Leaderboard

Freewheelers tux. Before the contest came together I was planning for the year in mostly black denim. Now it’s just for on the off days. Otherwise pretty much the same thing as usual.

I got one of those too telling me about the potential for massive growth - I told them I was in my 60s and sent a dicpic to show them how wrong they were

work tux getting beat. First photo is more the actual color.

My 611s right before first real wash. Shot in open shade so tried to get these more accurate, but this still feels a little more dramatic than how they look in reality. Maybe the coin pocket pic is closest to most accurate. little bit of button rust with multiple passes of hand stitching reinforcing that back seam now. Still holding but sheesh lots of time left. Maybe need to lay off the bike commutes in these.

Thanks to b_F's unintentional, but persuasive, enabling, I have most of SC's Collectibles series jeans, and love them all. But like ATWN, I'm not a historical purist, which in my case means I lack the knowledge of year or even period-specific details, plus I'm somewhat colorblind, so barely notice things like thread color differences. But I love the fact that there are people here who appreciate these details. This, more than anything else, is why I tune in, though finding a nice pair of jeans that fits well is certainly a reason too. At the risk of going overboard with compliments, I am sincerely impressed by the knowledge and appreciation for historical detail that comes through on threads like this. My friends all think I'm a collector, and while the number of pairs hanging in my closet is damning evidence, I know that knowledge and appreciation for historical distinctions is a better indicator than volume.

I am so free...

The 1945 is quite neppy. Also on the inside

Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day...

3 and half years ago after a fair bit of chat and a lot of encouragement from my mate @Flash I started making belts with some purpose. The purpose was that I had retired to look after my little girl who has multiple disabilities and in intervening hours I wanted to do something to slow down brain atrophy coupled with the fact that I’d bought a Warehouse belt which transpired to be shit. Since then, and much to my very genuine surprise, I’ve now made a little over 200 belts … slightly better than 1 belt every week. That’s the extent of my ‘business’. Each belt is made to the requirements and specifications set out by the customer. Each belt is made entirely by hand - no electrically or manually operated machines whatsoever. Skiving, edge bevelling, burnishing and the like are done according to how I ‘read’ each piece of leather being used. I have never made the same belt twice - some are similar, but respectfully that’s down to the request and invariably there will still be fundamental differences. Because every belt is different, there is no easy way (or wish) to standardise the process or materials. This also means I cannot easily plan ahead or take advantage of cost savings in ‘bulk’ purchasing. In terms of the money I ‘make’ from this enterprise - I charge exactly what I pay for any materials and add the honest number hours labour (at UK minimum wage). If I take a picture of a belt - I’ll normally display it here, and post it on IG (if the owner allows). I guess that can be considered as advertising but I don’t look for new opportunities or sales. If I’m asked, I’m asked, if I’m not then it makes no difference - I’ve just explained that it’s not a source of income that makes any substantive impact on household income, even if it was predictable. Because Standard Rivet has closed down I can no longer replenish my studs/spots, so my ‘business’ will soon close down … that should be good news to Miho at ACE But anyway, thank you to everyone who has trusted me with their hard earned, I hope I’ve never let you down.

Finally someone who appreciate my IG account!

3 weeks ago this weekend, my neck of the woods was hit by a devastating ice storm. I was fortunate to only have been without power for 3 days. Some friends were without power for over a week, and some areas on the outskirts still are without. I spent a fair few hours (in jeans) on clean up in my yard and around town the last few weeks. Some of these photos are mine, some are borrowed. There definitely was a certain beauty even in the midst of the destruction. And it was interesting to see the way the community responded and came together, it reminded me of the early days of Covid in a sense.

