Purple denim has been the talk of the town this season with both Studio D'Artisan and Momotaro reaching past convenience and into older Japanese dye traditions, treating purple not as accent color but as the star of the show.
Studio D'Artisan's Futa-Ai series uses a dual-dye process: indigo first, then safflower layered over. The result is a purple reserved in the Heian period for court nobility. The denim itself is 16oz right-hand twill with visible slub, woven on vintage shuttle looms. It's available as a regular straight jean at $319 and a modified Type I jacket ranging from $359 to $555 depending on retailer. The jacket follows SDA's typical Type I proportions—slightly longer body, boxy through the shoulders—with the purple reading darker in shade, closer to eggplant than lavender.
Momotaro's Shikon series takes a parallel route using gromwell root, another of Japan's classical dyestuffs. Shikon was the highest-ranking color in the Asuka-period cap rank system, predating even the Heian court hierarchies. Momotaro specifies botanical dye and garment construction, meaning the fabric is woven undyed and soaked after assembly. This approach yields softer hand and more tonal variation than rope-dyed yarns, but it also means faster overall fading and less contrast at the breaking points. The jean is offered in a wide-straight silhouette with deep rise and subtle taper below the knee, priced at $345 to $368. The companion jacket is a single-pocket design with dropped shoulders and relaxed body, listed at $485. Both pieces skew brown-purple rather than blue-purple—earthier, less saturated.
The Futa-Ai fabric will age like any other indigo-dominant denim: high-contrast fades with electric blue cores showing through at stress points. The madder contributes a warmer undertone but doesn't fundamentally change the fade structure. Shikon, being garment-dyed, will lighten more uniformly and show less dramatic electric blue. Expect something closer to vintage black denim fades—subtle, grainy, less about contrast and more about overall patina.
Purple denim isn't new to the Japanese makers. Warehouse ran a purple weft denim in the mid-2000s. Samurai and Oni have both done limited garment-dye purples.