tony_hige

I just went to the store in Osaka...amazing repro stuff. Pricey, though. Comparable to Canes, Full Count, Denime, and all these brands have stores within blocks of each other in Shinsaibashi, Osaka. Osaka blows Tokyo away for this stuff.

My goal is to buy ringspun cotton.

Slacker...don't come half-stepping, spin your own yarn. Just kidding, but...well...actually I'm not. Google a thing called a takli handspindle - you can spin the finer yarns you'll need to make denim, like 20's and 30's. That's your cheapest way - there's lots of info online about spinning, though most of it is oriented toward spinning heavy gauges of yarn for knitting.

!!!!!! I just eBayed a pair of 1947 'Canes that I was using as painting pants to a buyer in Taiwan...probably could've gotten twice as much had I waited until this news broke.

even with a japanese "repro" company?

i guess so...does that make them businesses first and foremost, and artisans second

i'm always too romantic with my idea of japanese denim, but what i would give for a jean made for making's sake.

big difference between a japanese repro company and a factory, especially a factory in vietnam. but I'd bet even factories in okayama would cut every possible corner they could if they didn't have designers doggedly inspecting every step of the process.

Looks like the denim that Jean Shop uses.

Selling off some of my denim collection that I've accumulated through several years of going to Japan for business. Here's what I've got:

LVC 1947 34W 36L $175 New with tags http://cgi.ebay.com/Levis-LVC-1947-501XX-JAPAN-W-34-Selvage-Big-E-Jeans_W0QQitemZ230050637463QQihZ013QQcategoryZ125477QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

UES A401XX 35W $175 New, one wash http://cgi.ebay.com/UES-Made-in-Japan-Selvage-Jeans-Denim-1937-501-repros_W0QQitemZ230050644870QQihZ013QQcategoryZ125477QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Full Count 34W $175 Worn http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230050642636&rd=1&rd=1

Sugar Cane 34W $125 Worn and painted on http://cgi.ebay.com/Sugar-Cane-1947-Selvage-Jeans-Made-in-Japan-Denim_W0QQitemZ230050640721QQihZ013QQcategoryZ125477QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

i'd be more interested in something like this than a dior repro...

but the work involved would be crazy. the perfect repro jean is a long way out of sight?

au contraire...the work is the same, it's just more thought put into it. for every minute detail on a pair of jeans, there is a decision to be made and either you are going to make that decision or the factory is going to make that decision, and as long as you let someone else make that decision, they will invariably err on the side of whatever is fastest and cheapest. that, in a nutshell, is the key to design.

1. APC New Cures

2. RRL Slims

3. Pherrow Bros. Stormy Blues

I actually got a job once because of Chuck Norris jeans. When I was a kid, I was into martial arts and I really wanted a pair, but my Mom wouldn't get them for me. Twenty years later, I'm interviewing for a job and I say to my potential boss, "don't laugh, but I've always wanted to reproduce the Chuck Norris jeans," and he flipped out that I knew about Chuck Norris jeans, telling me how much he wanted a pair when he was a kid.

if it's not really a business venture and you don't have to worry about all the crap that goes along with business ventures (like making money), then why don't you get deep with it. most flights to saigon stop over in narita, so get a stopover of several days and catch a bullet train to okadaya to get the best hank-dyed ring-ring selvage denim you can possibly get. then spend some time w/ your factory and really get the fit perfect. obsess over every minute detail that goes into the jean...the pocket lining, the thread gauge, the number of stitches per inch, what you want the interior thread to be. have the rivets hand set, like on levi's made before the 30's, and make sure a little tuft of denim sticks up between the burr and rivet. don't skimp on anything, and more importantly don't overlook any detail...like when you attach the waistband, let the union special run the chainstitch about an inch past the end so you get like a little rope hanging off your waistband, then fold it back and tack it down with your fly stitch...look deeply at your jeans and you'll see.

then drop me an email when you're done.

I'm rethinking what I had said earlier...logically, if the cult denim market in Japan is small, then we probably do have some sort of impact on it. The question then is whether that impact is felt or acknowledged. One company that really realized the potential of an international market is 45rpm. I mean, obviously Evisu as well, but Evisu was huge in Japan so expansion was inevitable. 45rpm on the other hand, I believe, is bigger here than in Japan. I could be wrong, but I have a lot of Japanese friends who are into cult denim who've never heard of 45rpm. And 45rpm isn't prominent in the Lightning books. I don't know the history of the company...maybe they're relatively new in the denim game.

Get ready to become Charisma Man (a derogatory term, actually...it'll make sense once you get there). Stay away from Roppongi, no matter what your fellow gaijin pals tell you...Roppongi sucks ass.