MF, orSlow 101XX, Allbirds

It’s the recreation of period detailing, done well with minimal interpretation.. y’see, I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with Sugarcane, I love them more than any other denim brand for reasons ive waxed lyrical about.. but they’ve also disappointed me massively over the years.. one such time was when (I think) the 2010 catalogue came out, I couldn’t wait to see where they would take the brand after the 2008 upheaval, only to be confronted with their star jeans, 3, 5 & 10 year worn.. i was heartbroken and I didn’t wear SC for years after.. I continued to nerd out over their back catalogue while buying CFS.. the jeans I always thought Sugarcane should have been.. seeing snippets of past glories in their Junky 46 collab while they continued to disappoint me with their shitty line up.. but these Denim Collectables are the first thing in 20yrs which give me a pre 2007 vibe, if they would have done this in 2015, CSF might never have found their niche.

Iron Heart / Whitesville / Full Count

Happy Days! I remember doing the same, i was going through a bit of a Futura 2000 phase at the time

I had noticed the beautiful indigo patina on the rough out side of favorite vintage painted belt before but I was today years old when I realized the buckle is designed to be instantly reversible. It seems it simply swings both ways. I can wear it either way without swapping the buckle. I won't do it often because I don't want to effect the perfect gloss or the paint too much. But how cool is that?

And Denime already did it between 1998 and 2004 I think adding to @Double 0 Soul: the specific developed denim is also a nice feature. The smaller brands like CSF, BOT and the like rarely have the chance to get custom denim. They have to buy what's available/offered. Or other brands just use a denim They already use anyway and make a WW2 out of it. How wildly different a WW2 denim of each year to another year is another question but this approach certainly adds to the overall costs for the Collectibles series.

You’re right.. There isn’t any real distinctions between these and other repro brands who also do it well, they’re late to the party but if you’re a SC fanboy, we haven’t really seen this from the brand before. This approach to repro is still relatively new in the denim world, there has always been a loose interpretation of period details and cut, unfinished fly, WWII restrictions et al but this focus on recreating date specific anomalies has only been a thing for the last decade or so.. the first time I saw a purposely wonky pocket was the RMC-003, when was that?.. 2013 or summat

Smaller batches, everything made from scratch and exclusively for the particular model (denim, rivets, buttons, pocket bags). Detailed sewing to replicate the original one (although they overdo it on some parts). Worth it? Your decision

Freewheelers / Big Yank by Anatomica / Fruit of Loom / my favourite belt by @Duke Mantee 😉😁 / WoM 5150 / Russell Moccasins

Paired my SC1945 jacket with my Resolute 710...they feel like skinny jeans 😅

Pre-wash shots of my 611’s (37’s). Details Crotch shot…

Neat Style x Denim Bridge WWII / At Last & Co Lot 212 / Nicks

I don’t know that that’s true—I’ve been really impressed by how specific some of the early M-series (some of the Lee jeans, in particular) feel in term of seemingly zeroing in on the details of a single vintage sample. Of course we don’t have the catalogs or promotional material or YouTube review videos to confirm the designers’ intentions, but I would go as far as to suggest that it was probably all the more common, back when true vintage samples were much more readily available, to base a model on a specific sample pair than it is now, when we have much less access to high quality samples but much more access to high quality aggregated data about what the defining features were of each era. I agree that this approach seems to have gone out of fashion for a period of time before the current resurgence, but I don’t think the approach is wholly new.

Expecting our first child in a few months, so my LVCs & I are painting and getting a nursery set up

I ❤️these Denim Collectables.. my disillusionment caused me to pass them up.. but they do seem like the most significant thing to happen in the denimworld for quite sometime.. from my perspective, my benchmarks was always pre-2007 Japanese Levi repros, followed by 46 repros, i flirted with a few SC 50/50s in the midst and now these.. i've passed up on lots of denim over the years while i've been focusing on my own thing and never regretted it for a second.. but every time i see these bumped, i deeply regret not owning them.

