The Onomichi Denim¹ Project, a chic² boutique in Onomichi, Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture, is a popular destination for denim enthusiasts³ looking for a pair of truly special jeans. The shop is well-known around Japan and even abroad for selling premium⁴ jeans that have been worn by select members of the local community for at least one year. 

 

“尾道丹宁计划”精品服饰店位于日本广岛县，是丹宁爱好者们寻找别致牛仔裤的“圣地”。这家店铺名扬日本甚至海外，其特色却是售卖当地民众穿过一年以上的旧牛仔裤。
 

 

Selling used jeans, or any other type of clothing for that matter, is not exactly a new business model, but Onomichi Denim Project is not your average second-hand⁵ denim retailer⁶. Created in 2013, as a collaborative effort between local designer Yoshiyuki Hayashi, textile expert Yukinobu Danjo, and Discoverlink Setouchi, an organization that aims to supports local industry, the minimalist boutique aims to draw attention to the city's top-quality craftsmanship⁷ and its people in a unique way. Plus, while used denim is generally sold at a discount, these particular jeans actually get about twice as expensive after being worn by somebody almost daily, for at least a year. 

 

Denim aficionados⁸ know that jeans usually require breaking to look their best, but there's an art to how to wear, wash and dry them to achieve that desired look. That's what makes Onomichi Denim Project so special - they hand-pick the wearers from the local community and closely monitor their transformation⁹ over the course of one year. Wearers rotate through two pairs of jeans that they promise to wear almost every day for the entire period, and bring them to the shop every week, to be laundered¹⁰ at a special denim processing facility, which ensures that every pair retains the evidence of each wearer's life and work. 

 

Meridian¹¹ Magazine reports that Onomichi Denim Project recruits wearers from various walks of life to achieve various patterns. For example, a pair of jeans worn by a fisherman has faded lines left by knee-high rubber boots, a factory worker's will feature the marks of a year's worth of iron powder penetrating¹² the fabric¹³, while a wild boar hunter's jeans will have permanent traces of blood. Every pair is obviously unique. 

 

But getting people to agree to wearing one or two pairs of jeans for an entire year was tough, in the beginning. Some were intrigued¹⁴ by the idea but were reluctant to wear jeans almost exclusively, especially in the hot summer months, while others simply wondered who in their right mind would want to buy used jeans at premium prices. But soon a local architect jumped at the opportunity, thinking it would be fun, and others joined the program as well, to help boost their city's travel industry. 

 

When the pre-wearing period ends, each pair of jeans is washed according to color, hang-dried or tumbled, checked for individuality, tagged with detailed¹⁵ descriptions and put on sale at the minimalist Onomichi Denim Project boutique for anywhere between ¥25,000 ($215) and ¥48,000 ($415). That's about twice as they usually cost when new, but these are not just any jeans, they are cultural artifacts. 

 

It's not clear whether some of the proceeds from the sales go to wearers, but most of them are just happy to not have to spend money on jeans for a year.

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