frideswide

Agree with mrjameskent 100% : PRPS long on marketing hype, short on actual fit, finish, & quality.

Nice jeans. IMHO, every serious collector needs an 11MW replica (such as these are). An iconic cowboy jean.

.

From the NYT article:

>>>Well, the Japanese manufacturer uses Levi's looms from the 1960's<<

This myth just runs and runs. People repeat it and it gets printed by other people, none of whom have any way of verifying anything.

Levi's made jeans, not fabric. They never had any looms. Their supplier was Cone Mills, North Carolina. The selvage looms belonged to them. They probably still have some, and probably sold some, and probably scrapped some. Some may have ended up in Japan, but many more selvage looms used to make Japanese denim are Japanese-made (and why wouldn't they be..?)

.

There was an abortive attempt to import Sugarcane, Denime, and (I think) Full Count into the U.K. two or three years ago, and during this period they were carried at Liberty, Selfridge's, and maybe one or two other shops. I guess they didn't sell very well, because the program was stopped, and for quite some time after you could find odd sizes in the 'remainder' bargain basements of these shops. Some pics would be nice!

I don't own a pair, but I have tried them on. The long-staple Zimbabwe cotton is very nice -- they are really first-rate jeans -- fully the equal of Sugarcanes, Evisu, Warehouse, Denime etc, in my opinion. The 1108's are the slim straight-leg model, whereas the 0105 are the classic 1950's Levi's repro.

I didn't get them because I found the length too short. Be careful ordering them if you're much over 180cm tall. They are not sanforized and will shrink in the leg quite a bit.

Osaka definitely is the jeans mecca of Japan.

Recommend you get a copy of this if you can:

http://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4777903648/249-0847771-2933151

It really is a comprehensive guide (although all in Japanese, it gives you enough information, maps, etc, to go on... possibly with a little local help).

Mmmm.... Dunderdon do some nice cinch fabric belts. Carhartt do some as well.

.

Not to hijack the thread, but on the subject of bespoke (or at least custom) jeans, for those of you in Japan, there is a place down in Takamatsu (Kagawa-ken in Shikoku -- a centre of traditional indigo dying), which will run up custom-made jeans for you. You can pick the type of denim, the buttons, rivets, type of thread used for contrast stitching, type of patch, etc.

I plan to check it out in June when I'm next down in that neck of the woods:

http://www.d26ya.com/

.

I'm impressed. That's fantastic. No wonder quality jeans cost what they do....

I wish you every success.

.

Don't forget, the No.2 denim is sanforized, so shrikage in the waist is minimal (maybe 2-3cm). I think you should buy 1inch bigger than your 'true' size.

As a general rule with Japanese brands, always ignore the "inches" measurements and go by the sizing in centimetres given in the charts, taking care to figure out whether the measurements are given before or after washing.

.

Quote:

I'd like to buy a nice pair of Lees- I'm trying to decide between the Lee (japan) 101z 1952 jeans at Aero Clothing, or the Sugar Cane 1945 Lee repros- can anyone compare the quality/fit of these two or the quality of Japanese Lee's and Sugar Cane repros in general?

Thanks!

--- Original message by mintonsport on Jan 26, 2006 01:48 PM

I guess you're talking about the SC41945A. The Sugarcane SC40300 is also a Lee repro (although a more expensive one in natural indigo).

You might also want to look at the Samurai Lee repro, the S0110XJ.

http://saddlemen.net/jeans/samjin.htm

Or even the Evisu Lee repro, the 2101.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/kobori/153170/273023/

And there are many others, if you look around.

Happy hunting.

.

Many of the European LVC line have no number on the back of the top button at all. Don't have any good information about who the contractor is/are for this line (I know the Spanish plant closed).

I've handled them in shops, and all the details (except the minor point of the tags) look correct to me.

I agree the denim seems a bit thinner than one might wish... maybe 11oz? I don't think it's stated anywhere.

Still, it's nice cotton (political questions aside, Zimbabwe cotton is among the best in the world) and I'm sure you will enjoy wearing them...

.

mmm... there is a Fullcount line with a patch like that (meant to be Wrangler-style patch I suppose), although not on the waistband. The dragonfly is a new one on me.

Check out these and see how the details match with yours:

http://www.eonet.ne.jp/~my-standard/FULLCOUNT%20collection%20PD-020.html

http://www.geocities.jp/haya602001/full2.html

http://fyaonitcahsii6s6txax.fc2web.com/contents/denim/pd051/htm/01.htm

In any case, for 17 pounds, good buy!

.

Edited by frideswide on Jan 19, 2006 at 09:00 AM

>>But I made a mistake in getting a size down and it doesn't look like it's going to fit me.

>>The bagginess is not to my liking as well and the high rise

Mmm.. that's a pity. So they're too tight and too baggy at the same time? Can you elaborate a bit on the fit? Are they too tight in the waist and too baggy in the arse? Or is it the legs which are too loose for your liking..?

Very nice, crisis. How about some close-ups?

^

Woof!

>>So basically. If you have Evisu's, do they have a baggy fit or not?

Depends on which ones. The '2001' line is similar to 1947 or 1955 501's, so rather baggy. The '2000' line is similar to Lee Cowboy or maybe 1966 501's so quite a bit slimmer. Sounds like the 2000 line would suit you better.

can you post a picture of the back pocket?

.

For those of you in London, I noticed on Saturday some of the Yen/Take5 collaboration jeans are in stock at Michiko Koshino. Bascially the Yen Red Label 105 model in unwashed orange selvage, they have Yen markings on one side of the jeans and Take5 markings on the other. This means two coin pockets, two back patches, and two different backpocket stitchings, one on each side.

This isn't a very good photo, but all I could find at short notice:

As most of you know, the jeans represent the connection between Japan's Yen and one of China's leading vintage jeans retailers, Take5 in Kowloon. I already have a pair of regular 105s or I would have picked them up in an instant. They still seem to have a fair range if sizes (although 32 is gone, I noticed).

.

Going by what's on the website, the 100's are dry shrink-to-fit, the 200's are dry sanforized, and the 300's are one-wash.

The cut is somewhat different too.

See the comparison chart for the different types of fits and fabrics:

http://www.dartisan.co.jp/shilhouette/index.html

Next to agricultural imports, textiles are probably one of the most tariff-protected industries in the world. Similar to Canada, the EU (an in particular the UK) has draconian import duties on finished garments from outside the EU, if you're unlucky enough to have your shipment 'pulled over' by customs. On something I recently had sent over from Japan, the charge was the normal 17.5% sales tax ('VAT') *PLUS* a 33% tariff on textile imports -- i.e. a net import charge of 50%. Ouch.

On the other hand, small packages (particularly if sent by normal surface post) often sail through without attracting any charge whatever, so it's kind of the luck of the draw.

in addition to what's been mentioned:

- Interstate in Endell Street

- Michiko Koshino in Broadwick Street

- Selfridges

- Oki Ni at the top of Saville Row (too trendy for me, but you might like it...)

Despite the hype, PRPS is not a Japanese brand. It's a US/UK company which has their jeans run up for them in Japan --- hence 'made in Japan' but not Japanese, if you see what I mean. You would be hard-pressed to find a pair anywhere in Tokyo (except maybe as a curious kind of 'reverse import').

And no.. I meant Hinoya is in the Ameyoko. Don't know where px megastore is, sorry.

.

Edited by frideswide on Jan 12, 2006 at 02:02 PM