Invisible mending is an incredible art form.. it's great for jackets and such because they take threads from elsewhere on the garment to ensure a perfect match but i always wonder with less fabric extensive garments.. sweatshirts and such... where would they take the material from? Re- visible mending, there are folks on this forum with skills i wish i had, you could always put a shout out in the 'repairs thread' but again, to do visible mending well is a labour of love, if you're repairing your own much loved clothing, or the clothing worn by your kids, the time scale doesn't matter but if you're mending for paid work, it doesn't take long, even at minimum wage for the cost of the repair to outweigh the cost of a new sweater.. i know how long it takes me to do repairs badly.. + you have to take both ways shipping into account. Let us know how you get on? .. and anyone else with experience of the above edit- I love the way repaired clothing looks.. my only aversion is the way it can make them feel / drape (not noticeable on heavier garments, jackets and wot-not) and although some of those^ more creative examples look good, they're probably not going to look the same after a few cycles through the washing machine.. especially the stitch heavy varieties.

Demand is dying out - nobody wants to buy a sterile, over thought out and fussy belt 😉 (see? I’m learning 😄)

Tender Co orslow 105 Birkenstock

I guess a lot of folks don’t know I’ve been quietly collecting Ooe for 10-15 years, trying to pick up one of everything they make. These pants were definitely a bit of a stretch, but I’m so glad I got them. Maybe one day I’ll try and post a pic of my collection. The one thing I’m missing is the melton wool vest they did about 10 years ago, if anyone knows where I can find a 38 let me know!

Modified Tender 473 Sack Shirt Starts to lose colour very lovely

Union Special / Tender Co. / The Vanishing West / Tezomeya / Word of Mouth / Russell

Freewheelers 1922 / Tezomeya / @Duke Mantee / Belafonte / Converse Timeline

Ooe / Farm sweatshirt / WMJ / Quoddy

American Optical, Big Mac, Freewheelers, Coronado Leather, 3sixteen, Clark's

I completely agree here. Getting hemmed to the exact length from the get go is difficult. Especially if you take into account that each pattern fit differently, that jeans are forever shrinking and that different shoes/boots usually look better with different length of inseam. What works well with chinos for me is hemming them again after about a year of wear. I did it with denim as well but than you lose the beautiful roping that are created to that point. fading a pair of denim is always a win some lose some situation.

It’s fine. But, with raw denim, it’s pretty tough to do because the length isn’t exactly a constant and the variable rises of jeans means the ideal inseam isn’t the same from pair to pair. YMMV but most raw pairs I get shrink in length over the course of multiple washes. Like my contest jeans, just gave them their second wash. I did a hand wash with cold water and minimal agitation. This after the first wash was a piping, steaming hot long soak followed by a hot machine wash. Even though it was cold water this time and gentler, still lost about an inch in length. I sized the jeans for where I’d hoped the eventual length after all shrinkage would be only a small cuff or could even be none, but as with many other pairs it doesn’t get there until 3 or 6 months in. If I hem them from the get go they are too short 6 months in. I do tend to get new pairs hemmed when I can, but always err on an inch or even 2 inches too long because of this and then I wear the jeans cuffed or uncuffed depending.

^ Of course it’s okay. I’m not sure what you’re basing your statistics on, but it seems like most folks on this forum prefer to get their jeans hemmed to length. Personally, I usually get new jeans hemmed to length when I’m buying them direct from the manufacturer, but most of my jeans are old stock from Yahoo or Mercari, and I almost never bother sending those out to get hemmed

I had noticed the beautiful indigo patina on the rough out side of favorite vintage painted belt before but I was today years old when I realized the buckle is designed to be instantly reversible. It seems it simply swings both ways. I can wear it either way without swapping the buckle. I won't do it often because I don't want to effect the perfect gloss or the paint too much. But how cool is that?

Bought this shirt at a thrift store today. anyone knows this brand? Supposedly Italian. Called Casucci. Label reads “famous tailoring factory”. I know it’s nothing fancy, bought it for next to nothing, but the fit is great and cool pattern. from what I read online it can be from 70s or 80s.

You know me better than that MJ I don’t do a single 1945 jacket, I do the entire range.. with possibly a backup kept in a sealed bag.

