Loop & Weft interview: A conversation with Ryota Yamasaki

• Interviews
• By Those That Know
• 8th January 2024
• 4 min read

Ryota Yamasaki’s understanding of knitwear began with a single T-shirt. Before founding Loop & Weft, he worked in production planning for the cut-and-sew department of a Japanese vintage-reproduction denim brand. His working days were busy and stressful, usually spent in the kind of thick, hard-wearing jeans for which the company was known. Then a factory he managed gave him a soft cotton T-shirt.

The fabric was richly textured, the stitching was careful and the garment had an unexpected presence. More importantly, it changed how he felt. “I was exhausted from my daily work, but the moment I put on that T-shirt, I felt relaxed,” Yamasaki remembers. “I realised the essence of knitwear.”

That experience became the foundation of Loop & Weft. Where a rigid woven fabric resists the body, knitwear stretches and moves with it. Yamasaki began to imagine a brand that could combine that physical ease with the depth and character of vintage clothing, made alongside the craftspeople he had come to know through production.

Today, Loop & Weft makes some of Japan’s finest cut-and-sew T-shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies. Those That Know was the first European store to carry the brand and remains one of only a small number of stockists outside Japan. Its custom fabrics, vintage machinery and understated workwear influences have made it one of our longest-standing and most popular brands.

The apparently narrow focus is deliberate. T-shirts and sweatshirts may look simple, but their construction can depend on rare skills, modified machinery and time-consuming processes. Yamasaki believes that specialisation allows him to explore that world properly rather than treating knitwear as one category among many.

The brand’s name describes both the structure of knitted fabric and the relationships behind it. The loop suggests circulation; the weft represents connection. Yamasaki sees a cycle in which a maker creates something with care, the product reaches its wearer and the pleasure of using it sustains the knowledge required to make the next one. His hope is that the cycle can travel around the world and continue into another generation.

Vintage machinery is central to that idea, although rarity alone is not enough. Loopwheel machines remain in operation in Wakayama Prefecture in their hundreds. The Tompkins machine used for Loop & Weft’s FW22 sweatshirts and T-shirts was different: at the time, it was believed to be the only operational example in Japan.

The first sample it produced was soft, warm and immediately evocative of vintage sportswear. Yamasaki wanted to return that almost-lost fabric to the modern world. The resulting garments would also become unrepeatable: the machine’s operator retired after the production run and nobody was available to take his place.

The search continues for other Japanese knitting machines and processes that have fallen out of view. Yamasaki was already developing a fabric on another old machine when we spoke, although the project was not yet ready to be announced.

Choosing the right factory is therefore as much about shared intent as technical ability. Loop & Weft works with small Japanese factories and workshops whose craftspeople have the same underlying desire “to create something good”. The specialised equipment matters, but so does a willingness to devote time and judgement to the finished garment.

The brand itself was launched in Yamanashi Prefecture, south-west of Tokyo and beneath the presence of Mount Fuji. Around 78 per cent of the prefecture is forest, with Mount Yatsugatake and the Southern Alps contributing to a landscape shaped by water, sunlight and dramatic seasonal change. The same environment supports agriculture, wine, jewellery and silk production. Yamasaki finds ideas for texture, colour and form throughout it.

Vintage clothing remains another constant source. Yamasaki discovered it as a teenager during one of the waves of second-hand fashion that have passed through Japan roughly every 20 years since the 1980s. His collection ranges beyond any single period, but a rare diamond-patterned thermal shirt thought to date from the 1960s is among the pieces he treasures most.

Future collections will continue the same demanding process: developing original fabrics, working with specialised makers and finding new applications for old machinery. “It’s always a difficult task,” Yamasaki says, “but we want to create great products that everyone will enjoy.”

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Loop & Weft at Those That Know

Explore the current collection on our Loop & Weft brand page.

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