane Moss.

By packing the yarns exceptionally tightly and using compact-spun cotton yarn, which minimizes surface fuzz, they aimed to achieve not only remarkable weight and density but also a beautiful sheen and supple feel.

However, they couldn't find a manufacturer in Japan capable of producing the fabric to their specifications.

So they turned to China.

Not to make something cheaper, but to make something better.

Reading this reminded me of something a corduroy finishing craftsman told me several years ago in Fukude, Iwata, just next to Hamamatsu.

He said:

"We used to be number one, but now we've become the only one. And being the only one isn't enough."

Fukude is a region with a long history of corduroy production.

I remember feeling a real sadness in his words, reflecting how much Japan's textile industry and manufacturing environment had changed.

But it also made me think.

There's certainly value in being the only one. Yet perhaps the goal now should be to become number one again, not just in Japan, but in the world.

I still believe that the fabrics produced here in Hamamatsu and the wider Enshu region are among the very best in the world.

And that's exactly why I want to see Japanese textile makers continue to compete on the global stage.

At Spiral, too, I don't want to choose products simply because they're made in Japan, or because they carry a famous brand name.

What matters to me is finding things that are genuinely good and sharing them with our customers.

The corduroy in this jacket is made in China. The jacket itself is sewn in Japan.

Ultimately, what matters isn't just the name of the country on the label, but who made it, what they believed in, and what they were trying to achieve.

This jacket is a wonderful reminder of that.