Japanese indigo
Indigo is obtained from 'sukumo', which is made from leaves that are dried and then fermented.
Once the 'sukumo' has matured, soda, shell ash and wheat gluten are added to create a dye obtained after a second fermentation.
Yu Ito has chosen to work with one of the last traditional indigo dyeing workshops, <Watanabe's> based in the Tokushima region, to
produce magnificent indigo blue socks.
Watanabe's uses a traditional dyeing method, "natural soda fermentation", which produces indigo blue very efficiently from the leaves used.
To achieve a perfect balance, the fermentation time, air temperature and humidity percentage must be precisely respected.
The appeal of indigo dyeing
Indigo is generally referred to a single color, but there are many different types of indigo from a very light indigo that is close to white, to a very dark indigo that is almost black.
Indigo is an important color in Japanese culture, appearing in history and in Japanese stories, it is often described as a magnificent color.