I don't think the American market will have any impact. The Japanese brands that have a cult following over here (and on superfuture) actually only occupy a niche market in Japan. I was a little disillusioned the first time I went to Japan. I used to believe that ALL Japanese consumers were experts on denim and rocked selvage vintage repros. The truth is that most Japanese cats have frosted Rod Stewart hair and wear really crappy jeans from Tornado Mart. Japanese denim is the best there is...Japanese jeans brands, on the other hand, can be lacking in that the fit is often not as good as American and Euro brands that use Japanese denim (APC, Dior, etc). Of all the Japanese brands, Denime has probably the best selection of fits, IMHO. I'm not saying the best fit, just the best selection of fits. A lot of J brands tend to fit really tight at the waistband, wide in the leg, and a really high rise. While this fit may be faithful to a vintage fit, it feels funny if you're used to a more contemporary fit i.e. a lower rise, a straighter leg, etc.

Those look bananas!!! Too bad they can't breathe and are uncomfortable - I was ready to run out and buy a jar of silver paint...kind of triggered a ten year old desire I had to have a silver suit a la Jon Spencer. I'm curious how Dior did it - maybe a heat transfer foil print.

I've posted my collection before, but here's my girlfriend's denim collection:

Levi's 501's from around 1966 - real thing, not LVC repro

Blue Bell Wrangler side-zips from the 1940's

Lee Cowboy repros

Full Count

The Levi's are amazing. They're starting to rot and I've done numerous repairs to them - here's a pic showing the crotch repairs I've done:

I don't think she has ever washed them.

Here's a pair of Frye's I got in 1996 and have worn the hell out of over the past ten years.

I have had them re-heeled and re-soled more than once. Love these boots though they've seen better days. Be sure and get the oil resistant sole and not the tread sole. Just got a pair of Alden indyboots and I believe they're the best boots I've ever had. People have been talking about the change in the leather color of the Alden's, but I can't see much of a difference.

I'm really intriqued by White's semi dress boot:

http://www.whitesoutdoor.com/display-boot.php?request=boot&p_id=49

The heel has that curve to it that you usually only see in vintage boots. They're pricey, but still much cheaper than the 100,000 yen brakemen boot repro's I saw in Tokyo.

I think that laundries are an interesting area and a part of denim history; although most SF'ers would say to wear your jeans to distress them I think that laundries do need some mention and any resource you might have I would be interested in.

If you're looking for domestic laundries, check out Bart Sights in Kentucky or Freshtex in LA.

I saw a random guy in NYC last year with 45rpms on. the jeans were washed many times and they had a very unique greenish color. nothing like i've seen on any of the 45rpm postings here or on any of their sites. maybe he had some natural indigo R's not sure of the cut, just know it had the

R emblem on the backpocket

maybe that was me. only mine have not been washed many times...only worn to hell and very, very nasty.

Yea apparently 45rpms take on a green-ish cast over time. I've read that on their website a couple of times. Those jeans you saw were probably Aihikos (the natural indigo model that was replaced by Jomon)

Yeah they do - the pic I just posted doesn't do 'em justice. They have a slight greenish cast.

The are the sorahiko's that I bought one wash at the soho store three years ago - I've posted these before, but it's relevant here. These are hands down my favorite pair of jeans I've ever owned.

wow...those look awesome. I'm starting to want a pair of bootlegs thai levis. The funny thing is that in the past I've sold a couple of awesome pairs of Levi's that I wore the hell out of on eBay to buyers in Thailand - I wonder if the buyers were factories jacking my jeans? As far as the length, what if you don't turn up the cuff?

seam twisting is awesome! it's one of the flaws that makes good denim unique. I usually hear people complaining when their jeans don't twist.

QUick thoughts.

I don't know of ANY OE selvage denim.

Good recap - agree on all points, but cheap OE selvage denim is out there, though it's a rarity. The batch of redline selvage Levi's 501 that I mentioned earlier in this thread - Canal Jean was selling them for about $30 a pair. I hardly go into their new location - I was in there maybe last October - but they still had a few pairs left in really odd sizes. BTW, does anyone know the story about these jeans. The red tab only had the circled r, there was no back patch, and the coin pkt and sideseams showed the selvaged edge. The interior nail of the shank button was stamped with a three digit number - can't remember the number. And the denim was cheap - they wore down very poorly and were definitely not ringspun, though they didn't look half bad in the raw state, though the indigo was a bit too blue for my tastes. I remember dipping them in a rit dye mix that looked like tea to darken the indigo.

anyone made any decent progress with their rrl's? pics?

Got these in late March - been wearing them about 5 days a week. Washed them once about a month ago. Just got finished moving out of an industrial space and I wore 'em the whole time, so they're real nasty right now - look at them in the right light and the denim is shiny. Might never wash 'em again.

Will consider your offer.

I'm mainly interested in the japanese range atm however, as I am travelling to Japan in the next few weeks and I'm trying to find some Edwins that might be worth purchasing over there.

I might end up getting only premium jeans such as Samurais, Studio D'Artisans, Eternals or Somet if there isn't much of interest in this season's Edwins.

Edwin's are awesome, though my Japanese friends kind of look down on them - they have a lot of selvage denim styles, plus they also do the Lee repros. If you're going to Tokyo, check out their store on Mejii Dori near Omotosando. And if you're there, check out the Chicago vintage store on the corner - I was finding great used selvage Edwins there for 1000 - 2000 yen, which is like $10 - 20 US. In general, thrift stores in Japan are a goldmine for good denim and there are a ton of them in Harajuku.