Watanabe Pile

 

The Imabari Towel Collection is proud to partnership with Watanabe Pile, a traditional artisan fabricator based in Imabari, Ehime, Japan. Celebrated for its abundant, pure water sources, Imabari’s natural climate is gentle on fibers, coaxing out the ultimate natural softness of cotton. Watanabe Pile preserves the artisanal traditions of the region, meticulously overseeing every step of production, from material dyeing, spinning to weaving. The resulting collection features products crafted from 100% premium cotton, and produced in Japan.

 

The inspiration behind the designs actually comes from technical textile blueprints, where stripes, dots, and crosses act as a universal language to map out patterns. When we first started collaborating, the big question was: How do we translate the visual style of knitting into a woven pattern? By looking at how these blueprints use simple geometric shapes to connect different textile crafts, we found a common ground. That dynamic is exactly what sparked our two featured patterns, "On the Loom" and "Two Dots", a nod to the structure, precision, and universal language of weaving.