Geowu

how safe is it to buy from Japan now?

Maybe someone at one of these small companies should have been more careful to start with. I don't know any specific details of this but these companies will be OK and you'll be able to buy their products just not with anything that looks like Levis on them. If it were my trade mark I'd be going after whoever to as most of you would be.

I hope all these companies will be indeed OK. You are right defending trademarks, you already said your work depends on it, but I think yours is a different kind of intellectual property, or whatever it's called. While books or songs are protected for some decades and then become public, the Levi's trademarks are something uncommon now-a-days, in that they registered forms of clothing, and besides, they're very old already. Furthermore, the trademarks are not all of them that strong. Additionally, they chose a particularly bad time to do it.

Unfortunately, probably their biggest mistake (besides "copying" the trademarks in the first place) was trying to make their product more available to the american consumer.

I think they actually didn't try to sell outside of Japan.

it's our fault (actually, Levis fault)

I see Levi's arcuates everywhere in many brands in Brazil, and they not even try to disguise them as the Japanese repros do... what about that? I guess the trademark is not very valid

are the Japanese customs really enforcing it right now? I wonder how long will it take so that we will be able to buy denim from some brands again

From Wikipedia:

Trademark law is designed to fulfill the public policy objective of consumer protection, by preventing the public from being misled as to the origin or quality of a product or service. By identifying the commercial source of products and services, trademarks facilitate identification of products and services which meet the expectations of consumers as to quality and other characteristics.

Trademarks may also serve as an incentive for manufacturers, providers or suppliers to consistently provide quality products or services in order to maintain their business reputation. Furthermore, if a trademark owner does not maintain quality control and adequate supervision in relation to the manufacture and provision of products or services supplied by a licensee, such “naked licensing” will eventually adversely impact on the owner’s rights in the trademark.

I never studied law, but I feel this move by Levis is just wrong in its core. Should the law not be allowed some flexibility, taking the particular situation into account? I don't think the execution of what Levis asks is lawful.

maybe Levi's should lose those trademarks, since they're so old and of a currently unusual type.

the Japanese companies want to reproduce the aspect of the early jeans, not be mistaken for Levis and profit on it. They don't copy them blatantly. They always take the time to modify the details so that they're not actually identical to Levis, just reproduce the same general feeling of the early jeans.

would they want to be mistaken for Levis? I don't think so. Levis is inferior and takes a whole different approach to consumer respect, quality and profit. To mistake or to not mistake a trademark makes a difference on trademark issues... see the iPhone thing.

additional measurements for the 29:

waist = 29" (can stretch up to 2 - 3" depending on how tight they are)

inseam = 30"

front rise = 11"

back rise = 14.5"

thigh at crotch level = 11.5"

knee = 8.75"

leg opening = 8"

Size 32 sold.

Size 29 sold.

Is that really Bush or an edited picture?

Both sizes SOLD.

Thanks.

that stitching looks good!

Their tag size is 32, and they are in a one-wash state, it depends how you measure them, they measure 33" all around or 16" across the back of the waistband.

Price down to $150 shipped (international)

however, i find out that they cost even more in euros than they do in dollars from america! 333 for sorahikos and 835 for jomons that is about £50 more expensive for sorahiko and £150 more for jomons.

oh well.. more money to spend i guess

Aren't there some extra taxes for products inside the EU? 15% or something like that. Sometimes online-stores from the EU cut these taxes off when they sell to outside the EU.

they're sold long time ago.

Full Count brand concept (Google translation):

http://66.249.93.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=ja%7Cen&u=http://www.fullcount.co.jp/brandconcept.html

I don't have a camera, but there are pics of them here

http://item.rakuten.co.jp/bears/fullcount-1101

my studio d'artisan sd-103 have now more than one year of everyday wear, and they look very faded. can't post pics though, I've got no camera. I think one year of everyday wear is the right amount of time to get a good fading, not 6 months.

Sold.

............

nice Eternals!

Sold.

............

I purchased Full Count 1101 through 2000dB. Just received them. I've bought them on rakuten/Bears, one-wash, size w32 l34. They hemmed it for me free of charge.

First impressions: the denim is slubbier than my SD'As, it feels light and pleasant to the touch. The slubbiness is natural, not made on purpose. The cut is confortable and allows freedom of movement. The hidden-rivets occupy a small space in the pockets, their lateral side is not very enlarged to make space for them. The selvage is narrow, and all the details look somewhat tiny and cute. The rise is bigger than the SD-103, enough to allow for 5 buttons, and to cover the back in all situations, but not too big. The craftsmanship is top quality, I would say just a little bit better than SD'A. I'm liking these jeans a lot.

Unfortunately can't post pics yet because I ain't got a camera. But I recommend them as one of the best options of Japanese denim (due to their cotton and their particularities, I would say they are the best in my opinion, maybe together with 45rpm, but I don't like their designs so much).

Edit: By the way, I'm selling them to go for a smaller size, if anyone's interested:

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?p=262327#post262327

Received my full count 1101 this morning, I have to say his service was really fast and I'm happy with it. From Japan to Germany it took 4 days. Thanks 2000db!

The starter of this thread has a point in that the mass-market companies advertising selvage will be delusioning the consumers into thinking they are buying something with the quality of the real old selvage jeans, when actually they will probably just be buying the same mass-market jeans with a fancy selvage edge. The fact that selvage "doesn't mean quality" can be found on many old topics here in Supertalk.

GAP has been doing selvage jeans for some years already an it hasn't had a big impact on the mass-acceptance of selvage jeans. Their selvage jeans are not bad.

So what really matters when it comes to judging jeans good or bad is not the selvage edge, though it could also count, but the quality, the subjective appreciation, the utility. A subject like this in this topic is good for keeping things into perspective. 60 years ago they had jeans good as the ones we in Supertalk wear, and it was no big deal, it was cheap work-wear. So, what has changed since then?

Looks like BIG is adding fullcount to their inventory. Love my 1108's from Fullcount.

Their Zimbabwe t-shirts are top quality too. Just like Loopwheeler, with the special machine and the special seams, but with Zimbabwean cotton (single-cropped). 45rpm is pretty much the same, but they charge twice as much and I don't know if the cotton is single-cropped. Full Count is great quality for a good price.