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Staining with tea and coffee is not at all unheard of. It is often used when jeans are too 'blue' (I mean like baby-blue or blueberry blue). Raw persimmon juice (kaki-shibu) is also used sometimes for this purpose. There are some before-and-after pics using coffee on a Japanese website. If I can find it again I will post it.

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Yes, I photographed it in natural light with no flash to try to get as true a rendition of the colours as possible. There is, as you say, quite a range. So many photos I see do not give much of an accurate rendering of the true colour.

I'll post some more pics of the Guitar Wolf as I have some time.

Location is a back garden somewhere outside Oxford.

Let's see here... on a recent day:

left-to-right: Evisu 2000Z No.2, Lee 1937 101B, Samurai S5000VX, IronHeart 461, Dry Bones CDP-555 (Guitar Wolf edition), Yen 105, Samurai S510XX-AI, Lee 1952 101Z

Found it:

http://www.take5jeans.com/

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"Take 5" in Kowloon. They have a website as well, but I don't have the address to hand.

Buco J-100:

http://www.realmccoys.co.jp/shopping/item.php?id=BJ5103

It's been mentioned elsewhere, but Michiko Koshino in Broadwick St. carries Yen jeans. Also, 'Designworks' in the same street occasionally stocks japanese selvage (full count, inter alia).

There is also the Samurai detergent, which is actually a Japanese commercial brand called 'Thunder Red'. (http://www.thunder-red.jp) an all-natural no-additive detergent powder, the chief property of which is that it's made with soy-bean oil rather than mineral oil, coconut oil, or rendered beef tallow, which other soaps are generally based on (along with caustic soda). As their website explains, soap made with soy bean oil has a much lower melting point than other types, meaning it dissolves rapidly and completely in cold water, so very suitable for washing jeans.

sizing of the 5000vx: I soaked these in the hottest my water would get for a good hour to hour and a half (is this long enough to get full shrinkage? Because if it isn't, I may do it again...I might even put them in the dryer for a bit). I bought a 30 waist. I didn't measure them afterward but I had no problem buttoning them up aside from getting the buttons through the ridiculously stiff denim. I have a 32 measured waist. So at the minimum these may have been 31, because they weren't squeezing me at all.

Fit: I'll post pics in a couple hours. My girl's asleep behind me and I don't have a full length mirror outside of my room.... Ahh fuck it I'll bring the mirror outside after my post. These are larger than I expected though. I would still consider them a medium/slightly slim jean though. I was expecting something tight through the thighs. I was wrong. I'm very happy to have these jeans, though, regardless. The rise is medium low. There's still plenty of room in the crotchial region. The denim is outstanding, my jeans actually stood up on their own, and they'll allow me to mix my look up a bit, rather than my very tight size 28 new standards.

Oh, and about the heat...yea, they're fucking warm. Since they're looser than my APCs they're not as hot initially, but after a few minutes of being in 95 degree Tennessee weather, the air in the jeans heats up and I start panting.

I'll post pics in a few minutes

From the photos, looks like you got the right size, Jeff. They will shrink a little more in the second and third washes/soaks, so you've got some leeway for that. No need to rush it...

And, yeah, they are too hot in the summer! I've decided I can't wear mine until the autumn rolls around.

Good looking jeans on you man, wear them with pride!

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Mmm... let's see, in rotation at the moment:

Evisu 2000Z No. 2

Dry Bones CDP 555

Yen 105

Iron Heart 461 (in rainy weather)

Didn't like Chinatown?

It was okay. I guess I was a bit harsh.

The selvege never shows per se, but Jack Nicholson is wearing Lee Riders (look like 101Z) pretty much throughout the whole of 'Five Easy Pieces' (his only decent film IMHO...)

http://www.musicman.com/00pic/4281.jpg

Me too. The rent in Greene St in Soho must be pretty high.

I bought some Samurais and a shirt to help them out (although to be honest I really didn't need another pair of jeans...)

Might be a good question for Ryu, if he's tuned in to this thread.

I know 'Big John' made jeans from the at least the 1960s onwards (and continues to this day); but 'repro' in the sense of reviving the use of shuttle-loom selvage, etc, is a different matter. The 'Meister' series came out quite late, but I remember seeing them when I first went to Japan in 1994.

