Japanese Stripe Linen

A fine ivory stripe on near-black, woven in linen by one of Japan's oldest surviving mills. The stripe is woven rather than printed — yarn-dyed and carried in the structure of the cloth — so it sits in the fabric instead of on it, wanders very slightly where the yarn does, and cannot wear away.

Linen decides how it behaves. It takes a crease where it is folded and keeps it, softens with each wash instead of thinning, and holds a dry hand no smooth cloth gives.

Nothing cut from it stays crisp, which is the reason to use it: the garment ends the day looking like the day it has had.