Otsuchi Sashiko Embroidery Adds New Value to Used Sneakers; Iwate Pref. ‘Gals’ Work Hard to Turn Old Shoes into Art

By Rie Hayashi / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

12:15 JST, February 14, 2025

Sneakers decorated with an embroidery technique called sashiko in a style particular to Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, create a variety of impressions on people: to some they seem innovative; to others they appear rustic. But their appeal is spreading, not only through Japan but to other countries as well.

Sashiko is a technique involving stitching together layers of cloth that has been passed down across many generations in Japan’s Tohoku region. Now, several women are using the Otsuchi style of sashiko to give new life to old sneakers, part of a project that originally began with the aim of helping women affected by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake to rebuild their lives.

A group of 15 women began working in March last year to decorate sneakers with Otsuchi sashiko embroidery. Arata Fujiwara, 46, who runs an apparel company in Tokyo, leads the project. He began calling the women, who were in their 40s to 70s as of last December, “Sashiko Gals” for their cheerful and positive demeanor.

One Sashiko Gals Project member in her 40s said the work helped calm her overactive mind after the quake. “Now I’m having fun working on the sneakers, thinking about designs and imagining what the pieces will look like when they’re done,” she said.

Most of the sneakers used in the project are secondhand. Layers of old cloth are stitched onto the tops, heels and toes of the shoes. The workers also sew colorful threads onto them in various patterns.

The technique involved is as precise as that of machine stitching, but Sashiko Gals Project members deliberately give their work a “handmade feeling” by making stitches of different lengths and at different angles. The warmth that only hand-stitched work can provide is also believed to be a secret to the popularity of the products.

The work requires a high level of concentration, and the members said they can work on the sashiko sneakers for no more than two to three hours a day.

It takes the Gals about two to three weeks to complete a pair of shoes. As their popularity has grown, customers are said to sometimes have to wait for four months or more to receive items they have ordered.

The group’s sustainable practice of transforming old things into valuable products is no doubt part of an international trend. Through overseas media reports on the group and their products, the Sashiko Gals Project has been attracting fans worldwide. Some people reportedly even enjoy displaying the shoes as works of art.

“Of course, we’re also happy to have people wearing them,” Fujiwara said.