Hello.
This is Noguchi from CASANOVA&CO.
Today was the final day of our daisuke tanabe exhibition.
To everyone who placed an order or came to take a look, thank you so much.
Even during this event, deliveries from various brands have been arriving one after another.
Well, it is this time of year, after all. Naturally, things are arriving.
There’s still a lot I haven't introduced yet, so while I prep for our next in-store event, I think I’ll get back to writing the blog more consistently.
So, today’s topic is the insane thermal top from OLDE HOMESTEADER YOUTH.
The title is "The Life-Saving Thermal."
I’m not kidding.
Please come to the shop and ask me for the details.
I encountered this thermal a year ago in a very unique situation (Fukuhara-san, thank you, truly, thank you so much), and I have been wearing it constantly ever since.
From October 2025, I think I was wearing it about five days a week until it got too hot after winter.
So, my enthusiasm for it today is on a completely different level.
It’s been in such heavy rotation that I’m at maximum excitement. Though, when I think of "Center," I think of Atsuko Maeda. And Yang Dai-kang.
I’ve gotten too emotional. Let’s get to the main point.
OLDE HOMESTEADER YOUTH
EXTRA SOFT THERMAL OVAL NECK LONG SLEEVE
color _ ECRU × OFF WHITE,BLACK × ECRU
size _ 42,44,46
This is the first time we are introducing the EXTRA SOFT THERMAL series in our shop.
It’s a fabric that first appeared around this time last year.
In Fukuhara-san’s vision, this series was given a role to really start showing its true potential from the end of summer. That’s how I perceive it.
In a word, it’s a thermal material, but it’s completely different from the standard thermal in every way.
If the world’s thermals remind you of innerwear for tough laborers or soldiers, YOUTH’s thermal has an elegance and gentleness that they lack.
You can feel it in the size balance and the specs, but most of all, it’s the fabric.
You feel the difference the moment you touch it.
If you knit it too tight, it becomes heavy and rough; if you make it loose, it lacks structure.
Rather than aiming for one or the other as the "right" way in a thermal, this finds the point where the best of both sides can coexist.
From the raw materials to the yarn and the knitting, "balance" is a nice word to use, but finding that perfect sweet spot through trial and error is a craft that only comes from Fukuhara-san’s intuition and experience.
However, this is OLDE HOMESTEADER YOUTH. Of course, the new item isn't the finish line—the finish line is after you’ve washed it.
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So, you have to derive a landing point that accounts for what kind of changes will occur after laundering.
With that in mind, the EXTRA SOFT THERMAL offers a new solution to the problem of "if you knit it too tight, it becomes heavy and rough; if you make it loose, it lacks structure."
Just as the name "EXTRA SOFT THERMAL" suggests, the touch is incredibly soft.
In terms of weight, it’s neither too heavy nor too light, but it has an airiness as if the yarn contains air, with a slightly moist texture.
It doesn't have that shark-skin feel of standard thermals that scrapes against your skin.
But, I repeat, the finish line is waiting for you after the wash.
My own EXTRA SOFT THERMAL, which I’ve probably washed over 100 times, has developed a bit of crispness, and the surface has a dry, pleasant touch.
However, the softness hidden deep inside the fabric remains.
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Crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside. I consider this to be the completed form.
The shape is the usual T-shirt design. That familiar thing that gets better as you wear and wash it.
However, I had a slightly different sensation with this "break-in" process compared to the usual.
I’ve worn many items made of various materials by Fukuhara-san, and until now, the feeling was always "washing = resetting."
In other words, the difference between "wearing = advancing (breaking in)" and "washing = resetting (shrinking)" was the change needed to fit it to one’s own body. That was how I understood it.
But with this EXTRA SOFT THERMAL, I feel like "washing = resetting & advancing a little."
Of course, "wearing" is "advancing," but I wonder if the tendency for thermal material to change dimensions upon washing isn't considered a weakness, but rather a helper in the "advancing" process.
So, as you wear and wash it, you get that necessary amount plus a little bit of extra room.
When I felt that, I realized there was an intention behind the neck and hem design that went beyond just style.
The neck is an oval neck.
In other words, the neck opening becomes slightly wider.
It’s very well-balanced when you wear a shirt with weight to it, like a fall/winter flannel.
I don’t like it when the collar of the inner layer is tight against my neck when wearing a heavier shirt, so this oval neck is perfect.
The construction uses the usual special techniques.
The neck is wide, but it’s better to wear it after washing it.
The cuffs are ribbed.
They stretch if you roll up the sleeves, but they return to shape when washed.
Perhaps the two-tone nuance of the rib and seam is where it changes the most.
Other series, like the Interlock, had ribbing at the hem, but this time it uses the same special thread sewing specification as the neck.
After wearing and washing and gaining that little bit of extra room, it allows that room to escape without being held back by a rib.
That’s what I imagined the specification was for.
Well, regardless of whether that’s true or not, as someone who has finally grown to accept the style of letting a little bit of the thermal show from the hem of a shirt or sweatshirt, I prefer this specification as it’s easier to style.
The colors are available in the two you see here.
ECRU × OFF WHITE, which isn’t a stark white, and BLACK × ECRU, which doesn't feel too heavy. The nuances are magnificent.
I only have the ECRU × OFF WHITE, but I think it’s fine to have both colors.
Many people have already taken a look before I could even introduce them, and there are some color-size combinations that are already running low, but I hope you’ll have a chance to take a look.