moykky

$225.

Why do you guys in Europe have to pay these mailing fees? Is it just because something is being imported?

Yeah, basically everything outside EU is subjected to import tax and VAT (totaling 100$ here in the case of these jeans).

Very much respect to you hand-stitchers! I will never remove any back pocket stiching just to honor your work lads!

And pwings approach was very nice indeed!

Hehe, you should get some compensation for lost time at least. Check that your jeans are unworn and everything. Who knows what the guys in customs were doing with them...

its not the starch b its the tightening of the weave that keeps it stiff.

Try this: Soak them (raw) in cold water for one minute (minimum if any shrinkage, minimum starch loss) or machine wash them long cycle in very hot (maximum shrinkage, maximum starch loss) and try which ones stand better.

Tumble drying really shrinks them.

Very nice everybody!

Don't get me wrong. I am not complaining. I am pleasantly surprised. I was under the impression that Fullcount jeans are soft and comfortable from the start. I guess I was wrong about that.

The jeans standing-on-their-own after an initial soak has very little to do with the softness or hardness of the denim and very much to do with the starch.

Damn SLAB, your measurements are wayyy different from BiG's?! Yours are like size 27. I hope they're not correct!

Congrats to all, this is getting interested. More fit pics please!

If you show them the bill - cc staement and stuff - they are not allowed to charge the shipping costs....make sure you have that - and a printout of the item on the website - with you....

They are so greedy here that they will charge you VAT (22%) from both the item and shipping-fee. as the shipping is a service bought outside EU. Import tax (12%) is added only to the item.

If my grandmother (from outside EU) would sent me a birthday present, say a pair of jeans. I would still have to pay the VAT + Import tax from the value of the jeans but NOT including the shipping fee as it's not considered 'commercial' transaction. Happy birthday to me...

Finnish customs are not following the EU guidelines considering taxing. Most conflicting issues are taxing of alcohol and motor vehicles...

i can only speak about german customs, but they usually don´t care about the value written on the package and want to see a bill or invoice. if you don´t bring it along they look for prices on websites... so undervaluing doesn´t work in the end.

Yeah, that is the case in Finland too. And they are really dedicated to what they do...

well the good news is my jeans have arrived and i'll pick them up tomorrow, the bad news is i wont be picking them up from the local post office, i'll be picking them up at the local customs office.

Do any of my fellow finnish contestants know if i have to pay customs on the jeans including shipping? the import tax is 12% and vat is 22% right?

Bosch - you won't have to pay for shipping...customs needs a bill / cc statement, paypal , whatever - and you're going to be taxed based on that....Germany takes 13% import taxe - and on top of that 19% import tax...

You most certainly have to pay shipping also (in Finland).

It's like this: (Item price * 1.12 + shipping) * 1.22 = Your contribution to the feodal lords.

I've estimated it's about 75 euros if they use the exchange rate from last november (which they should use).

That looks like a frost on an early autumn morning...

The longer inseam contest jeans have not arrived from Japan as of yet. With the lunar New Year it moved things back a week. Miki from FC is very excited about this contest and is very determined to get it started.

With that said, Gordon is going to start sending out the jeans to the people who pre-ordered earliest and live the farthest. From there he will ship everyone else theirs as the pairs arrive. If all jeans arrive by the 7th then maybe we can start this contest by Valentine's Day.

Thought I would start the day with some good news.

That is good news! Now I just need to lubricate my rectal area for our customs officers...

Natives are getting restless...

hmm.....i'm just hopin when summer comes, it ain't too hot that the rivets on the jeans will burn my ass, like last year.

huh? wear underwear dude!

Dude, it's called indigo fever...

I sized down two from my 'true waist' to 29".

edit: Well, what is the true waist size anyways. I wear my jeans about 3" - 4" lower than my 'true waist' and I'm size 30 in most of the jeans (Skull, Samurai, Fullcount, FH). These are quite relaxed so I thought I'd take them a bit more fitted (and I already have two pairs of 0105 )

How wealthy is the "modern day cowboy"?

Exactly!

since my sewing skills are non-existant; i'll probably take these to the local tailor first and have the patch & arcs sewed in place.

you kidding me !? ima noob ! i had a small hole in my jacket once and i tried to sew that together it just ended up being a huge blob of thread.... luckily its all black and in a spot not easily seen. i'll probably do the same.

How is the domestic science teaching in school these days? I remember we were knitting like grandma's back in the days...

^^ Those are almost exactly like what Tricker's did for Paul Smith about two years ago. Very nice, indeed. Wedge sole is very comfortable!

for some reason, i have this feeling that all this waiting and complaints will pay off to a bomb ass contest. I am waiting on the call for the arcs, that will put me over the fence.

I thought the arcs were not gonna happen. Is it ok without the tab (which we are getting anyways...hohohohoo )?

Hehe, nice one Salaami! Did your leather patch survive the oven?

Those damn cotton threads!

double post

Ouch, that inseam issue is unfortunate to hear especially because I really do need the longer inseam.

The good side is that maybe the cardboard-stencils for arcs will be included this time?

Well, I just adjust my Ritalin intake and wait for few weeks!

well about that it wasnt so simple.. the buy was a pre order so the jeans werent made yet. its not like a regular order like these arent a regular pair of jeans.

That was my point exactly! Secretly I did hope that they're already ready to be shipped...

but for now i'm hoping BiG in all efforts will try to ship it early before the Xmas rush, although i am very grateful, my Xmas would be complete if we all got our jeans on time

Plus....I think DP said we going to do that Newspaper thingy on the start date i'm not actually too sure though.

Is this just gossip or is there really a chance that we get them around christmas? If so, it will be hard not to soak them and wear at the new years celebrations. There is hardly a better way to break them in than sweat, puke and pee...

Seems like we Finns are well represented in this one!

The people at customs vary a lot in Finland. I ordered a package from SE, and I didn't have to pay anything because the price tag was missing. I then ordered a $270 pair of Sammies from BiG, and a different woman at the customs spent , literally, 20 minutes googling around, trying to find out how much they were worth. She then stumbled on BiG's site, for some reason thought that I had ordered a $500 pair of natural indigo jeans. It took me quite a bit of convincing before she accepted that it wasn't a great ploy between BiG and the illuminati and God knows what else.

edit: So personally I'm just going to print out the invoice, if my parcel gets busted. Murphy's law says it's going to be the same woman at the office as last time.

I might know who you're talking about...

I once tried to get japanese Hakama (made of polyester blend) out of the customs for two days. She was convinced it was silk and all that...