TERAS

TERAS is a Japanese brand based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi, developed within the Type A employment support facility of TOMOS company. Founded in 2017, it works with sashiko and boro as its primary materials and methods, producing clothing, bags, wallets and interior objects while also undertaking OEM and collaborative production. Its website defines the project not simply as retail but as a form of work created through welfare and craft. The brand’s two main lines are structured around distinct textile logics. BORO Fabric uses century-old vintage cloth, repaired with sashiko and pieced together from sections with differing wear, colour and texture. SASHIKO Fabric is built through hand stitching that leaves visible variation in pattern, density and seam work, reflecting the different hands involved in making it. TERAS also states that it uses unused cloth in addition to antique textiles and plans production to avoid excess material and waste. Within Japan’s contemporary craft landscape, TERAS stands apart through the way traditional repair and reinforcement techniques are embedded in a working environment for people with disabilities. Rather than treating sashiko and boro as heritage motifs, it uses them as a production framework through which social participation, income and authorship are organised. That combination of welfare infrastructure, hand process and material reuse gives the brand a distinct position.