Cold Summer

Great fit! They look nice.

You're better off just getting the 800xx from Self Edge, which has a 34" inseam post-soak, is made from the 14.5 oz denim, and fits pretty much the same as the 1001xx if you size up one from your 1001xx size.

Yeah the 800xx denim is 14.5 oz Memphis. It's a great fabric - nice texture and character, but not over-engineered like a lot of enthusiast fabrics are these days. Just a great, all-round classic denim. As others said, the xx doesn't really seem to signify anything other than a nomenclature change.

S3000vx, two months of wear.

A few years ago I got some towels from Bed Bath And Beyond from American Craft, which makes them in the USA. They've held up really well.

I've owned various fancy guitars over the years including by small builders of relic Fender-style guitars, but I'm as happy as I've ever been with just a couple of very basic instruments: Squier Classic Vibe Jazzmaster, Sonic Blue Fender Mexican Precision Bass The only modifications I've made to these guitars is a neck shim on the Jazzmaster, and changing the pickguards (to mint green and tortoiseshell, respectively.) Great guitars. Play well and sound nice with stock pickups and hardware. Perfect for the shoegaze/dream pop/emo/indie rock sort of music I play. My $2000+ guitars really didn't feel $1500 better than this Squier - or I'm just not a good enough player after eighteen years of playing to notice the difference. I play into a Line 6 Helix, I love this thing. Best money I ever spent on a piece of gear. Great tones, easy to use, endlessly customizable. Though I tend to stick with modeling a Fender black twin style amp as a clean base with drive and effects added via pedal modeling. One day I'll get around to buying a Powercab so I'm not just playing through headphones.

Awesome jeans, I'm looking forward to putting more wear into mine (currently at ~4 months) after the Indigo Invitational contest is over next year. I agree, these are some of the best I've worn - denim is dark, just the right amount of texture - and the fit is almost certainly the best I've ever worn. WH gets more attention for their repro-inspired pairs but the 800 really is a great choice for somebody who likes jeans like the Levis 511 but wants a superior version.

Interesting hearing people say they don't like TCB's cuts. Amongst other reasons, their 50s jeans appeal to me because they seem like they'd be a perfect straight fit for me - but hey, lots of different body types out there.

Interesting, I feel that my Merz tees fit me better than any others (but being tall + skinny I can see how they're not for everyone, they definitely seemed cut to fit best on stereotypically northern European proportions.) No quality issues with the four tees I have, and I actually like the relaxed necks. I have tees with snug necks like Warehouse and while they look great the Merz is a lot more comfy, especially in warmer weather.

Didn't RMC briefly have a retail store in New York operated by the guys from BiG? I thought that sounded really cool but I swear it ended up disappearing after maybe a couple months as though it never happened. That whole thing was pretty weird and made me wonder what the deal was with them. Never been a huge RMC fan, but I do like my A-2 a bunch.

Some I've never cared for: Momotaro: I've never understood the hype surrounding this brand. I don't like their branding (stripes, patch, etc.), denim (all sanforized), or cuts. They're not bad, but nothing about them appeals to me or works for me anyway. I have somewhat similar feelings toward Studio D'Artisan as well. I like Japan Blue as a budget option though and recommend them sometimes. LVC: Way too expensive for what you get. Can't stand their polyester stitching, IMO makes the jeans look cheap. Levi's arcs on your butt aren't work the price, quality, and denim that are all subpar compared to Japanese repro jeans. APC: I've always thought these were overrated as a gateway brand, but today when there are tons of brands with similar cuts and much higher quality construction/denim, and APC is more expensive than ever, there's little reason to recommend them. I have never liked how their denim fades - the rapid fading tends to attract denim noobs who don't realize the texture and dyeing is not very good at all. Not a fan of most Indonesian or Thai brands, though "Piger Works" stands out as being one with branding and image I especially dislike (though the quality of the jeans/value is probably pretty good.) Of course I'm not a big fan of hype-based brands like Naked And Famous and Oni, but I don't really have anything to say that hasn't been said a million times already. Some brands like PBJ and Samurai put out a bunch of Reddit hypebeast tacky hyper-slub fabrics in lifter cuts that I don't like, but I still think their classic/core models are great and the hypebeast models don't detract from those. This will really get me some hate: I've never liked jeans by most of the one-man/micro-scale brands like Roy, Tender, CSF, etc. I think the story is interesting, the craftsmanship obviously excellent, but I never liked the design details, cuts, etc. Something about the vibe of wearing one-man-made jeans has never appealed to me either, I feel for some strange reason like this clashes with the "spirit" of jeans. I wouldn't say I "dislike" these brands, rather they just don't appeal to me at all and I've never felt drawn to any of the hype. Ooe is the one brand I'd probably be willing to make an exception for in this regard, but I feel like my Warehouse jeans are good enough for the vintage vibe, and cost way less. The price of a lot of these jeans seems way past the point of diminishing returns for me when you can get Warehouse or TCB for dramatically less.

Samurai S3000vx for Indigo Invitational, one month of wear. These are coming along nicely, the Zero denim fades quickly. Should look great in a few months.

Nice to see you guys carrying the S3000vx, I'm wearing a pair of these for the Indigo Invitational and they're great. I'm usually not a big fan of really aggressive denims, but the fabric on these hits just right - lots of character, but not too conspicuously crazy.

Samurai's target market outside Japan has completely shifted as a result of retailers like Denimio and Okayama Denim presenting the brand quite differently from Blue In Green. Initially Samurai was one of the bolder/more adventurous brands that was pushing the limits (at the time) of what denim could do, but still somewhat grounded in vintage-inspired designs. Now they're one of the brands constantly doing weird stuff in response to the demand of those retailers/Instagram/Reddit. Very different from when Blue In Green was pretty much how you got them outside Japan - they presented the brand a lot better. I don't care for the "new" Samurai stuff but still quite like their classic models - I'm wearing a S3000vx for Indigo Invitational and really love the cut, denim, details (I need to get around to snapping some pics, been real lazy lately.) They don't feel too over the top and are an interesting blend of vintage inspiration and innovation. The S0510xx, S710xx, S3000vx, S5000vx are still (in my mind) iconic models and easy for me to recommend.

I think I started posting sometime in late 2011 or maybe early 2012. I'd been into denim stuff for a year or two but mostly hung out at MyNudies as it felt like a less severe community than the Sufu of those days. I'm always down to jabber about my ridiculous denim hobby to anybody who will listen, I'm not particularly shy about it or worried about coming across as a fanatical nut, since the other party will inevitably get that vibe from me one way or another.