Cold Summer

In my experience, I've never really had much trouble with the integrity of the fabric from washing at 2~4 month intervals on most of my pairs. What seems most affected is the stitching - if it's 100% cotton, infrequent washing seems to lead to vastly more breakage, while similar jeans washed often seem to have little issue with thread integrity, at least for a while. However, I have pretty slim thighs for my waist size, so there's less stress/wear and tear at the crotch, maybe counteracting the effects of less washing in my case. Interesting to me how all these factors interconnect to make each pair of broken-in jeans unique from one person to the next.

Deadstock pre-Levis lawsuit Flat Head 3005xx. I'd also like to find a pair of 3003s, from the same era (~2006) if possible.

Always thought Stevenson jeans looked/sounded really cool, but yeah, the fits weren't going to be a good match for me. New model looks interesting though.

Insanely good fades on those 800s 1fookntite, love how they've turned out. I'm getting back into my pair for fall/winter, which currently stands at around 4 months of wear and haven't been washed yet.

I think it's probably less the denim itself and more the treatment (where in the contest a lot of people washed + tumbled their jeans all the time.) There's this sort of thing that happens to denim when it's tumble dried a bunch, the way the seams pucker and crinkle and have this accompanying contrast around the coin pocket, waistband, etc that looks very dad-jeans to me, and I feel like I'm seeing the characteristics of the washing/tumbling more than the denim itself. This is one reason why I wash sparsely, aside from Sick Fadez Contrast, my jeans never develop that sort of characteristic. But it all comes down to personal preference I guess, obviously some people here like that look and certain types of denim with marble characteristics (WH Banner, Denim Bridge fabrics) seem to reward that type of treatment.

100% agree, I've been on internet forums since 1999 or so, for video games and various other hobbies/interests, and it really feels like the big corporate platforms like Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, Discord etc. ruined the niche communities for specific hobbies which used to have such unique communal atmospheres centered around forums, it was organic and natural in a way that kids who've used Reddit their whole lives aren't really going to understand, and the cumulative base of knowledge is just much more accessible somewhere like SuFu compared to the here today, gone tomorrow nature of Reddit. The Internet used to be somewhere to share and obtain knowledge, now it feels like it mostly exists to harvest and sell your data to the highest bidder.

That's an impressive amount of fading for just a year or so. A lot of times when I see faded TCB 40s jeans I think, this denim looks just like my dad's $20 Wrangler jeans after he's tumble dried them a hundred times.

Yeah I haven't been impressed by YT denim people, to the extent you can call them that, in part because it mostly feels like thinly-veiled advertisements for "sponsors." Maybe that's inevitable for a "fashion" related hobby. In comparison to the earlier coffee reference, there's not a lot of "technique" involved with jeans, you pretty much put them on your legs and wear them, and while washing is a bit of a topic it only takes what, five minutes to run through? But people will never get tired of talking about how to make the perfect espresso or whatever.

I don't imagine I'll ever get tired of wearing fancy denim, hopefully enough brands making fits that work for me will be around in the future that I can keep doing this for a long time. I still check in for a few minutes most days, but haven't found a lot to say lately. When I have a nicely-faded pair to share, I take nice pictures and post them, but otherwise find myself at somewhat of a loss for words. To be honest, a lot of the time I look on here just hoping to see pictures of a really well-faded pair or two, but it seems rare these days. As I got really into coffee this year, I feel like what the denim community is really missing is our equivalent of James Hoffman on YouTube, a well-spoken, articulate person who creates high quality content effectively acting as an ambassador for the entire hobby.

Yeah I guess so. I totally get that with a brand's overall offering. But thinking strictly from the perspective of jeans taken in isolation (i.e., worn by members on the forum as part of a casual outfit), it seems hard to see those nuances, especially when branding such as patch design, arcuates, etc. is pretty minimal to begin with. Now that I I think about it, owning the Warehouse 1001xx and 800xx in the same size, I feel the 800xx has a slightly dressier quality. I could wear it in an "upscale date night" sort of outfit and it'd look more natural than my 1001xx. I can't explain exactly why this is, though it might be that the 800xx has a slightly more tailored fit in the top block. The shape of the leg is virtually identical on both pairs.

