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Paul T

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Posts posted by Paul T

  1. Well, as has been pointed out, authenticity is a much-abused term. But, duh, I thought fashion was about the shock of the new, not the shock of the three-years-old...

    I'm by no means a Levi's die-hard, but I did feel a bit sorry for them the day a marketing manager told me about the time someone told him he should check out the new Miss Sixty range, it was really cool (by implication, cooler than anything Levi's were doing). And it was the Miss Sixty Type 1 retread...,

  2. Wandering around Selfridges, as you do, I noticed the new Armani range (not racks I normally check out).

    It features an almost literal knock-off the the Levi's RED range that gave birth to Type 1 - down to the big rivets, low rise front, inky-blue denim, and even the mulitcoloured stitching. It's even more blatant than the True Religion and Miss Sixty knockoffs.

    Who the hell is buying these? People who thought the Levi's ones weren't expensive enough?

  3. Usually they can't resist making them more 'authentic' than the originals - that's why you often get things like red selvage lines where you shouldn't, or extra back pocket rivets etc. The fact your seller didn't show the extra redline parts in the auction photos makes it pretty obvious he knew they were fakes.

  4. Not sure exactly when everything moved to Japan. Even a year ago, after they'd closed the old factory (Valencia?) (eaither for earthquake reinforcement, or for cutbacks), there still seemed to be some US-made jeans; others were made in Italy. Around a month ago I was told all the spring 05 range is made in Japan.

    I do have a pic here of the current 55 reissue coincidentally, which is definietly made in Japan and yes, in almost every single detail it looks different, from the colour of stitching to the look of the red tab. Unfortunately it's 46Meg so I can't post it. But all the 1955 reissues I've seen over the last 5 years or so do have the leather-look patch. (There was at one point, perhaps just in Japan, a 54 reissue with a leather patch, again which looked nothing like this one).

  5. it;s just the new ones that are made in Japan. That patch is too thick and shiny - and the '55 reissues would have had a 'leather look' - ie card label. The Made in US inside tag is totally different from the real one, which is woven in a different way, without the batwing logo, with washing instructions on the back. The LVC jeans (1947 or earlier) with leather patches would have had a slightly deeper arcuate.

  6. Another reason for Broken Twill (invented by John Neil Walker, and first used by Wrangler in 1965 for its 13MWZ cowboy jeans), which someone at Wrangler just told me:

    "The unique structure of broken twill denim allows it to absorb starch

    very well. Cowboys soak their jeans in starch for two reasons:

    a, To become a dirt screen (in the same way as Teflon coating works

    today), they're proud guys those cowboys!

    b, The starch helps them maintain a center crease down the front of

    their jeans.

    Who'da thunk it?

  7. Hiya Superslim, did you ever see the CD-ROM that Cone produced of their production process? I DID have a spare one but have rummaged thru my cupboards and can't find the bleedin' thing. They might still have some knocking around they could send you?

  8. Superslim, you must have been to Selvage in NY, it's on Mulberry (and prime?), can't remember if it's SoHo or the Village, 219 0994, last time I was there the manager was Brett Anderson. They should have all the RED and Vintage stuff. If you're in the industry you might be able to get a discount (25% in London if you work in a shop on the same street!).

    I;m not saying Levi's will necessarily work for you, I just like them...

  9. I'm sure others will know more than me, but if you don't get any better suggestions, when you're in Barcelona, got to Vincon, a pretty good interiors shop - I think it's on Passeig de Gracia, which is in the main shopping area, called the Eixemple (sp?). They sell a book called the 'Barcelona Design Guide' (just looked for my copy , can't find it). It's written by architects and I think they also name some good shops. It might also be worth asking the staff at Vincon, some of them look pretty hip - it's not too young, it's a bit like (London's) Conran Shop, but better, or was when I was there a few years ago.

  10. Superslim, do look out for Vintage Levi's 607, orange tab. They were unisex but are the classic womens' bootcut. THey're not always available... you used to be able to get them in a made-in-the-US version that wore brilliantly. My girlfriend stole mine and they look great; another friend bought the LVC reissue version about 18 months ago, they look great, too. And the RED range that inspired the Type 1 is pretty good, straight leg.

    ALl of Levi's rivals (ie the designer at Diesel & Lee) do maintain that Levi's can't do women's cuts... so maybe they're right. About 18 months ago theyactually copied a pair of Seven jeans, cut for cut, to try & get some of that market - it was the 557 girls Square Fit, if you like that Low Rise kinda thing, but the denim wasn't that great.

    But hey, i'm sure you're on the right trail anyway, good luck with the APC.

  11. Sitting at the bottom of my wardrobe I have a few pairs of LVC 1920s reissues, picked up in sales etc, that are the right size - but way too long.

    Sadly, I am bothered by the fact that the hems on these jeans are chainstitched - so I want them shortened chainsitch.

