The ATHLETIC T-SHIRT / SMOKE JUMPERS is made from 100% cotton loopwheel fabric and features a hand-applied SMOKE JUMPERS rubber print, produced in our Kobe-based factory.

Smokejumpers are specialized wildland firefighters trained to parachute directly into remote forest fires. By deploying from aircraft, these crews can reach fires in rugged wilderness long before conventional ground teams could arrive. The role demands excellent physical conditioning, technical training, and the ability to work independently while carrying essential equipment into difficult terrain.

The concept emerged from early experiments in aerial firefighting. From the 1910s onward, the U.S. Forest Service began using aircraft to detect fires, survey burn areas, and deliver supplies to crews working on the ground. By the mid 1930s forestry officials began exploring whether parachutes could allow firefighters themselves to be inserted directly into remote fire zones. Trials carried out in the forests of the Pacific Northwest during the late 1930s proved the idea workable, leading to the first operational smokejumper crews in 1940.

Although the programme was civilian rather than military, these early parachute operations attracted the attention of the U.S. Army. In June 1940 Army officer William C. Lee observed smokejumper training at Seeley Lake, Montana. Lee later became a major general and played a key role in organising American airborne forces, including the 101st Airborne Division. Around the same period, Captain Leo P. Martin of the Army Medical Corps trained with the programme, becoming an early example of a military “para-doctor,” a concept that would later influence the development of U.S. Air Force pararescue teams.

This tee is made from loopwheel fabric, loopwheel machines are known to knit a sluggish pace, with only a single meter of fabric produced every hour. When compared to contemporary manufacturing methods, the loopwheel machines apply a very low thread tension allowing the production of an exceedingly premium and unique fabric. The resulting material feels like it has been hand woven, with a stretchy element to it, a quality that cannot be replicated by modern production techniques.

100% Cotton Fabric, 6.8 oz. (Loop-Wheel Knit Fabric)

Cotton Sewing Thread Construction

Print on Front

Made in Japan