Mifune

On 3/17/2021 at 2:48 AM, beautiful_FrEaK said:

Just to add, Togged (as the UK/EU importer) asking 270 GBP = 40.900 Yen for a pair of Sugar Cane 1947 that costs 16.280 Yen in Japan is no less shady.
Like seriously, at that mark-up they could buy at Japanese retail price and sell with a profit but we all know they probably buy at wholsesale price which makes the mark-up even more ridiculous.
Under those circumstences I have no remorse "undercutting" the official importer.

+1

My first Japanese jean, a SC 1947, was purchased over a decade ago at a shop near Covent Garden for well over 200 gbp. The next day I went online and found the same jean selling in Japan for about $100. So I returned and got my money back. After that experience I bought all my Ooe, LVC (MiJ) and SC from Japan without any problems. I recently made a purchase from Denimio and found their service nothing short of extraordinary, and I recommended them to a couple friends who had great experiences as well.

Anyone who has worked in Japan knows that the cost of doing business there is greater than it is in the US or EU. So the inflated prices and margins gained in the US and EU are not justified by economics. Supporting a local merchant is a perfectly good idea to the extent that one is dealt with fairly. Exorbitant price gouging does not support commerce, it supports greed. The prices worldwide for Japanese goods should be the same as Japanese domestic prices. Technically speaking, they should be a little less.

1 hour ago, H...crimper said:

Big old 1940s

And you probably have to be big, old and from the 1940’s like me to fully appreciate these terrific jeans. I was able to find a pair and have been wearing them often the last week. Every time I slip these S40s on I recall the jeans of my youth like no other pair in my wardrobe. Pull these up above the natural waist and buckle your belt, these babies will not move. No way they will get to or below the hips no matter what you do. You can run the decathlon in these jeans! That’s the way jeans were supposed to fit because they were workwear and not fashion back in the day. The denim is great too. It is not quite as rigid or dense as I remember but the feel is pretty close to the originals. Great job TCB! And thanks again to all of you who posted pictures here and helped me find these classic fit jeans!

@breakingfad Thanks. I will keep mine stretched too. 

Is it the case that the OW S40s will shrink a full inch in the inseam measure? 

12 hours ago, aho said:

Those were the days! I still kick myself for never getting a pair in #36 which had such a nice light blue hue to it, almost like a mix between WH 15th Anniversary and 1000XX. And also #43. I still have an envelope of basically all the available fabric swatches that they'd used to send collecting dust in my closet...All that said, I would say that they've maintained that same spirit of handmade personality and the cuts remain relatively unchanged. The 03 is hardest to come by, but in general I would say their standard OAXX denim and it's time machine variants etc. are a step above the available fabrics from back in the day that feel just as in step with the options in the past. It is essentially a distillation of all the qualities they were trying to achieve in those previous fabrics but now down to a science (check out some faded examples on their Instagram). 

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_jDidsjiVT/

As far as how to buy, you have to go through retailers. Depending on what country you live, Standard & Strange is the main outlet for US based consumers. You also have the option of contacting some of their Japanese distributors like Barnstormer (www.barnstormer.jp) who they work with fairly frequently. All in all, I would say you'll still be impressed by the end product despite not having a hand in the exact designs, but what you do end up purchasing is a direct distillation of what Ooe themselves would want to make. My favorite jeans ever if you couldn't tell!

Aho

Yes, had I known Ooe were going to stop making custom, I would have ordered a dozen pair in a variety of denims. I had a personal pattern made by them and I thought, as is the case with most tailors, that I would be able to order from my pattern moving forward. Then I remember getting an email from Ryo saying that they were ceasing the bespoke operation. I tried to place one last order but it was too late. Ouch! (The #43 was on my list as well.) Ooe jeans are my favorites too probably because I really enjoyed working with Ryo and Hiro.  Sadly their stock patterns do not fit me and buying them through dealers would not feel the same, so I guess Ooe is a page I will just have to turn. We we're pretty spoiled by Ooe back in the day! 

Over a decade ago Ooe made me five fully bespoke pair of jeans, (essentially 02s with a 14” front rise.) They are the very best jeans in my closet, along with other bespoke jeans, and I thank Ryo and Hiro to this day for solving a big problem for me. But things at Ooe have changed in the meantime, no more website, no custom jeans and I have lost track of them. My jeans were made from the #12 and #41 denim from back then. How does the denim they use now compare? The cut of the jeans I see in the most recent pictures seems different. Have they changed their patterns from the 01, 02, 03? And finally, how do we buy Ooe jeans anymore? It was so simple back in the day! Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Cheers Kiya

Always great stuff on your site.

