Broark

Well if anyone can make it to Osaka on September 21st I've got first dibs. The S2000HX are very nice. I think the war details are nice and set them apart from most standard Samurai offerings and the cut is properly wide / straight.

And these jeans could be yours for a cool 15 million yen...insane. Some more photos here.

I've always assumed it's some sort of translation fumble.

Great pair of S501xx's from Mushroom, just look at those pocket bags.

He does do ropers, at least I think I've seen some on his Instagram. Rios does a lot of interesting models as well, most of them a little flashy for my liking. Some of the models they've done for Japanese retailers are interesting. That would be a lot longer of a road trip if I wanted to see the factory.

I've already told myself that if we ever end up leaving Austin and moving elsewhere I'll get a pair made by Lee Miller from Texas Traditions. His workshop is only a few miles from our house, they're much more of an investment however compared to the RW.

Anyone going to be in Osaka on September 21st? Slash is releasing a tux at the Samurai shop, he's done these pairs in the past where he uses Samurai's denim and hardware. Would love a pair, I tried on some of the S2000HX (which I think use the same 15 oz. denim) but talked myself out of them. Here's a link to the Instagram post, and the Osaka shop has a few other posts referencing the previous releases.

Looks like Red Wing is bringing back the Pecos boots in Hawthorne Muleskinner, been wanting some roper style boots lately so might give these a try. Seems like a more affordable option than the Lofgren Duke Ropers, which seem to be impossible to find in my size.

You finally made it!

Yeah seems very slow on my end as well. Not sure why.

I think one of the biggest challenges facing niche communities like ours is the dwindling attention span of the overall populace. Especially when something like a pair of jeans can take months on end of commitment to get any sort of real "accomplishment" from. Instant gratification and dopamine hits from short form media are things that are already having a big impact on society and I'm personally concerned it'll only get worse. I just saw another headline recently that said reading for enjoyment is down 40% compared to ~20 years ago. I'm not sure if this is necessarily directly applicable to your point, but it's been on my mind lately. I recently saw a clip from NPR from a few years back talking about screen time for children and the difference between good and bad screen time. Essentially breaking down why we've never seen this sort of societal disconnect that some of the younger generations are exhibiting. And the psychologist talking said a big part of it has to do with the instant dopamine hits that kids get out of short form content, they're trained at a young age to continuously consume and seek those short term fixes. He went on to say that "good" screen time is watching something together (either with family or friends) that has a clearly defined time limit and story or meaning where you learn details about the characters and plot (even if they're menial). I've been trying to find the clip to share but no luck so far.

I vaguely remember the '96 Olympics since I was growing up in the Atlanta area at the time. I do fondly remember my parents some of the Izzy mascot pins, wonder if they still have those somewhere.

I've been wearing my LB40s again the last few days, forgot how nice they are. A lot of the seams have a similar three dimensionality that the Slash have. I just wish they were a little less tapered and the selvedge ID was a little more narrow. I've just been wearing them uncuffed to avoid looking at it. Hoping that Ono gets back to making his own line of jeans again, I really like his stuff.

That does look like the LF44 denim, nice pickup! I still haven't gotten around to washing my SO02 pair yet, been trying to practice some delayed gratification. I'll wash them once it cools off maybe.

Yeah that's a good point too, the jeans would probably look fine if they were on someone with a different frame or sized differently.