mcflip

Traveling to Portland in a couple weeks and I was wondering if anyone could suggest a good cobbler. I would be interested in getting my Alden 405s resoled in a way that makes sense (stacked leather soles with hopefully a Vibram or Cat's Paw type tread)

I don't trust anyone where I live (I had the soles butchered last time) and I figured there'd be a place in PDX that does this kind of work

After being cleaned up:

After another application of Pecards:

I just found these at a local surplus store. I went in to get some long underwear and wandered into the basement where all of the old crap is. These were pretty battered, but the leather wasn't cracked or anything. I cleaned them up a bit with Pecards and will probably give them some more TLC.

They're a Swiss brand called Henke, who as far as I can tell were famous for making the first ski boots that clasped as opposed to laced. I don't think the company is still around, and they're stamped 1963 inside. I'm not a fan of the weird toebox, but I need something with a more vibram like sole since my only other boots are a pair of Alden 405s and a pair of Frye Engineers and both suck in the foot of snow I have to contend with at the moment. These things are ridiculously heavy. I can't see myself walking far in them. Not bad for $20.

Before pics:

button hole failure happened on my SD103s and is now happening on my 811s. It's definitely a result of my weight fluctuating and trying to put 10lbs of ass in a 5lb pair of pants. I've since learned and got a pair of "stop kidding yourself" jeans for the periods where my favorites become unreasonably tight.

With the SD103s, I wrapped a piece of denim around where the button holes were, sewed them as if I was stitching the thread reinforcement for the edge of the buttonhole and used an x-acto to carefully cut through where the buttonhole was supposed to be. It's held up great. The outside flap more or less covers up all the surgery, and hey... a bit of padded crotch isn't the worst thing.

I think the key to these things is to reinforce these things BEFORE they bust.

Have fun with this one:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/15/AR2009041502861.html

Demon Denim

By George F. Will

Thursday, April 16, 2009

On any American street, or in any airport or mall, you see the same sad tableau: A 10-year-old boy is walking with his father, whose development was evidently arrested when he was that age, judging by his clothes. Father and son are dressed identically -- running shoes, T-shirts. And jeans, always jeans. If mother is there, she, too, is draped in denim.

Writer Daniel Akst has noticed and has had a constructive conniption. He should be given the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has earned it by identifying an obnoxious misuse of freedom. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, he has denounced denim, summoning Americans to soul-searching and repentance about the plague of that ubiquitous fabric, which is symptomatic of deep disorders in the national psyche.

It is, he says, a manifestation of "the modern trend toward undifferentiated dressing, in which we all strive to look equally shabby." Denim reflects "our most nostalgic and destructive agrarian longings -- the ones that prompted all those exurban McMansions now sliding off their manicured lawns and into foreclosure." Jeans come prewashed and acid-treated to make them look like what they are not -- authentic work clothes for horny-handed sons of toil and the soil. Denim on the bourgeoisie is, Akst says, the wardrobe equivalent of driving a Hummer to a Whole Foods store -- discordant.

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Long ago, when James Dean and Marlon Brando wore it, denim was, Akst says, "a symbol of youthful defiance." Today, Silicon Valley billionaires are rebels without causes beyond poses, wearing jeans when introducing new products. Akst's summa contra denim is grand as far as it goes, but it only scratches the surface of this blight on Americans' surfaces. Denim is the infantile uniform of a nation in which entertainment frequently features childlike adults ("Seinfeld," "Two and a Half Men") and cartoons for adults ("King of the Hill"). Seventy-five percent of American "gamers" -- people who play video games -- are older than 18 and nevertheless are allowed to vote. In their undifferentiated dress, children and their childish parents become undifferentiated audiences for juvenilized movies (the six -- so far -- "Batman" adventures and "Indiana Jones and the Credit-Default Swaps," coming soon to a cineplex near you). Denim is the clerical vestment for the priesthood of all believers in democracy's catechism of leveling -- thou shalt not dress better than society's most slovenly. To do so would be to commit the sin of lookism -- of believing that appearance matters. That heresy leads to denying the universal appropriateness of everything, and then to the elitist assertion that there is good and bad taste.

