Based in a quiet rural town in Japan’s northern Iwate Prefecture, Gorsch is a small and hard-to-find brand that takes immense pride in its region and craft. The brand’s name comes from the story “Gauche the Cellist,” which can be summarized (very roughly) as the tale of a young man who works hard to become more skilled at playing the cello. Gorsch the brand tells a similar story, about a young man who finds his grandfather’s old sewing tools, and upon learning that his relative used to be a tailor, Gorsch sets off to learn the craft himself, with hard work, dedication, and a loving-nostalgia towards his hometown.

In actuality, there is no Gorsch the person — the brand is run by Eiichi Suzuki, an Iwate native who lives and runs his brand from a quiet town nestled under the mountains. His grandfather was actually a tailor, too, but Eiichi didn’t learn this until after he started Gorsch. Before that, he worked as a diplomat for some time, and lived between several major cities around the world, including New York and Berlin, the latter of which continues to influence him to this day.

Gorsch’s clothing is somewhere between antique workwear and tailoring. Though often unique and clearly inspired by vintage styles, the garments are shockingly versatile and very easy to wear, with some of the most flattering and comfortable cuts we’ve ever encountered. Few brands do “unisex” clothing as well as Gorsch, with pieces that look incredible on an extremely wide range of different bodies and body-types. The materials fit the design and construction, using beautiful and rare deadstock fabrics as well as custom and locally-produced textiles, it’s easily one of our most elevated and special brands.

The Autumn/Winter 2026 collection is part 2 of their 14th release saison, titled “The Dancing People” — inspired by dancers Ken Sakagami and Aoi Kagaya, friends of the brand who perform locally in Iwate with their company, Bazar Cirque. The styles and fabrics are really outstanding this season, with rich, plush textiles, exaggerated silhouettes, and spectacular drape that emphasizes movement but sits comfortably and naturally when at rest.

The Denim Short Length Jacket is the #1 S&S staff favorite piece of 2026. Perhaps our most flattering unisex style, this dramatically cropped jacket is inspired by vintage flight jackets, with a gorgeous exaggerated silhouette and a highly versatile collar that can be worn several different ways. It's relaxed through the chest, with a roomy (but short) fit and voluminous tapered sleeves that make layering easy. For storage, it's got unique double pockets on the front, with pleated patch pockets that sit on top of side entry welt pockets, packing a surprising amount of storage into such a small jacket.

An immediate favorite for us, the kakishibu denim uses persimmon-tannin dyed weft threads and a classic indigo warp. It’s a comfortable medium weight fabric (closer to lightweight maybe) that requires virtually no break-in at all before it softens, with a slightly-textured face that gets slightly more pronounced and hairy after a wash. Woven with 100% cotton yarns, it will develop beautiful and unique fading over time, as the indigo wears away and the kakishibu “tans” from brown/beige to a more desaturated orange tone.

Gorsh tell us that this is an unsanforized (shrink-to-fit) and raw denim, but several employees purchased an item in this fabric themselves, and found the fabric to shrink very minimally after washing — Elliot specifically gave his jacket a hot machine wash and hot tumble dry, and found that the jacket only shrank about 1” in the sleeves and nowhere else that he could notice, other staff report similar experiences.

Fits true to size. For minimal shrinkage, wash cold and hang dry.

• 100% cotton
• Midweight indigo-warp / kakishibu-weft denim from Japan
• Exaggerated cropped fit
• Spread lapel collar with chinstrap
• Two double front pockets
• Corozo buttons
• Adjustable cuffs
• Pleated hem
• Relaxed fit
• Roomy sleeves
• Unisex cut
• Custom woven labels
• True to size
• Wash cold and hang dry
• Made in Japan