Jacket Inner Tee — Raised Collar, UV-Cut

Jacket inner tee · UV-cut · Made in Japan · KALEIDOSCOPE

Two problems with jacket and T-shirt styling
Wearing a T-shirt or crewneck under a jacket solves one problem — it looks clean — while creating two others. The first: sweat and skin oils transfer directly to the jacket's inner collar, which is difficult to clean and wears out from repeated dry-cleaning. The second: once the jacket comes off, the outfit collapses. The KALEIDOSCOPE Colored Cut-and-Sew was developed to address both.

The collar that does the work
The back collar is cut higher than a standard crewneck — high enough to sit between your skin and the jacket's inner lining. This prevents direct contact, which means the jacket stays cleaner for longer. The design challenge was making this higher back collar disappear when viewed from the front. Worn with or without a jacket, the silhouette reads as a normal crewneck.

Left: back collar fully guards the jacket lining · Right: invisible from the front

A fabric that outperforms cotton under a jacket
Cotton is comfortable, but it wrinkles visibly, pills with washing, and holds moisture — by evening under a jacket, it can lose its shape entirely. This top is made from PLUS FUNCTION® by Stylerem Takisada, a high-gauge jersey developed specifically to perform where cotton falls short.

A subtle sheen and structured drape

The fabric has a faint luster and holds its structure through a full day of wear. It stretches, doesn't pull at the shoulders, and has enough weight to drape smoothly against the body without being stiff. It blocks over 90% of UV radiation and feels cool on contact with skin — useful both under a jacket in a warm office and during transit between locations. It dries faster than cotton, which makes it well-suited to travel: wash it in the evening, wear it the next morning.

Left: creased after packing · Right: 10 minutes after a light mist of water

Any creases from packing or sitting release within about 10 minutes after a light mist of water — or simply wearing it.

Raglan sleeves — chosen for movement, not style
Raglan sleeves — where the sleeve runs continuously from collar to cuff without a shoulder seam — are common in sportswear because they allow a full range of arm movement without binding. Several sleeve constructions were tested before settling on this one. The raglan is not here as a design statement; it is here because it causes the least interference with how the body moves through a day.

Raglan construction — unrestricted movement without a casual read

How this top came to exist
The jacket-without-a-shirt-collar look was introduced to a wider audience in the 1990s, when Jil Sander — a German brand then at the center of European fashion — began pairing jackets with crewneck knits and T-shirts instead of collared shirts. The developer of the KALEIDOSCOPE Colored Cut-and-Sew was working in European brand business at the time and immediately adopted the style. The problem of jacket collar soiling followed shortly after.

The collar solution took time to develop. The initial samples were made in cotton — because the factory's position was that cut-and-sew simply meant cotton. The cotton version looked right but failed by the end of the day, the fabric going limp from body heat and moisture. That failure led directly to PLUS FUNCTION® — and when the finished sample came back, the factory was convinced.

The factory's name cannot be disclosed, but it produces for some of Japan's most recognized designer brands. The KALEIDOSCOPE Colored Cut-and-Sew has been available since summer 2023 and is currently sold exclusively online through By Emotion.