Raijin-Fujin

beatle, i love you for the info, but i think we want to know what the AI actually stands for, since most natural indigo jeans have the AI @ the end of the model name, regardless of the brand. forgive my ignorance...

Well I can't say for sure what the AI stands for in their products but AI is the flower used in traditional Japanese indigo dyeing. AI and Indigo are basically the same thing but they are indeed different flowers/dyes. REAL Japanese AI dyeing is done by hand and is not rope dyed. It is insanely expensive but there are a few companies doing it and I don't think REAL Japanese AI dyeing jeans exist under 40,000 yen.. just isn't possible. The technique is called "hon ai zome", eternal and tsurugiya do some I believe. The problem with alot of what comes out of Japan as 100% indigo is that in Japan all types of indigo colored dyes are called indigo.. I have real doubts as to the real purity of it. I have been doing a little research on this so hopefully I will know more soon.

Hmm ..seeing the shots of both denims I can rest assured - Samurai beats No. 2 Evisu...

Don't see how... all the pics show is that the Evisu is a tighter weave. As well the Evisu looks to be more slubby. But without looking at the actual denim and feeling it I think it would be hard to tell. Also as much as people here love their Raw denim it is harder to tell the quality of the fabric Raw. Washes and wear show more of the the denims properties as time goes on.

maybe not at BIG... no shipping, no customs. it would be like japanese jeans in japan.

well... maybe not... labor is still much more expensive here... and importing the denim.

Ha ha.... labor more expensive here?? I doubt that. Japan is not China... and the Japanese do not have the extensive 'latin' workforce that U.S. factories use. Ever been to a denim factory downtown?

If anything with the lower value of the yen of recent it may be a wash...

more than my initial disapointment in a noob like Noddy is the endorsement by the(Perhaps formerly) esteemed dr. doublering. ive learned so much from him(i pm'd him today telling him so) and i feel a darkness in my chest when i hear some one of such assumed acumen and discernment cosigning on this bullshit. the smart man learns from his mistakes, but the wise man learns from both his mistakes and others. no disrespect(the student in most cases should not disrespect the "scholar"), but im disapointed at best. i dont know who to take from anymore. if i live near a beach, and i take a swim in my jeans once every so often, thats natural. if i wear them for a lot of consecutive days, thats natural for me( most of us do that). but to obviously endorse artificial abrasion methods(some actually worse than what noddy proposed)shows that the scholar and the purist are not always one in the same...:confused:

Wow... you think any of the 'so-called techniques' employed by denim enthusiasts here are "normal" and in that same vein natural?? Wearing unwashed raw fabric for months on end or starching or soaking, wearing them wet just to add something to the look is in no way natural. Natural is what people have been doing for the last 100+ years, i.e. wearing them, washing when dirty and not really thinking about how to achieve a special effect. It wasn't until people starting noticing that old jeans (which took 5-10 years) had a certain look to them. That look was then copied by doing certain factory washes (which nobody really cares for on these boards) or by people buying raw and learning how to achieve the same look in 6 months.. you may draw a line between wearing raw wet jeans in a bathtub vs taking sandpaper to them but to others they both seem similar.

He's saying they stretched two inches. Diors measure 2" larger than tagged. It's in the first post.

Ok.. my bad, guess I just wasn't paying attention... (not unusual for me )

ya.. just got my pair of 19cm in indigo mij's in a 30.. worn for 2 days and already a 34 waist. I hope thats all they stretch to.

Are you saying they were tagged 30" but are an actual 34" now? I'd think that if they actually stretched 4" that would break the stitching as stitching threads wouldn't stretch that much... (in the waist that is...)

yo, i've noticed that my 510 19oz.2's say "made in the United States". what's up with that? i thought all sammies were made in osaka, and these are the only ones ive seen with a US patch. are they loomed in japan, and then stiched here, or what? this is confusing. i know this is an especially noob-ass question for me to ask, but what the dilly? info is highly appreciated.

They use U.S. cotton I believe... sure that is not what is there? Would like to see a pic of the tag..

Wow what a rude cunt you are! .... j/k

Says they don't know how long it will take to reach Oz but are shipping them tomorrow. The rest is mostly regular formal mubo-jumbo that doesn't really mean anything. Things like please enjoy your item and we hope to have good relations with you et al.. That last part which can come out of a translation site as 'rude' is actually a formal sign off which is closer to 'excuse me' but not used the same way... alot of this is cultural and doesn't cross-translate so well.

Tell them next time to use more simple Japanese, lol. (no keigo plz... hehe)

So - what are you bringing in, Raijin...

It's a new brand so there is not a whole lot to see yet. I've worn them a bit around town and got noticed at both Ron Herman and HTC (Santa Monica) so I was hoping to start there for sales. I will also be looking for online retailers as well but for the moment I've only got one set of samples and a couple early samples that I have been wearing.

Once they are out there I hope some people here might show in interest in them or share their opinions of them. I'll certainly be posting about them more as they make their way into stores. These are first runs but hopefully there will be few problems with them.

I also had some heavy oz custom fabrics done but I simply could not afford to put those into production without pre-orders but hopefully I will have 2 different original 19oz fabrics for Fall 08.

I've yet to find a pair of fake selvage Evisu. It's become my burning obsession in my pursuit of Thai fakes. I'm not even sure I want to buy a pair, just to confirm they exist. Although with that particular post, I'd strongly, strongly consider it.

Do Chinese made fake Evisu count?? Seen tons of them in Japan.. under $50 at local shopping arcade stores... not sure on the selvage but pretty sure some had it... was a while back..

hmmm... very interesting... not too dissimilar to something I am bringing in.. I should contact the guy at BiG's to see if he would like to get an early crack at them. Same area of production, same finishing area too but 14 oz denim using Zimbabwe cotton. Also would retail about $75-100 less than those. Just got final samples in now and will get first shipment in about a month. Only other difference is they are not raw.. but raw would be easy to order and cheaper as well... if there is demand for it anyway...

BTW are you from Juso?? (ahhh... fond memories...)

^ ahh, how much do you want to bet he wasn't talking about the area where the hidden rivet "would" be?

Not a matter of betting but 'uchigawa' is in no way the bottom of the pocket... it could also be inside of the pocket as well but basically it is there to strengthen the pocket. I've not seen it so from what he said it sounded like inside meaning where the rivet would be but I guess it makes more sense for it to be the inside of the pocket itself...

???????

i get it, ryu. thanks!

guys, i didn't know what ??? meant, and it's the extra padding cloth added on the bottom part of the backpockets. ryu's predicting more fades on the paint because of it.

Actually he said on the inside of the pocket, i.e. where the hidden rivet would be, not the bottom of the pocket.....

Depends on how messed up of a company they are :-) I know alot of little companies in Japan that are seriously understaffed and over worked. These counts are a big deal and if it doesn't come out right they do it again to see where they went wrong or where missing stock went. A week is probably a good round number for it, it is after Obon there now too so things will have piled up over the holiday.

And thanks for the welcoming.. I hope to add something positive to this already great forum.

Hello all, first post for me here. That is an ugly translation... it says they are doing their bi-annual inventory count so they are busy with that and are not able to keep up with new orders and/or updating/continuing their regular business, but for orders that have already been recieved those will ship out normally. They are sorry for the delay and that it is all a pain in the ass and depressing. (not a direct translation mind you, but a interpreted one)