Copped some Boncoura denim today in Kyoto so thought I'd share my thoughts and fit pics.
There's three denim models, the 66, Chinchback, and XX. 66 is pretty tapered, Cinchback a little more room with a chinch on the back (obviously) and slightly tapered, and XX is straight, a little more roomy. All are one-wash.
Fit:
For reference, I am 5'7" with approximately 29" waist.
Here's the Chinchback that I was originally intending to buy in size 30.
Thoughts: Big in the waist on me, but sizing down to 29 would've been too skinny for my taste. I thought the front looked great. But since I was going for a straight leg, I wasn't feeling the side taper. Length is a little on the short side but fine on me. Rise is high, even higher than my LVC 501 '33. I thought it looked okay, though.
And here's the XX in size 29 (30 was a little big).
Thoughts: Pictures don't do justice. Fit was great, from the waist to the straight leg. Note on length: length was shorter than size 30. Apparently lengths change from sizes 28-29, 30-33, 34, etc. I asked why: the guy said that the designer (Hisashi Morishima) hemmed the bottoms with a special hemming machine model (pardon my lack of jargon). If you ask some denim shops to hem your jeans, they might outsource it to place to get hemmed that doesn't use that machine, so he didn't want this and so intentionally shortened the length of his denim. This is fine for the average Japanese or guys on the shorter side like myself, but might not work for taller folks.
(Update 10/19)
I didn't notice how beautiful the hem was until after this post. Notice the intertwined orange/yellow and thin, pink-lined selvedge.
Construction:
I'm no expert on what makes a great jean in terms of construction, but basically EVERYTHING from the rivets to the thin, pink-lined selvedge to the cotton construction is superb. The material is tough but soft. I felt a few used samples and they had a beautiful blue hue and were really soft. The original color is a darker blue, almost navy. Much darker than a Warehouse jean I compared in the shop.
Conclusion:
I was looking for a straight leg so went with the XX. Both models were great, IMO. The only issue I could see is length for taller people and cost (about 10,000 yen more than a Warehouse). But once I saw how much work and detail were put into these guys, it was worth it for me.