Here’s a suggestion or a request. I am 6’3”. I absolutely love the looks of these PBJ Rough jeans you just posted and the IH633s above them. But with only 10-11” of front rise I cannot cover even half of the equipment I am legally required to cover to be able to present myself in public. And the CDC has warned of potential damage from long term exposure to and wearing of fashionable Eunuch-wear to two particularly sensitive aspects of my reproductive arsenal.  You may have no way of knowing this, but I assure you that ladies rise jeans are painful for big guys. Is there anyway SE can make a special edition “Gaijin Man’s” jean with awesome Japanese denim with a manly rise of say, 14 inches?!

And, your site is excellent and complete in every way. Congratulations. But would it be possible for you to show the products you are selling? I mean could you imagine photos with your models either without shirts, or with the shirts tucked in so prospective buyers can see the jeans you want to sell: the jeans, all the jeans and nothing but the jeans? Why the cover up? If you are selling trips to Paris would you only show half the Tour Eiffel?

I would love to become a customer of yours!

4 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

@Mifune what size are you looking for? I have a pair of pre-lawsuit MiUSA 1955 in size 33 that I’d let go of, still new in the box

I can wear 36 or 38....thanks anyway!

5 hours ago, persco_ said:

Send them a note through the site and Tom Tanaka will sort you out. Super fast and very easy to deal with. They don't take overseas orders through the online sho

Thank you. I will send him a note. Cheers

2021 47s look great. Can you order from this Japanese site for shipment to USA? 

Are Sugercane 1955s long gone?

Cheers

Have any of you who are frustrated with waiting asked to have your deposit refunded and your order terminated? That would be the best test of the transparency of this maker. 

I have not seen anything written here about them, but APC makes a straight cut, sort of '47 jean called "The Old Standard." It is a well cut higher rise jean for those of you over 6 foot or those of you who wince every time you put on your jeans for the pressure on a sensitive piece of anatomy. Maybe these are available only at APC stores...

#41 is 14.5oz... you need to get your facts right.

This is an excerpt from an email sent to me by Ryo as a result for my request for 21 ozs denim:

“By the way, we went to Okayama last week. Okayama is the place that is famous for denim. We looked for denim of 21 ounces at the place. But we were not able to find it.

We knew that the #41 was around 16 ounces.â€

The #41 fabric is actually 16 ozs.

Please hold on to your hostility or use it in a more appropriate manner and place.

Mifune

Just stopped by the LVC shop in Paris. The '55 now sells for 250 euros. A few month back they were 160 euros.

Amazing

Have you tried Sugar Cane Jeans?

Most of the fits have more of a high rise and they've spent 20 years in research to reproduce the original 'dungaree'.

Check it out: www.sugarcanejeans.co.uk for info and available at www.okiya.eu.

Hi Bosslady

The 47 is a great jean but it is still too low cut on me and frankly speaking butt cleavage at my age is not a good idea.

Basically after a few months of research I have found that I can wear the LVC '55 and my custom OOEs and that is IT. At least it makes the wish list shorter.

Fellow OOE fans

Who is in for doing some kind of a group buy of 19-24 ozs Japanese denim to provide to Ryo to make some jeans? The heaviest is the 41 and it is a featherweight 16 ozs.

Where can one buy individual lengths of high quality Japanese made denim in the 19-24 ozs range?

i don't give a poop about 21oz denim. it strikes me as a gimmick and it seems totally excessive. plus i don't believe there's any inherent correlation between weight and quality.

There is no relation between fabric weight and quality. You can have a heavy fabric that is not well made, of poor quality, and it will not be long lived. But if you have a heavy fabric that is well made, you have purchased durability that a lighter cloth will not have. I have a topcoat sewn for my grandfather in the 1920s made of very heavy, tightly woven cloth that is still perfectly wearable. My son wore it through college and will probably pass it on to his son someday. Lightweight cloth is only a very recent trend in men’s tailored clothes (early 1970s), and many think the planned obsolescence of lightweight cloth is the “real” gimmick…one that manufacturer’s like.

50 years from now, LVC could reproduce the "2010 501" and if i'm still around, i can dress in the style of my youth!

No so fast Tally Ho! If you get your 2010 501s reproductions in fifty years and they don’t seem right to you, don’t try to explain it, because there will be those who will not like you saying so. The reproductions of today don’t resemble the “style of my youth” 50 years later.  I wish you better luck.