Denim is the carefully calculated costume of people eager to communicate indifference to appearances. But the appearances that people choose to present in public are cues from which we make inferences about their maturity and respect for those to whom they are presenting themselves.

Do not blame Levi Strauss for the misuse of Levi's. When the Gold Rush began, Strauss moved to San Francisco planning to sell strong fabric for the 49ers' tents and wagon covers. Eventually, however, he made tough pants, reinforced by copper rivets, for the tough men who knelt on the muddy, stony banks of Northern California creeks, panning for gold. Today it is silly for Americans whose closest approximation of physical labor consists of loading their bags of clubs into golf carts to go around in public dressed for driving steers up the Chisholm Trail to the railhead in Abilene.

This is not complicated. For men, sartorial good taste can be reduced to one rule: If Fred Astaire would not have worn it, don't wear it. For women, substitute Grace Kelly.

Edmund Burke -- what he would have thought of the denimization of America can be inferred from his lament that the French Revolution assaulted "the decent drapery of life"; it is a straight line from the fall of the Bastille to the rise of denim -- said: "To make us love our country, our country ought to be lovely." Ours would be much more so if supposed grown-ups would heed St. Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, and St. Barack's inaugural sermon to the Americans, by putting away childish things, starting with denim.

(A confession: The author owns one pair of jeans. Wore them once. Had to. Such was the dress code for former senator Jack Danforth's 70th birthday party, where Jerry Jeff Walker sang his classic "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother." Music for a jeans-wearing crowd.)

i use a kryptonite evolution u lock.

do you know of anyone who's gotten a ulock cut before?

I luckily haven't gotten a Kryptonite cut. Kryptonite locks are solid, and a good investment, however they're notoriously chinsy about if and what they'll pay out for broken locks.

You need to supply them with the broken parts of the lock, not to mention that you need to register your bike with them, provide a receipt stating the value and jump through other annoying hoops. I've also heard that they pay pennies on the dollar for the actual value of your bike. Think of them as insurance companies paying out if you've ever been in an accident in your car; they don't exactly hop-to to pay you. Buy a Kryptonite because their nicer locks are fairly secure; not because your bike will get replaced if it's stolen.

Any thief can cut any lock if they put their mind to it (I just heard rumors of thieves in LA taking apart car batteries and corroding the lock mechanisms on U Locks with battery acid.) You just have to be smart about where you lock it; to what, at what time and for how long. I have a New York chain because I hope it causes any potential thieves to be put off by it enough to move on to another bike.

I'm also going to add to the confusion with the sizing. I haven't gotten a new pair of denim in a while and I pulled the trigger on some 811s

I wear a 34 in SD103s (could probably get away with 33s since I lost a bit of weight) but I'm a 33 with my Eternals. I was able to wiggle into a pair of 32s, but I couldn't get them buttoned all the way to the top. They also creeped up a tad into my ass, so my accompanying ladyfriend give me weird looks when I told her that I was thinking of grabbing them. The BiG staff told me they didn't stretch that much, so I lost my nerve and got the 33s.

The 33s have definitely stretched slightly, but they fit pretty awesome. I don't have that hip flare happening that's been mentioned, but then again, I have big cyclist thighs. I'm still wondering if I could have gotten away with the 32s only because the legs feel roomy to me (in comparison to my other jeans)

Try the Gershwin on 28th street. That place is actually really nice and reasonable, but it books up really quickly.

It's also right next to the Sex Museum, which while fun to see was a bit of a letdown.

here are my Indys which were an Xmas present, so they've had 3 solid months of wear. Sorry the pictures suck. Also before I get flamed, the laces broke while I was travelling and I grabbed some from from a payless. I just got back into Philly a bit ago but haven't had any luck finding more suitable replacements. Suggestions would be welcome.

