ringring

Thanks for the pics everyone. I hope you're enjoying the journey. Sorry to hear the issues with the waist sizes, I hope the hot water solution helps.

For the record, the pair I picked up from the production run, which, as far as I know, was just a just a random pair, fit exactly as I'd expect from Flat Head.

Look forward to seeing more photos.

I'm still experimenting on how to make darker shades of blue which we can see in 45rpm or kapitals product which claims on using natural indigo. But maybe it's because the characteristics of the dye itself. I was told that the japanese indigo (polygonum tinc) gives more of that darker shade than the one I'm using (indigofera tinc).

I once tried dyeing a 100% cotton fabric with 15x dipping. But still the outcome couldn't reach the dark shades that I want.

Btw, I'm planning on doing a small sample of indigo dyed tees next week, as well as other tee color such as khaki and olive, all from natural dyes.

Great posts. Many thanks for them.

Regarding the dark shades you'll find from Kapital or 45rpm, the denim at least will have been yarn dyed aka skein/hank. The yarns will have been twisted during the dye process to force the indigo deeper into the yarn.

Also historically, some products, will contain a mix of natural indigo and synthetic indigo. (I have no idea if Kap or 45 do this for their beautiful products).

Look forward to your next update.

I have a feeling the term 'repro' may have been coined on Superfuture. There may have been other words in the modern denim lexicon that also debuted here, for example "roping" for the twisted hems.

We are honoured!

Altho I suspect you don't know what you are getting into. The amount of surplus verbiage in this thread is scary enough already, heaven only knows the noise that will be generated by the result of the contest - and who gets those hallowed boxers.

Enjoying that Sea Island Cotton book very much, by the way - thanks for suggesting it!

I love the style.

I love the fabric.

I love the production process.

If you love jeans, then it's easy to care about this. I'm just happy to observe.

Glad you like the book. 2011 should be a good book year

I'm sad I didn't see this. I'd have loved to have read through all that information.

Great job!

I am down for a popular vote of top 3 or 5 then turning it over to the celebrity judges. RingRing might care less about this whole thing though.

Care, I do.

I find that LHT denim does indeed fade slower because the fabric softens up much more easily and earlier, and most of the times it won't crease quite as well - the resulting fading is more a blurry hue than hyper-intense contrasting lines.

Pure indigo is just 100% synthetic indigo, so same as most jeans AFAIK.

I think there's too many variables to say of these lefty denims will fade faster or slower than it's equivalent RHT.

What will be interesting is the fade will produce a slightly more pronounced vertical striation. It's one of the characteristics of left hand.

I'm curious how the lip on the top edge of the back pocket will fade..

Just arrived in Tokyo, word on the street is that Mister Freedom's 2011 line will be near unrecognizable from past seasons. This is very exciting.

Seeing the Spring 2011 collection tomorrow night.

No more navy. No more chinstrap shirts. Cleaner.

Go Mister Freedom!

You were correct, I looked on the other side of the boot and the rivet is intact. The hole in the side of the boot had a rivet at one time. I will take a picture of the remaining rivet, on the other side of the boot.

Excellent! Look forward to the photo.

It's an amazing job you are doing.

Nice. Please update with photos as you wear them in.

Great photos.

Interesting construction on the boot. Did the boots originally have a tongue attached to the throat of the vamp? And was the hole on the side for a rivet?

It's fascinating to see that they hobnailed the arch of the sole as well. Those nails must have caused a fair few rips in waist overalls.

I was thinking to represent the LHT, just a guess though.

That's right. Or left in this case.

Thank you everyone who took the time to see them in the flesh, and doubly to those who invested in a pair (or two).

Almost all products are designed to cost. Sales people will say, demand a $50, $75 and $85 pair of jeans and the design and production departments will work together to fill those price slots.

This project is not like that. Kiya just went for it. His initial idea was just to do something different. He asked me to think of something that I'd wanted, but not seen on the market. Getting these jeans made was almost two years worth of difficult. At any time, Kiya could have just said, 'let's go back to a traditional 5 pocket construction'. But he persisted. His bright eyes lit up at the challenge. And Flat Head put real artistry into the make.

This doesn't make commercial sense. Unfortunately, the price will be an obstacle to many.

I love the result, and am honoured to have worked with Flat Head & Kiya to make these jeans.

Thank you everyone for the comments.

Personally, I think the denim is something special in these jeans. After hassling Kiya to come up with a 14.5oz, pure indigo, lefty, he came up with the most beautiful selection of fabrics and this one was the prettiest of the lot.

One of the curious things about left handers is the way the vertical ring pattern is more accentuated. It's fascinating.

I'm also sorry to see the high price, and have wondered why Kiya has taken this on. The design was a challenge, and sewing these must be pain or love, or I suspect a bit of both.

As you can imagine, jeans making is set up in an automated way. There's a set pattern, and this over the years has become highly efficient.