The denim boom in Japan was really in the late 1980s/early 1990's. In Europe late 1990s/early 2000s (driven by Italy, Spain, and the Scandis). And north america just in the last couple of years, really.

I agree. Evisu is under-rated, but partially due their own 'bastardizing' (for lack of a better word) their own brand. Authentic Japanese No. 1 and No. 2 (2000, 2001) are superb (and No. 0 of course, if you can find it). And you can get them without the painted gull wings if you want. I have a pair of 2000 No. 2 (unpainted) which I love to death.

People familiar with the history of repro denim in Japan in the 1990s know what Yamane's accomplishments were, and you can't take that away from the guy. Some of the things Evisu did subsequently were pretty questionable, unfortunately. It's a great pity, but I speak as a denim purist and not as a business person I guess...

Yes, No. 0 is definintely legit and is meant to be superior to either No. 1 or No. 2. I'd heard of the model 1999 but never seen a photo of it.

The only other current use of the No. 0 denim is in certain of the "Yamane Deluxe" line (a sort of Wrangler-style repro). I have seen some of those in person and they are very nice, but a bit baggy for my taste.

Trinidad & Tobago ?

I agree with the previous recommendations for the Skull and Dry Bones (I have some of the Dry Bones myself). I would also add the (original Japanese-line) Evisu 2000 -- it's not quite 7", but is a very slim fit indeed.

Quite right. The No. 2 is sanforized selvage, the No. 1 is un-sanforized selvage. The No. 1 will shrink a lot more than the No. 2.

I'm interested as to what is the connexion between Carhartt, Edwin, and Lee in Europe.. these always (or frequently) seem to be sold together, or by similar retailers. Is it simply that the same distributor has the rights to all three?

f.

I was passing through NYC (as one does) and dropped into Blue in Greene today. [by the way --- the name is "Blue in Greene" not "Blue on Greene"].

Hey, very nice shop! Yuji and Heffner are two guys who are actually in the music business, but interested in street fashion, so since Yuji is always going back and forth between NYC and Japan (he has been living in NYC 10yrs), started this gig. Very friendly and cool guys.

Aside from Japanese denim, they also carry some nice shirts and tees, and some British street fashion, and have their own line called (wait for it...) "Heffner and Yuji". They are not corporate types at all, just two guys doing what they dig. I encourage all of you to support them -- stop into their shop and buy something. I bought one of their own-label shirts made of Japanese "shibori" tie-dye -- the fabric and detailing is first-rate.

As far as raw (rigid) denim goes, they are carrying the very nice 17oz Samurai S5000VX at the moment -- very slubby, stiff, and rough denim if you've never handled it --- they have it in a good range of sizes (32-38), and in my opinion it is well priced at $285 (retail in Japan is about JPY 25,000, so that's not much of a mark-up all things considered). One of the great thing about the Sammies is their long 36-plus-inch leg in every size. Some of the Japanese brands tend to come up short (after fully shrunk) on us taller guys.

In the one-wash and distressed line, they have, as others have noted, some Sugar Cane Okinawas (two versions) and Edo-Ais, along with Pure Blue, John Bull, and Oni, and one or two others I forget. There are not so many of these left now --- Yuji said they will be getting some more Oni in next week and another lot of Pure Blue (probably not the super-expensive AIs) in a few more weeks. To be honest I wasn't over-awed by the Sugar Canes, although the fabric is nice enough. I frankly thought the Sammies were better than most of them.

They don't have any plans for online sales at the moment; and even mail-order is a question mark (as Yuji said "we've only been open two weeks -- we don't really know what we're doing..."), so the store is it at present. Anyway, do look them up, they are decent guys and deserve your support.

Two destinations to definitely put on your list in NYC: 45RPM (both uptown and downtown shops) and Blue In Greene.

By the way, at the uptown 45RPM shop (I think 71st off Madison), they had some raw (unwashed) Jomons.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find the Somet 'Judo Pants' cool?

I like the way the Full Counts look on you.

How tall are you, by the way? When I tried on the 1108s, I found they were too short. Too bad, since I think the denim itself is first-rate. The 1108s look snug enough on you so you could dispense with an initial soak altogether -- just wear them until they stretch out, then cold wash, etc.

Nice jeans. I like the crotch rivet, back-buckle rivets, and lining inside the back yoke. More pics please!

...and one of the Hinoya Burgus Plus models. (Pity about the funky back pockets, though).