Re: my type 1 search. I ended up buying the groundalls ww2 version @beautiful_FrEaK suggested. Received it early this week and despite not being close to my desired 70cm back length I really like the shorter fit. Thanks again for all the suggestions everyone.

That’s a fundamental question when it comes to everything in life. It’s good to understand where the line is between need and want — and to lean toward the first whenever possible. Oh dear, what am I saying… the denim police are probably on their way to kick me off the forum!😱

I can’t say I agree with FurnitureMaker’s post, for a few reasons I’d rather not get into. I’ll just say this — I pretty much always like the belts Duke puts out, ones I’ve seen in photos. Especially the simpler ones — clean, no fuss. I got one for myself, and it’s only gotten better with age. Picked up another as a gift for my nephew, and just the other day he told me he builds his outfits around it now. If money weren’t so tight — wartime’s not exactly great for the wallet — I’d happily order a few more.

@Duke Mantee I’m not sure if you take the same pleasure or interest in making other leather goods, but I am quite happy to own two different bags you’ve made as well, and look forward to using them for some long time or even passing down an old weathered version of one if they make it. And the one simple belt is far and away the nicest one I’ve ever owned, and one that I’m proud to wear when the occasion calls for it. Understanding it is not exactly a profitable enterprise for you I very much appreciate the task you’ve set out for yourself, as my son went through a pretty rough journey some years ago that made me have to really revisit my priorities and responsibilities in life. It’s a different situation of course, but it makes the things I’ve gotten from you that little bit much more important. I hope you’ll keep working with leather even if Standard is closed, but if not, I am grateful for having gotten the chance to own some of the thoughtfully made pieces you’ve spent your time on.

I do not, but I recently purchased some Maui Jim sunglasses and it has shifted my mindset on sunglasses in a big way. The lenses are so clear, with so much contrast, that wearing my old sunglasses now feels like I'm looking through a foggy haze. They were more expensive than TBD glasses, and the frames aren't as chonky as thick acetate but the lenses... man. I purchased some from a grey market dealer for $218 pre tax instead of $400. ( jomashop dot com). Will never buy a pair of sunglasses again that don't prioritize lenses, unless they're for mucking around. Other mid tier recommendations if you care about lenses would be Serengeti (part of Bolle). Not sure where Serengeti is made but my MJs were made in Japan.

Spent a few hours on a ladder this weekend tearing down some invasive vines from the (also invasive, but much less work to upkeep) bamboo lining our side walkway. There was way more to it than I bargained for—probably 2–3 cubic yards, all told—and I didn’t even consider how barren it would leave my de facto WAYWT backdrop. Oh well, bamboo grows back all too fast once it’s not getting choked out. feat. Union Special, Tender Co., The Vanishing West, Tezomeya, Russell In other garden news, the irises I put in a few months ago are just starting up, and the delphiniums are just finishing for the season: (feat. vintage Cane’s x2 in the background) …and we’ve just moved some tomatoes and peppers from their starter pots into the ground out front, plus threw in some marigolds and extra tomato starters from the store for good measure

3009, wasn’t too keen on these but the measurements fit the bill. Having a dozen of so pairs that I retire after a couple years, I told myself I’ll machine wash these often and wear them until they’re beyond repair. Didn’t care for the vertical fading at first but that has seemed to vanish. Extremely fast fading, these aren’t even at 2 years yet. Darned the crotch professionally and doing self repairs now. By far the best fitting slim straight pairs I’ve owned. also I wanted to add, I believe washing maching significantly increases fabric wear. The first photo was right before a wash, then the last 2 photos show fraying in several spots including the knees, right after a gentle cycle no spin

Same old. Getting way more mileage out of a pair of budget Target jeans than I ever expected. Button fly, wide vintage fit, mid weight selvedge denim for less than the price of fabric? Late stage capitalism is a weird mess.

Great Lakes / The Vanishing West / Union Special / Hollows / Word of Mouth / Russell