Using Pecards at first was key. They definintely darkened a lot and the Pecards got sped along the whole, "getting new boots that look plasticy to look like actual leather" process.

I'm pretty pleased thus far.

I think 4 or 5 times. They were soaked when I got them, then I wash them every 2-4 months depending on whether or not they need it. 2 of those washings happened 2 weeks apart because they got super funky due to my doing a lot of manual work last summer in the GA heat. I think I washed them 2 or 3 times in a machine (with the Sugarcane Denim treatment) and I've soaked them twice.

Also, it's funny... I wasn't trying to be a bumout, but since I started documenting my jeans, I record the date as the filename. I was somewhat shocked that it's been this long with these things and I started thinking of where my life was when I first got these.

Here are my SD103s from pg 83, although I thought I posted another picture of them after that.... I don't have the patience to go through and track down that post right now. I've had these since March.

I couldn't believe how much the contrast on these has been jacked since my last washing. Here they are in sunlight, photos pretty much untouched

and here they are pictured like my last batches:

when adjusting the levels, I tried to keep the color/contrast as close to how they look IRL. The honeycombs look pretty ridiculous right now if I'm allowed to say that. The lap picture is probably the closest to how these look.

These things have outlived 2 relationships, numerous deaths in the family and the dissolution of my parents' marriage and their subsequent messy divorce. Good times.

Here are my Jean Shops from pg 46:

I let them go way too long (yes, really) I wanted to wash them for a couple of weeks, but things have been fairly crazy on my end. I've had these almost exactly a year. Been washed maybe 4-5 times. They're getting really blue.

They've gotten super ridiculous soft

What matters is does X have the trademarked arcuate and they do and can Y make a jean that doesn't break the law and the answer to that would be yes then you have to follow the law. As much as I think Levis sucks at allot of stuff they're right in this case.

I do agree with you, but my main point is, these arcurates ARE different, if only slightly. SDA/Samurai/Sugarcane all have arcurates which resemble, but aren't the same as their Levis counterparts. There's just too much grey area in "Other jeans can't have arcurates that resemble Levi's" It's incredibly difficult to quantify how similar/dissimilar a design is. It's kind of like trying to define pornography. Except for the Thai fakes, these jeans aren't trying to fool anyone.

I'm not sure if anyone else made this analogy. I thought the one about the hood ornament/pocket tab was spot-on tho.

I look at a lot of these romantic repros like bands covering other bands' songs, or the whole sampling debate. You're paying homage, and usually taking an idea and putting your own twist on it. When you hear a cover, unless you're an uneducated clod, you know that the basic framework and melody of the song was there before.

All of these jeans have different arcurates, tab designs, etc. that anyone who does more than glance at your jeans would realize. There are worlds of difference between a pair of Samurai's and Thai Fakes. The way they went about things just seems so spiteful and designed to destroy a lot of these companies and stores that sell them. Has Levis ever contacted any of these makers in the past about changing their designs? I know that some have made the same models for years. I have a little less sympathy for the little guys if Levis has, but it doesn't change the fact that this lawsuit is designed to hurt/kill a lot of these companies and the stores that carry them.

Levis being a bloated, out of touch corporation has already been discussed to death, so there's no need to spout off more about that.

I'm mainly curious about how Levis or anyone is going to set guidelines about what constitutes a similar arcurate, or patch design. There are so many companies that ape the arcurate closer to Sammies, etc. My girlfriend's Meltin' Pot jeans ape the arcurate so much closer than my SD103s. As far as the patch is concerned, what if someone puts a pair of jeans being stretched between 2 trees? Obviously the trees aren't moving. Would Levis still sue? (well, probably.. but it would technically not be infringing on their trademark as they defined it) The way I understand the lawsuit, it just comes off too vague in a few ways that Levis can cherrypick and go after whoever makes the nicest 501 styled jeans. What's going to be next? You can't have symmetrical patch designs with a banner and a pair of jeans on them? Pockets can't be pentagon-shaped?

