indigo_junkie

Does anybody here ride a motorbike in Iron Hearts? If so, have you ever gone down with them on? Any feedback?

I ride in my SExIH01s, or used to. Now I ride in my Fullcounts. I think they would hold up in an accident. Never gone down in them, hopefully never will. I've gone down with a pair of Draggin Jeans on (Kevlar reinforced) and they were fine. Though, after seeing the Dickies experiment, I'm pretty sure any jean can hold up well enough.

Fullcount 105NA

Denime XX 51

Studio D'Artisan SD-01

Ironheart 22oz Black coated or Sam710BK?

Couldn't wait. Gave them a quick two hour hotsoak and wash and then went to the laundromat for a tumble dry. Just some quick cell phone shots.

The waist shrank down to about 34ish (from 35.5) and the inseam shrank down about 2 inches to about 34ish (about 36). Denim feels like it could shrink a little further, and with the fit, I could have gone down another size. I'm pretty sure another hotsoak and wash should get it to 33 (tagged). At this point it's pretty comfortable.

btw, no takers for translating the flasher? oh well...

There's just something about black denim that works better slim than indigos. Raw indigo slims look nice, but once worn in - can't compare to worn straight or loose fits. S3000BK doesn't appeal to me at all. And you've already got the best black sam. You could get a pair of S5000BK because the zero denim is different to the 19oz, but not that much.

Skull blacks are nice, but unfamiliar. I would have recommended the Ironheart 634 superblack or the SExFHBK before I knew it was Take5. Studio D'artisan makes a good black jean in plum dye. There's also the Flathead 4001BK. Don't know if Take5 carries Pure Blue Japan, but the PBJ-005BK is nice too. That's all the ones I can think of on top of my head.

For the Japanese literate who might want to translate it (or just have a read), I put a link to the back of the label here:

http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z116/sixquid/fcwJP.jpg

Way too busy this week to soak (came dry, which was a complete surprise, since I thought it would have been a one-wash). Will give them a soak and put some fit pics up soon.

I feel it makes up for missing the Warehouse WWII model. I was worried I wasn't going to be able to get a pair.

Put my camera away before realising that I didn't take any full shots of the actual jean. They're here anyway.

http://www.rakuten.co.jp/vintage/814586/826844/#905922

Some pics:

I tried getting some jeans from Hinoya yesterday but they don't ship to the US. Real bummer.

Damn. I was hoping they would have come around with the whole shipping overseas deal. And with all the proxies dried up... may have to go to Take5 for the RMC.

^^Crotch rivet? Deer skin patch? Cinch back? These jeans have just bumped the S710BK as my next sams to buy.

I'd say moth holes. Looks similar to a pair of jeans I had a while ago. I hung them out to dry overnight. Not a good idea. You could darn the smaller hole. Patch the bigger one.

Those look great now, let's see how they fit once the denim has stretched and settled in though.

I think these would look even better after they've settled down. The seat in all jeans sag a little after post wear stretch. I'm expecting it. But if you've major diaper ass off the post soak, fuggheddaboutit. (sorry, Jselvedge, but I think your pair is too big. Try to shrink it further with a proper hot wash. I'm not too familiar with the sizing for the raw version) People might remember my Sam 710s and the journey they went through.

Pre-soak:

Post-soak:

3 months:

I don't know why everyone has a diaper ass problem with the 811. They're classed as 'slim straight.' I had to size up one from 33 so that I could fit the thigh. These aren't cut like Sugarcanes. I think you shouldn't get a diaper ass with this jean if you size down properly. My size 34 o/w.

Speaking of polishing, has anyone tried using a wet sponge to apply polish to their shoes? I read about this technique on Ask Andy a while back and tried it, I am definitely going to keep on doing it.

Before I was applying polish (black kiwi mostly) with a paper towel, it took a bit of time and I was using a considerable amount of the stuff. The theory of the wet sponge is that you wet it with warm/hot water, and when you mix it with polish the warmth of the water softens the polish and it can work its way better on the leather. I also found that the sponge takes up a lot less polish but is able to spread it very evenly on the shoe. In the end I got some mirror looking shines in very little time and with a lot less polish. The trade off is that you can polish the shoes more often since it takes so much less time and polish. For those that don't think water and polish will mix, think of it as a different way of "spit shining."

I used to use those wedge facial sponges that make-up artists use. I may go back to that if I ever buy any fancy shoes, but I just use a rag for my boots. One thin coat rubbed into the entire boot and buffed back with a brush. Then I use wet cotton balls with a little bit of polish to build up the toe cap and heel area. I rub the polish back with cotton balls soaked in water with a little bit of alcohol (to help it dry quicker). I do about 5-10 very thin coats. The last two rub downs are done with a cotton ball with only a couple of dabs of water/alcohol mix, so when you rub the polish, there's only the slightest drag. Just keep rubbing in a circular motion until a glassy finish emerges. Well, that's how I do it.

^Both looking good! The RMW hide takes really well to polish, doesn't it!

Very. And the Kiwi works really well. Much better than the RMW polish. I had to experiment a little with which shade of Kiwi I liked best for the chestnut. The black was easy enough.