    A while ago, Cinch in London were planning to get a chainstich machine for exactly this reason - now their previous manager has moved on, and they've dropped the idea.

    So... does anyone know of any tailors in London etc who have a chainstitch machine???

  12. Email me that info, I'd be interested.

    Re Cone, I remember the story of their looms from when Evis started out - it was in regard to Evis that people started talking about Levi's (or, of course, Cone) selling their looms. But the Levi's style r/h twill fabric Evis used from the beginning came from Kurabo - this is according to Adriano Goldschmied, who backed Evis in the early days, and was one fo the first people to use Kurabo for modern selvage jeans, way back in the mid 80s. And Kurabo might have the odd US loom, but they're not the mainstay. So I think that story started out as mostly spin, and the notion that the Japanese suddenly started making selvadge BECAUSE they'd bought COne looms in the mid 80s, is basically false.

    However, this doesn't mean that lots of smaller operation haven't bought Cone looms - and I'd love to know if anyone has. But, as the people I know who've spend lots of time at Cone, all the big and many of the small Japanese mills have pointed out, buying second hand looms, repairing them, shipping them and maintaining them wouldn't make sense for most Japanese mills; buying Japanese looms would almost certainly be cheaper.

    Of course, that does leave the question of where all those old US looms went, whether from Cone, or defunct outfits like Erwin mills all across the south. My guess would be they were scrapped - but it's just a guess. What does strike me is that, while the shuttle-looms-to-Japan story is endemic, all the people who should be able to verify it seem doubtful that it happened.

  13. Selfridges, Oxford St, has most of the designer labels, probably including PDC, Evisu etc etc and is probably the best place for modern-ish labels with a lot of choice re washes. On Endell St, Covent Garden, you'll find American Classics (LVC, Lee Japan and more ) and Interstate (Edwin, much more), Duffer just round the corner, as is Replay (generic design, but good washes) plus more stores nearby.

  14. mmm, interesting. I have also asked a senior source from Levi's fabric end... he told me before he thought Cone hadn't sold any looms, he's been to practically all the Japanese mills but he's going back to check. Maybe people will start to get paranoid down in North Carolina!

    Sometimes people just with-hold information, even when they know. I was told by one pretty senior person at LS&Co that the denim was essentially the same when they swtiched to wide looms. I guess a lot of people here will know what they were obscuring...

    Anway, Superslim, I read on a post of yours you wouldn't be seen dead in Levi's, maybe you're too cool to be talking to an LVC freak like me??

    BTW, Spitzbrg, when you say fake Selvage, do you mean non selvage with that fake strip sewed on? Or is there something more sophisticated out there?

  15. Sorry, I meant Levi's, as opposed to LVC - Levi's Vintage, Not a huge difference obviously, but they're marketed differently, and LVC is now made in Japan (it used to be made in the old Valencia St factory). The Levi's I saw were generally a vintage look, with selvage, but not a copy of a specific year 501, like the LVC product, and were a little bit cheaper,

  16. I was in Miami a couple of weeks ago and noticed a newish selvage model that I don't think is LVC. IT's not an exact repro, has a couple of cowboys on the leather patch, I think it was circa $120, didn't look bad. Didn't have time for a proper look, maybe someone else here knows more?

  17. Yes, I think Evisu put their launch date as 1991, but Evis were producing a wide range of pants and jackets by 1990, and I think their earliest production might have been 1988. I'm so old, I can remember their very first jeans that at the time were, for instance, identical to 501s, beautiful copies, but I only ever saw catalogue photos of their Lee or Wrangler replicas. Does anyone else remember the terrible Capital E Levi's? They'er the ones that put Evisu on the map, because they made it obvious the Japanese were doing it better, and it was only when LVC brought in LS&Co Japan that they started to get it right. I've been told by one of the fabric experts at Leiv's was it wasn't the looms that were the problem when they restarted selvage production at Cone, it was that the staff who knew how to nurture the machines had mostly retired.

    I would love to know the truth regarding how many US looms went to Japan... I am sure it happened, but as I said there was a story put about, maybe by Yamane, that Evis (or presumably Kurabo) had bought Levi's (or presumably Cone's) looms and I'm pretty certain that never happened in the way it's been described; when I've asked for more detail from Evisu, I got more information about the sewing machines instead. But if I could get definitive reports of particular mills buying US looms in the 80s I'd be fascinated, I know very little about those mom and pop mills.

    I agree Spitzbrg, , wihtout the Japanese, we wouldn't have access to all this selvage denim today, they treasured and developed it while the Americans abandoned it. Though as Ringring says, many others produce selvage, Legler in Italy have been producing selvage for over a decade, quite possibly they never stopped, and I just heard Orta mills in Turkey are producing some beautiful denim too. My neighbour buys for TopShop (!) and I must ask her where they're buying selvage for all their new range, wouldn't surprise me if it's elsewhere in Asia.

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