For sale here is a sweater from Japan’s Aton label. Aton is a part of the growing movement of Japanese labels offering seemingly minimalistic, typically relaxed silhouettes executed in some of the highest quality fabrics available. Other labels offering a similar aesthetic include Comoli, A. Presse, Aura Lee and Maatee & Sons among others. Aton themselves operate exactly one shop in Aoyama, Tokyo and can be pretty hard to track down.

With Aton fabrics take center stage. They really, really care about the fabrics they use and you can be sure any of their pieces will always utilize some kind of very interesting and highly complicated custom fabric. This sweater is no exception. Material is 100% cotton, using a jersey fabric knit in Wakayama. The yarn is a thick gauge, knit at the highest possible density, double that of a standard sweater in fact. It consists of a French terry fabric with a unique three-layer structure with a face, a back and a connecting layer in between. This design dramatically improves stretch and traps a generous amount of air within the layers, resulting a superior warmth.

The fabric has also been garment dyed – meaning that it was dyed after it was fully constructed, rather than dyeing the material first and then sewing it together. Garment dying produces more unique variations and depth of color than a standard dyeing. It has also been thoroughly washed during production and no further shrinkage should be expected, even when tumble drying the sweater. Silhouette is modeled after 1970s-era sportswear, characterized by a casual look featuring horizontally-attached sleeves, similar to a t-shirt. Also features triangular gussets and a subtle embroidered “A” logo on the chest. These pieces retail at about $300 in Japan and go for even more abroad if you can find them. Get it here much more reasonably.

Size is labeled a 2, equivalent to a small for Aton, given a somewhat relaxed fit. I measure the chest at 20.5” / 53cm, shoulders at 20” / 52cm, length at 24” / 62cm and sleeves at 20” / 52cm (note the dropped shoulder should add a good 4”/10cm to the sleeve length). The sweater comes in lightly used, very good shape with just some minor wear and no holes, tears or stains. Made in Japan.

Shipping from Japan to anywhere will be $26.