Maekake

Maekake waist apron in a heavy indigo cloth with white brushed characters and a crest in the manner of a sake brewery, a fringed hem and long striped ties, in twenty-six designs.

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About this piece

Maekake shop apron in heavy indigo cloth with white characters and a fringed hem

A brewer's apron, the heavy kind, in indigo. This is the maekake, the waist apron of the Japanese sake brewery and the rice shop, a thick indigo cloth that hangs from the waist to the shin with a fringed hem, long woven ties in a red and white stripe that wrap round and knot at the front, and the name of a house and its crest printed in white down the front in the manner of a shop sign. It comes in twenty-six designs, from a plain indigo to the loudest brush hand. The photographs show six.

It is the garment a delivery man wore over his trousers in Edo and a barman wears over his jeans in Tokyo, and it is the one piece of workwear in the shop.

The name is the Japanese one, and it means what hangs in front: the apron began as padding for carrying sacks on the hip, and the thick cloth is still that.

The apron is a heavy, close-woven indigo cloth, a single panel with a fringed lower edge, and long ties in a woven stripe that wrap twice round the waist and knot at the front, which is how a maekake stays on without a bib. The characters and the crest are printed in white, in the brushed hand of the old signs.

Wear it over a trouser or a jean, tied at the front with the ends hanging, in a kitchen, behind a bar, in a workshop or at a barbecue, where it takes the knocks; it is thick enough to wipe a hand on. The plain one is the apron for a person who wants the cloth without the sign.

The designs are the detail: each carries the name of a house in a bold brush hand, with a crest, a mountain or a circle, and a smaller line of characters above or below, in the manner of the aprons a brewery gives its staff and its customers. The plain indigo is design one.

From across a room it is a dark apron with white writing. From close the writing shows its brush, the crest its shape, and the hem its fringe. It is the apron for a person who works standing up and wants to look it.

Machine wash cold, separately for the first washes because the indigo runs, and hang to dry; it stiffens when wet and softens when worn. Iron on the reverse if it needs it.

One size. The apron hangs from the waist to the shin on an adult and the ties fit any waist; on a smaller person it is tied higher. Twenty-six designs; the option number picks the design.

What we sell, and what we don't

Japanese designs, made in Asia. Cotton, linen or polyester as stated on each piece, never silk. We say so on every page, because the alternative is selling you a word instead of a garment.

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