These jeans deviate from that. A lot more than they look. So they come off the regular sewing line. Handmade. Small mistakes will be amplified on these. Things need to be taken slow. The result costs a lot, lot more.

Thanks to anyone who goes to see these and especially anyone who invests in a pair. Flat Head and Kiya made the difficult look simple. And that, is an art.

.

A swift and full recovery to you Kiya.

Or should that be another ringring endorsement?!

Yes. Absolutely.

Another ringing endorsement here. It's an outstanding book Mike. Anyone interested in jeans should have a copy.

Many thanks for the education.

SELA looks great. Congratulations Kiya

These are first denim jeans from Russians

Ecchi from Vataku MayDay by xxxx

Said these are 13.5 oz superdry raw denim, slim fit.

Don't be cruel

Nice to see something that's not a straight 501 homage for a change. Good luck to Vataku.

im trying to make my own jeans but i am stuck, i can source denim, i have rivets, and i have a sewing machine but im stuck on patterns.

how can i make my own pattern?

just by ripping some old jeans up and tracing that on paper?

and im also stuck on pockets

Patterns can be bought or you can copy a pair by taking them apart, as noted previously. You can also trace a pattern without disassembling a pair by using a spiked wheel, although you need to gain some experience first.

its just denim from a fabric store (im making a test run pair of jeans before i make the real thing)

and i have a an old singer? will that do?

You can test your sewing and pattern on any non-stretch woven fabric first. It doesn't need to be denim.

You'll need to try sewing in a straight line, following a curve, open seams, bagging out and fell seams, before starting on a garment.

An old Singer should be fine. Singer has a long, long history sewing jeans. It just needs to sew forwards and backwards. If it also does a zig-zag then that's all you need for now. Just get used to setting up the thread and the bobbin.

and if thats not good what kind of heavy duty sewing machine can i get for a reasonable price?

also in some jean making pics i saw pockets being folded then pressed what is that for exactly? and hows it done?

this is what i mean

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=149004&page=5

Test your Singer by doing some fell seams on denim or a heavyweight cotton twill. You may need to ease it through the heaviest layers by turning the needle by hand.

Singer, Brother, Toyota and Elna are all good, commonly found domestic machines. Keep it simple, and avoid paying extra for trinkets you won't need, unless you're anticipating making jeans with embroidered butterflies and ducks

Otherwise, you could look for a used Industrial Machine from Brother, Singer, Juki etc. But try making a few on a domestic machine before investing here.

Have fun. Good luck.

Lovely to see woad being used for the overdyeing. Huge kudos and the best of luck to you sir.

My knowledge of Zim is poor, but I think they cultivate a short staple cotton, Albar . I'm speculating, but perhaps this could be valued for denim making in the same way certain Japanese 'repro' brands have developed jeans made from short staple cotton.

http://www.seedco.co.zw/

http://www.thecottoncompany.com/html/Products-%20Services/seed_co.shtm

There's probably also longer staple cotton grown...

http://www.deltaandpine.com

Nice to see an expert round these parts - we've missed you! I've read my attempted explanation, it makes no sense (I plead posting before the first coffee of the day), yours is as illuminative as ever.

You made perfect sense to me.

Good to see you here again. And good luck to Roy.

Traditionally, black seed refers to Gossypium Barbadense, which as Paul noted was the plant that produced Sea Island Cotton - it had a black seed.

As opposed to Gossypium Hirsutum, or upland cotton which has a much shorter staple length and has a green seed.

Pima is a cultivar of Barbadense, and has the black seed.

honestly, i haven't had such great experiences with Mike Hodis. Two out of three times i went into the store he wasn't very nice and seemed pestered by my presence. I guess me wearing a white tshirt, beat up vans, and worn out jeans didn't strike him as a potential customer. He was really annoyed when i asked him about denim weight and talked very lowly of 21oz denim. His arguing point was that 21oz denim had never been used in the history of denim and his shop's selling points was that they "made things the old way". I concurred that 21oz denim wasn't used for pants wayyy back when but he said that 21oz denim felt like a rug and was not comfortable to wear. I disagreed strongly with this statement and told him my IH301S were incredibly comfortable. I wasn't wearing them at the time though, and all hodis said to me was that they felt like a rug and i didn't know what i was talking about.

Another time i went into the store I was inquiring about whether Hodis had any plans to make a selvage denim messenger bag. He said no. I asked him if i could possibly buy 2 yards of denim fabric from him (since he's local) and make a messenger bag on my own. He said no, and that his denim was reserved for some very special stuff later on. Finally, i asked him how much he would charge to custom make a messenger bag. His reply- "such items are beneath me"

I honestly have no inclination to ever return to that store. Every experience has been awful except the sales girl that works in there is insanely cute. She's worth going to see. hahaha

I'd like to balance this with my experience. When I dropped in, Mike was throughly charming, as was his wife and Zooey.

His jeans are also first class. Best of luck to him.