I don't think they really are. I mean heck even Kapital's wacky kakishibu denim is really cool. It's not something I'd probably ever wear, but I like seeing people pull it off. When I was getting into all this stuff from 2010-2012 or so, it felt like there was a lot of variety. A Samurai S710xx was totally different from a Sugar Cane Okinawa, a Flat Head 3001, a PBJ XX-007, or something from SDA, Warehouse, etc. The fits, fabric, details, all of it was really different from one to the next. Now it all just feel same-y. This is probably my subjective impression as much as anything else but I guess my point is that it doesn't seem like there's a lot going on in the denim world to keep it fresh or compelling for me, and I honestly have a more interesting experience reading old discussions from a decade ago. Today, everything is polarized into 29 oz hyper-slub tennis ball green weft giga-tapered Reddit jeans or A New August 1949 501XX Repro That's 0.2% Different From This Other Brand's Version. It felt like the community (and brands) used to be somewhere between these two extremes. I'm sure somebody could write a fascinating anthropological exposition of how/why this sort of thing happens. As it is, if it seems like I haven't been around much, it's because I log in, see that there's been no discussion about the brands I like, briefly look for fade pictures and feel a twinge of disappointment, rinse, lather, repeat for the next several months, until it's time to post updates on what I'm wearing I guess. I still like wearing my jeans/other clothing I enjoy, but I guess my motivation to be involved in the community isn't all that high anymore.

I'm starting to feel that a lot of the raw denim world is minute variations on the same thing. For instance, Full Count, Warehouse, Ooe, Freewheelers, TCB, Real McCoys, CSF, etc. all seem incredibly similar to me in terms of ethos/fabric/fading/etc. I love my Warehouse 1001xx and 800xx jeans but I don't feel that a pair by any of those other brands I mentioned there is different enough to even remotely justify buying a pair of those, at least not until the aforementioned jeans are in tatters, which isn't happening any time soon. They're all just minor variations on basically the same thing. Unless you don't own any jeans like that and want one, it just seems like comparisons are sort of a waste of time. But it's largely the same thing with the more "aggressive" brands too. PBJ, Samurai, Iron Heart, Oni, etc. all have their 21 oz super sandpapery heavyweight hardcore Reddit denim, which I guess is cool, but I really think that if you've worn one, you've worn them all. My Samurai S3000vx are great for when I want a more aggressive, less traditional pair. Why do I need more? Those other brands are basically all just offering the same thing. Sure there are legitimately interesting and distinct fabrics like the Sugar Cane Okinawa denim, Flat Head's Pioneer and LHT denim, etc, but what's hilarious to me is that these are fabrics from ages ago and hardly anyone has done anything especially interesting that's not just some variation on the Ultra Slubz H4rdcore Reddit Denim theme, or otherwise cartoonishly weird. I think it's good that we have options of what to buy, my point is more that it's getting increasingly hard to sustain any interest in the denim world beyond the couple of pairs I'm wearing because it feels like the jeans people get all excited about... are barely different from what I am already wearing. I'm not surprised at all that Japanese brands are struggling to stay alive because really, how many different slight variations on mid-century 501s do we really need? What does Brand X offer that, say, Warehouse isn't already doing? On the flip side, this is why I respect Denim Bridge, who are genuinely trying to do something a little different without getting all silly.

I find this stuff hilarious because to my ignoramus eyes, Denime really doesn't look much less "workwear" than Warehouse. They'll all very minor variations on the mid-century Levis. Does slightly modifying the cut make them look more "European"? They're still five pocket jeans with a bunch of copper rivets. This stuff always comes across as extreme hair-splitting to me. That being said, I'm sure the new Warehouse-made Denime jeans will be very nice and would certainly consider them if I was a few inches shorter and didn't already have enough jeans to last through the next decade or so.

I came across a great-looking pair of pre-lawsuit 3005xx on Grailed that I just had to share here. To me, this is pretty much the ideal fade.

Great fit! They look nice.