Yokosuka Dobuita — pattern design, embroidery, production SUKAJAN
ARTIST Hiromichi Yokochi

What a sukajan is,
and why I draw them

Sukajans, short for Yokosuka Jumpers (jumpers meaning jackets), are souvenir jackets popularized by American GIs who would commission local artisans in Yokosuka’s Dobuita Street to make deeply personal customized jackets that reflected themselves and their lives. These jackets quickly became status symbols in postwar Japan, and remain one of the defining elements of Japanese fashion today.

After opening an office on Dobuita Street, Yokochi learned that the creation of new sukajans had effectively become a dead art, with the few remaining sukajan manufacturers largely focused on replicas. Having learned that there were no practitioners creating new designs, Yokochi made it his life’s work to sustain the sukajan form by becoming its first dedicated contemporary artist.

Yokochi’s works evoke the designs of the immediate postwar golden age of sukajans while centering subjects that have often never before been seen on sukajans. He is renowned for the deep research he performs during the creation of each piece, and for his ability to craft designs that make the most of the unique yokoburi embroidery technique commonly seen on sukajans.

Outside of brand collaborations, Yokochi operates the souvenir jacket store ICHI, also on Dobuita Street, and accepts commissions for custom pieces.

He lends pieces from his own collection of postwar souvenir garments to museums — including Pride of Yokosuka: Exhibition of Souvenir Jacket “Sukajan” at the Yokosuka Museum of Art in 2022, the first exhibition on the subject held at a public museum in Japan.

Patterns we have drawn

One-off commissions, brand collaborations and our own production. Every one was drawn by hand before a single stitch was made. New patterns go up on Instagram as they are finished.

The notes behind each pattern are written in Japanese. Ask us in English and we will walk you through any of them.

Indicative prices

Figures are the lower bound and move with embroidery area, colour count, complexity and fabric. A formal quotation follows once we have confirmed stock and scheduling with our fabric and sewing partners.

ICHI Dobuita, Yokosuka

Our shop stands on Dobuita Street, where sukajan began. Come and see the real thing: the difference between hand and machine embroidery, the weight of the fabric, the depth of the stitching. None of it reads in a photograph.