martylane

Cheep's Butt is BiG in Japan!

Sorry... couldn't resist that.

some pics for amusement

first repair: inside right leg near crotch [...]

The stiching on mine is coming apart in the exact same spot.

To all those who get their jeans hemmed:

Be VERY thankful to Gordon... I came into the store last night to pick up my jeans and apparently he fucked up his left hand from all of the chainstich hemming... had to get his hand X-Rayed because of some swelling and possible dislocation of a bone

And when he's not hemming jeans, he's on the Blackberry I'd imagine. Gordon is really going the distance to take care of us!

I think this is getting difficult. It seems that everybody wants to size down. You have to have some luck to find someone who's looking to trade their contest pair for a larger size.

I think you're right. If we could sell our contest jeans, then we could get the trades done. Cheep's idea to keep contestants in the contest could be preserved if we agree to sell only to those who already have contest jeans. Like, only sell to those who post a picture of their jeans in this thread? Just a suggestion...

I have an unaltered, soaked and dried size 32. Looking for a 31. I'm verified PayPal.

Wouldn't the winning pair of jeans be required to have a chain-stiched hem? Seems unlikely that the winning pair wouldn't have one. If that's the case, then the group of true competitors in this contest is probably quite small.

1. To anyone who's bought these that live in the US but not in NY, what was the final price including shipping?

US$156.34 (I'm on the West Coast.)

[...]should be soon.

Okay, I've been waiting for this discussion to come up... How are you guys going to size these jeans in the waist? Size up/down/true waist size??? There have been some comments about sizing up, but the size chart on the Bear site lists a 32 as being over 33 inches. Is the chart on the Bear site for raw?

Hell, 120? I'm in! How many pledges are needed to make it fly?

I get the feeling that Levis is taking, but is giving nothing in return. When the story of the Levis lawsuit appeared in the SF Chronicle, I thought, naively, "maybe SelfEdge will now carry Levis, ... maybe a collaboration on a limited edition Self Edge model, ... 14oz. denim, ... natural indigo, ... they could even copy Sugar Cane's old arcuates!"

But, it'd never happen. Levis is like a big huge barge. Even if the command were given to turn the ship, it'd be years before anything meaningful happened. Meanwhile, Iron Heart is doing donuts on Valencia St.

[...] I feel just they are worrying about their current situation because of this uneasy lawsuit which has many possibility that will take away their originality including their freedom. [...] There is nothing problem to sell their products on the Japanese market because it is NOT against to the Japanese law. [...]

So, if I understand this correctly, the manufacturers feel that they can control what US shops sell in the US, but they can't control what the Japanese shops sell directly to US customers. Japanese shops could sell the forbidden jeans the Japanese manufacturers produce directly to US customers, exposing the manufacturers to liability. It's not about undercutting prices in US shops, per se.

As long as the forbidden jeans are made, and sold at a reasonable price in Japan, there'll be a market for them worldwide and an opportunity for someone in Japan to make a little money selling them to buyers in the US. Whether or not this sort of activity continues to expose Japanese manufacturers to liability ... who knows? On this side of the Pacific, though, I suppose Customs could start opening packages and destroying jeans that violate trade marks.

Personally, I hope the Japanese manufacturers get over the arcuates and red tabs and labels and just move on. I can't help thinking price disparity figures into this as well. If SC puts stars on all their jeans, I can't imagine they'd re-appear on the Zipangu Treasures web site at the Japanese market price.

Whatever, I'm prepared to wait this out. SDA and SC aren't he only jeans brands in Japan. Something will show up on the Zipangu Treasures site, I hope. BTW, nobody has mentioned the free chain stitch hem up service Zipangu Treasures offers -- it's great!

2) Japaense denim companies trying to price fix and make us westerners who have proven we'll pay over the board for some brands pay vastly more than in japan - now THIS SUCKS and is a terrible buisness plan by the japanese comapnies. [...]

I'd like to see Kiya with his influnce at sugarcane support zipangu (i think we would all agree that its perfectly possible for somewhere like selfedge to co-exist with somewhere like zipangu) - but i doubt that will happen for obvious reasons.

I wonder to what degree production limits figure into this? I imagine SC can produce only so many pairs of high quality jeans. If we could all easily get Okinawas at half price, or '47s for US$120, there could potentially be little to no SC presence in shops inside or outside of Japan. The US alone is a huge market, and could suck SC dry. Better keep prices high, is what they're probably thinking.

What a screamin' deal Zipangu Treasures was offering, though. It was sweet while it lasted! (It wouldn't surprise me if Kiya complained about Zipangu Treasures when the SC crew was visiting Self Edge.)

Oh, hey BTW, my first Post! I think I've read almost everything you regular Super Denim contributors have written. Thanks for all the tips!