Kyo Wazarashi Mensha: Gauze for Restful Sleep, from Kyoto

Kyo Wazarashi Mensha is a gauze brand created by Daito Shingu Kogyo, a bedding maker founded in 1925 in Fushimi, Kyoto. The company began by making and selling futons, and today everything it makes is built around one idea: restful sleep and comfort.

A question that started it all

"Bedding touches the skin for hours at a time. Is there a material gentle enough even for babies and people with sensitive skin?" That question led to the brand. The answer was additive-free gauze, bleached by the traditional Japanese method of wazarashi: with no formaldehyde or other harmful substances or residues, it is safe even for newborns.

Japanese bleaching and Western bleaching

Sarashi, or bleaching, removes the natural oils, impurities, color and odor from cotton, along with the starch used in spinning. Most cotton today is processed with Western-style bleaching, because it is fast: about 40 minutes. Traditional Japanese wazarashi takes four days.

Western bleaching stretches the cloth under tension and uses heat and chlorine bleach. Chemicals remain in the fabric, and the stress damages the naturally round cotton fibers. Wazarashi takes its time, using a special vat that puts no strain on the fibers and no chemicals at all. The result is gauze that is safe for sensitive skin and babies, and because the fibers stay round, the gauze forms a three-dimensional layer of air that is soft, absorbent and breathable. For a brand devoted to comfort, there was no other choice.

Wrapped in air

Safe, comfortable gauze would be enough for most makers, but Daito Shingu Kogyo kept asking how sleep could be better still. Its answer is multi-layer gauze that is not tacked together.

Its products use two, three or five layers of gauze. Ordinary multi-layer gauze is tacked together at many points during weaving, so it ends up as one slightly thicker cloth. Kyo Wazarashi Mensha layers the gauze only at the sewing stage, joining the layers just at the seams. Pinch the fabric from both sides and the layers puff apart. Sewing it this way takes time and real skill, but it creates thick pockets of air between the layers, for far better warmth and breathability. Try it, and you will understand what wrapped in air means.

Every product, from baby gauze to multi-layer pajamas and towels, is made entirely in Japan with time, care and skill, so that everyone can enjoy truly restful sleep.