Hello, longtime lurker, first time poster. I've just received the black slim 50s in raw, and here are some initial impressions:
--I sized down, sort of. Natural waist is 34 inches, but note that 32 in raw measures about that, so went with 32. Definitely was plenty big in the waist.
--Did a hot soak to get most of the shrinkage dispensed with. Post-soak measurements were 33.5 waist, 33.5 length, 7.25 leg opening. The waist has basically stretched back to as-delivered after wearing for a day. I would say that if you want a tight fit you could even size down 2. I will probably do a machine wash at some point in the near future to get out any last shrinkage, as the length is a bit long and I'd rather not pay for hemming. Lots of dye loss during the soak, fwiw. And it's black...no transfer to the hands, however.
--Fit: Kind of neither this nor that (not in a bad way). It's not a 501 anti-fit, but the top block is plenty roomy -- but note that the rise is on the low side of medium (fine with me, I prefer lowish rise). I'm a cyclist so the room around the haunches and thighs is definitely appreciated. The lower legs are definitely slim -- this is a modern fit rather than a repro. Overall, I think it would work for maybe 60 percent of body types, but depends how you want to style it.
--denim: would say, slightly hairy but only just. The fabric is a bit lighter weight than I would expect for 13.8 oz. Feels more like 13 or maybe even less. But then I'm used to heavier denim.
--details: black thread rather than orange should make for an interesting contrast once some fades appear. Interestingly a bit of surface corrosion appeared on the buttons after the hot soak.
Overall, I'm pretty impressed. There aren't many white warp/black weft (or is it the other way round?) raw jeans out there, period. I'm hoping for some high contrast fades so will give these a good 2-3x week wearing this winter. If these develop the way I'd like I may try them in indigo as I'll be in the market soon.