In one way or another we are all exhorting Levis to take up the quality focus that made the brand a legend. Quality is not a gimmick.

PS: Ninja...nice looking 55s

My 01xxs are closer in fit to my sc47s (very close) than to say a LVC 55.

I am trying to get OOE to make my next pair more 55s like. They will be 4101xx.

Fingers crossed!

LVC 1955 (MiUSA) 36 x 36, soaked in warm water, washed once:

but the whole Workwear collection would've been a great outlet for more experimental models (heavier weight, etc.) that could showcase brand heritage, durability and quality IMO..

Levis clearly think they have a place in the low end Sam’s Club or Cosco marketplace. Fine, if they can make money in this business. But the premium brand should be F1, the best, a showcase of a leader. And for this reason I suggest that Levis drop the hokey “vintage” format (that appeals to 200 denim geeks on forums worldwide, forgive me) and start making the best flipping denim the world has ever seen. That is what made Levis a centuries old brand, being the best. And why in the world should the Japanese (as much as I like them) steal a secure place at the top of the denim totem pole without even a fight?

Levis, leadership is a responsibility, be leaders again and the world will follow. For every style of jean (44, 47, 55 etc) offer three qualities of denim (9.5, 14, 21 ozs) and dare the rest of the world to follow. Make Levis an “aspirational” brand again, set the prices high for the top end products, but deliver quality that makes others gasp. Then the middle and lower end products will develop and be more profitable as young people aspire and work (it is workwear) to merit the more hand crafted, exclusive products.

For goodness sakes, whatever you do, raise your head out of the dreary commonplace where you are rooted today.

Open letter to Levis Strauss

As with many forums there are some commercial interests mingled with those of the aficionados, so I am writing this open letter to Levis Strauss or its agents here.

Levis is a brand we all admire. I have worn your products for over half a century. If I am writing this note it is out of fondness, a nudge from an old friend.

The LVC brand has set as one of its objectives the reproduction of Levis styles of the past. It is a great idea as men of all physiques can find something that fits them well from among the various cuts and styles. But looking towards the future, for a way to sustain and grow the LVC brand, it may be time to think about creating jeans with different qualities of denim, qualities that are not reproductions of the originals.

The market for exact reproductions is a small one, a niche restricted to denim antiquarians and collectors, many of whom participate on this and other forums and blogs. But the greater market is that being pioneered by the Japanese, making traditional styles with different qualities of cloth including heavyweight denim.

Traditional mid-weight denim is insufficient protection in climates where extreme temperatures exist and were men must give up wearing jeans and switch to heavyweight wool or corduroy trousers during the Fall and Winter months. And men who engage in active sports like hunting, fishing, motorcycle riding, boating, flying, hiking, and camping in cold weather must leave their jeans in the closet for other warmer and more rugged clothing. In fact, in many places in the world the climate allows wearing 12-14 ozs cloth for only a few months (weeks) a year, this denim being either too warm in Summer or lacking insulation in Winter.

As an example, the Japanese are producing jeans from 15-30 ozs denim. This trend towards heavy, durable cloth makes sense at many levels: comfort, aesthetics and economics. We have discussed the enhanced comfort of heavy cloth in cold weather climates (not San Francisco), but there is also an argument that heavy cloth drapes better, takes on a deeper patina (fade) and therefore is more aesthetically pleasing. And heavyweight cloth lasts longer, an important economic advantage in this time of crisis.

The other market opportunity would be lightweight, summer weight denim made from very high twist cotton cloth to be worn in warmer climates, something in the 9-10.5 ozs range.

So I think I am not alone in encouraging Levis Strauss to experiment with new qualities of denim (heavier and lighter) for their LVC brand, keeping as a standard, the traditional cuts and styles that are the envy of the world.

I have the LVC '55 in both USA and Japan versions and will be posting photos to show their evolution.

The Japanese denim is superb. It reminds me a lot of my 1201XX OOE except that it is a bit thicker. The cloth is a gorgeous shade of dark blue. It has alot of character without being over the top. In that way it is quite elegant.

The Cone denim is very smooth, paper-like in the sense of it being very uniform and consistent. The denim is more of a mid blue as compared to the MiJ denim. It is also quite a bit lighter than the Japanese version.

The fit is identical...a good one for my tallish frame. So we will see how they do over time.

Guys

A tailor will remove the cloth necessary from the back rise in such a way that the bulk of the cloth comes from the center of the back seam and tapers out towards the sides (as shown.) This will cure your diaper problems.