Kamakura is a city with abundant nature surrounded by the sea and mountains, as well as over 100 historic temples and shrines. In the early days of summer, Kamakura is especially famous for its picturesque image of hydrangeas blossoming in these temples and shrines. But after they bloom, their blossoms scatter and get discarded. We wanted to create a shirt that used extracted pigment from these beautiful hydrangeas to dye the cotton. The warm natural fibers give a gentle, non-artificial look.

This shirt is packed with "local", "natural", and "ecology" that can only be done here at Kamakura Shirts. We made these shirts carefully overtime in order to minimize the amount of water, dyes, and chemicals used.

Blue Hydrangea: M211S0680V
Pink Hydrangea: M611S0673V

Fabric: Oxford
Material: Cotton 100%
Thread Count: 40//2*10/-

Kamakura Hydrangea x Kamakura Shirts

A message from Director, Teppei Sadasue

"Thank you to all our customers for always supporting Kamakura Shirts. Hydrangeas in Kamakura start blooming in early June every year and are famous for delighting us for about a month. What is lesser known is that the their beautiful flowers must be pruned before they die. In July 2020, Kamakura Shirts start a project that created shirts by extracting pigments from pruned hydrangeas, which are usually discarded after pruning. We dyed the threads, wove them together to create a fabric that is focused on sustainability and ecology. No additional dyes used in the fabric, but instead a new environmentally friendly dyeing technique discovered from our city, Kamakura."

"It was Enkakuji temple, one of the five great Rinzai temples of Kamakura, who cooperated in providing the hydrangea for us this time. On a hot day in July, I went to pick up the pruned hydrangea. The pruned hydrangea still had the power of nature and gave off a beautiful glow. 'Wouldn't if be great if I could make a shirt from this hydrangea?' With this thought in mind, I brought it to the Botanical Research Institution, where a specialist extracts various plant and stone pigments to find color samples. After extracting the hydrangea color pigments, we decided to use Andy cotton from Australia. As being one of the "whitest cotton", the pigment gets easily dyed."

"We were able to create two shirts from the hydrangea: pale blue and pink.This project was supported by many people in Kamakura, and also the Botanical Research Institution who were very helpful in assisting us. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all who supported us with this Botanical Project. Thank you. Going forward, we will continue to discover what Kamakura has to offer."

-Director Teppei Sadasue

*A portion of the sales will be donated to Engakuji Temple, who cooperated with us on this project.

OTHER HYDRANGEA DYED PRODUCTS

Blue Hydrangea Casual Shirt

Cotton Face Masks