I continually have checked on LVC47s for the past few seasons, but they've sucked. After this I don't feel any desire whatsoever to even consider them for purchace anymore. Whether that's wrong or right, I just don't want to support companies that act like this.

I amass lots of records, but the only ones that I "collect" (as in getting duplicate copies, different presses/colors/etc.) would be my Misfits and RFTC vinyl.

I also have quite a few Jay Ryan posters (http://www.thebirdmachine.com/gallery_jay.html)

Other than that; no disposable income + shoebox apartment = not a lot of extraneous crap

hahaha, yeah my GF was like "do you know him?" and I explained what that was all about and she said, "oh jesus. That place where people refuse to wash their jeans and post pictures of dude-ass all the time?" which sadly was a fairly apt description.

Definitely nice meeting you too.

Hi guys,

First post but have been 'lurking' on SF for the past month or so. Would like to ask if anyone knows which fit (sda-101 or sda-103) would be closer to the fit of SC-47s? Am looking to get pair that are of a similiar fit (not too slim). Kinda leaning towards the 101s as I'm worried the 103s will be thigh-crushing. Thanks in advance!

It kind of depends on what size waist you are. I'm a 34" and my thighs are pretty huge from cycling, but the 103 34"s were a little wider than I thought they'd be before I got them and I have plenty of room. A 28" would be much skinnier all the way down obviously.

15 years ago I used to rock super baggy shorts and 2 really long wallet chains (I know, the shame..) and they used to get caught on my knee all the time. Obnoxious as that was, it was nothing compared to this.

I guess this is cool to someone...

these would have been sold by now if they weren't so big

These would fit me perfectly. Thanks for making me feel like a fat bastard.

*cuddles up in the fetal position with a pint of Ben and Jerry's and cries self to sleep*

rnrswitch - those are looking awesome, but I can tell you from experience that they're going to get really sweet after the next wash.

yeah, I mean my 103s are 34"s and you look like a stick next to me.

you do sag yours a lot more than I do tho.

What do you think?

I wore them practically daily w/out washing for around 8 months and attempted the 'seawater wash' as advised on the card that came with em.

Man...it was fun to rinse them out in warm, tropical water while rubbing it with sand but the aftereffect was....revolting. After rinsing them in fresh water after the seawater, I laid them out to dry in the sun at my hotel room. When I came back later in the day, the jeans straight up REEKED! They smelled HORRIBLE...something akin to wet dog smell X 100 mixed with puke. No lie! They were so bad, I had to wrap the jeans in a plastic bag on the way home and the smell still permeated my suitcase.

Haha..memories. Anyways, since then, I just throw them in the wash whenever (delicate warm wash) and in the dryer.

The other pair in the pictures are APC English cuts that I picked up at Homme et Femme in the Shangri-La Mall in Manila. Just wanted to show the contrast.

Sorry about using Imageshack. Can anyone PM me and give me tips on posting pics? Thanks!

I dig the way these came out. The 'combs are cool because you can tell they shifted, but they still look great. Those back pockets look tiny tho.

I'd agree to keep the color scheme to something that would cause the jeans to pop a bit.

Also, instead of raw, 1 wash, predistressed (most wouldn't see much difference between the first 2) go for raw blue, predistressed and say black overdyed or black denim

Those look like regular STF to me. I'm assuming they look so dark because of the photos, not the denim itself.

If this is turning into a bragging post, here's my baby:

Late 80's/early 90's Colnago Victory with a hodgepodge of Record and Dura Ace/105 parts. The cranks were recently replaced with Dura Ace cranks and I put a really bad hop in the rear wheel, so I'm riding it hoopdified until I can afford a pair of red Velocities. Unfortunately they don't make the red Open Pros anymore.

Cosign on getting a used bike, if you're patient you can find deals. I got this (granted this was 8 years ago) on Ebay with different Campy parts for $500 and it came with an extra wheelset.