I just got my Skys in the mail. Size 34, same as my Oris. Paid a little extra for express shipping and got them in 4 days. Steve has been pretty good with the emails this time round. And he honored the first 50 customer discount.

That being said, I probably wouldn't have purchased these at the full retail price. I would have gotten a pair of Ironhearts instead. I own a pair of Ironhearts, and it seems that on these jeans, the denim just feels a little lighter/thinner. The construction doesn't seem to be as good as Ironheart. Whether the denim is better than Ironhearts, I'll have to find out from wear, but they do feel softer.

Removed the old polish with some baby oil and ethanol. Tried again using Kiwi Dark Tan (instead of the more expensive Waparoo neutral wax I was using). Much slower, with a lot less polish. Took my time too, about 2 hours of polishing. Pleased with the result.

Much better than my first effort.

What they looked like before the polish, out of the box.

Had all my gear out, thought I'd do my RMW boots as well while watching Season 3 of House on DVD.

With Kiwi Mid Tan.

With 5 coats of Kiwi Black and about 5 coats of Kiwi Parade Gloss.

Vari was never a problem because they accepted paypal. Hinoya would be a really big deal if they started shipping overseas again instead of being 'japanese domestic' only. Bears is still sticking to their domestic market guns unfortunately.

but the point is that if you have a lot of contact with the damn material you can develop become it.

I think it depends on how chemically inert the metal is. Silver and gold are very inert. You see people wear gold wedding bands for 50+ years with no adverse affects. Too bad it's so expensive. I don't know what the tin pewter on my Sam buckles are going to do to me in a couple of years. :confused:

The only exception was my SC40400N which shrank an additional 2 inches or so in length upon first machine wash. And it shrank a LOT during that initial soak too.

I've always found that agitation shrinks denim more than a soak. That's why I usually soak and then throw them in to the washing machine to get as much shrinking out as possible. I soak for about 3 hours with two water changes (less or more if needed) mainly to get as much of the starch out of the fibres as possible.

The way I see it, jeans will shrink once the dry starched cotton fibres get wet. Starch is removed at a molecular level and the yarn can 'relax' for the first time, leading to shrinking and twisting (loosening). However, a starch coating tends to protect the cotton fibre from water. If you drip a few drops onto brand new raw denim, the water tends to bead off like oiled leather. So a hot soak works better than a cold soak and agitating the denim will cause it to be fully hydrated, getting the most shrinkage out as possible.

Me squeezed into a pair of 32 Kabuki Veg. 5'9" 185lbs. Time to lose some weight, me thinks, before I kill someone with an exploding button. I did manage to get them all the way up. One wash from BiG.

viv, i really like those Moma's.

I broke down and bought a pair of Alden 4060's from Shoe Mart.

Check out the obvious stitching screw up on the toe. How does something this obvious make it past inspection?

I've seen this sloppy work on their Indy's, but to see them on their cordovans (which is supposed to be 'New England' quality) is making me want them less and less.

knugget do you just yank the fly apart really fast? i saw my friend do it and blew my mind. i just do one at a time..ant, yes, i highly recommend them

I thought button flys were designed to be yanked apart fast? I rememebr my first pair of button fly jeans (going back about 15 years now) and I used to unbutton them one at a time. One time, I saw this other guy at a urinal just yank his open and it was like one of those surreal next level "ahh, so that's how it's done!" kind of events. no, I don't normally look at strange men's crotches in the bathroom, but luckily I happened to be looking in that direction that day, because I've been opening my fly like that ever since. It only works if you've sufficiently loosened the denim up after about 2 weeks wear, and for me, works better with higher rise jeans. Buttons close together in low rise jeans tend to jam up a lot.

And, yes, I recommend Sams. I own 6 pairs (S710, S0510XX 21oz, S5000VX, S0500XX, BIGxSam, Jins) - soon to be 8 (S710BK, 10th anniv).

With the Jins, I got them recently. Lot 10. Size 33. They're about 33.5 raw. Haven't soaked them yet, but my gut is telling me that they're going to shrink down to at least 32. But I know that they will stretch back quick.

I sent steve an email asking him if he would still honor the 40% off all new purchases for the original 50 people who pre-bought the Ori (he changed that down to 35%, but I have his original email that says 40%). It's been a day. He hasn't gotten back to me.

I agree with theetruscan. At $280, these jeans have got some pretty high competition. Ironheart and if you pay a little more, Sam S5000XX 21oz. Eternal and SDA also released 21oz models (quickly sold out, sure, but there's every chance that they will release again) under this price range. The bamboo ones look interesting enough, but I wouldn't cop at $345. There are much better denim to be had in that price range.

From my impressions, the Japanese are usually striving for innovation, always "ahead of the game" in everything they do, and always setting the trends.

I've always thought of the Japanese as being the ones who make a better mousetrap. Cheaper, better quality cars, cameras, radios etc... There's that story about how the Japanese bought a Ford engine, tore it apart and then built a cleaner running version with better fuel economy. When the Ford engineers tore the Japanese engine apart to find out what they did, they found that the quality tolerances were 10 times higher than American standards - or something like that. So I'm not too sure about the setting trends thing.

btw, in before the move to supertrash.

xx-003 cut made with xx-07 denim

Nuts. If I had known that, I would have waited... Got the 007 anyway.