dwilson123

Crap, I'm dealing with the dreaded US Customs ISC Chicago for my chromxcel boots. Guess I'll be waiting for awhile.

All my stuff goes through Chicago.  Its pretty hit or miss.  Sometimes it is cleared in less than a day like it never even went through and other times it sits there for weeks.

Over in the UK, if you see a St George flag dangling out of a window or off the side of a house it's usually assumed it belongs to racists. This is unfortunate and is largely due to the English Defence League and hooliganism in general.

Oddly enough the Union Jack doesn't have the same connotation (for me anyway). Nor do the flags of the other UK countries.

In the USA if you see a union jack in a girl's dorm room it is always next to a poster of Marilyn Monroe (sometimes Audrey Hepburn) and I've found out from my times in college you need to run, not walk, away from these girls

I recently saw a truck flying a massive confederate flag. It was a small mountain-ish town in California so seeing confederate license plates and maybe a flag in front of a house isn't particularly rare (still uncommon though, thankfully) but seeing a truck actually waving a massive flag? Was kind of taken back.

When I visited my cousin's house one of their neighbors was flying a massive confederate flag right below an equally massive American flag.  It struck me as extremely odd to have two flags which basically represent the opposite with the Union flag being the basis for the modern American flag and of course the Confederate flag being the banner under which the South seceded from the union.  But then again I pretty much assume anyone in America with a confederate flag to be extraordinarily ignorant and small minded so I doubt he would even scratch the irony of the matter.

And don't let anyone fool you, they're not fans of black people.  

Basically every time I see someone with confederate anything I just assume what they're trying to advertise is they're a racist.  For whatever reason history has told us that the Civil War was 100% about slavery and even though it was a major issue they were fighting over it was hardly the only reason.

Speaking of which, I've seen many an unfortunate shirt with the confederate flag when I lived there...

Yeah its quite embarrassing.  Especially since I live in a northern state and seeing confederate flags raised is even more suspect.  I'm not sure why anyone would want to romance that period of our country's history especially on that side of the battlefield.

Just wash your jeans, these aren't linen or silk they are a rugged cotton garment. Don't want to sound like a snob, but I will never understand why people are so afraid of washing their jeans. It's a bit ironic that such a rugged, blue-collard garment is treated so delicately by some. Often subject to a repertoire of care traditionally reserved for finer clothing. 

 

I also have found it odd how people spend so much and are so focused on quality of the garment then refuse to wash it or do anything in the garment that may dirty it up

$80 for a resole seems crazy expensive as it is.  Could probably just find a local cobbler to do it in the $40-50 range.

So are most of the leather jackets made in Japan made in the same spot?  You said TFH contracts out that work and I can't imagine there are a ton of factories producing them.

 

Thank you. How have their shipping times been?

Depends on how long they sit around in customs.  Usually it is about a week to get from Japan to my door but I've had them as quick as ~4 days and sometimes as long as 3 weeks.

I'm kind of off the heavyweight trend after vowing a few years ago anything below 20oz will never touch my legs again

Somewhat regarding the leather patch discussion.

But Gustin is coming out with a leather jacket.  We won't be discussing that exactly.  But I just asked them on reddit if they'd consider using horsehide.  Their response I feel is reasonable but I wanted to get a discussion.  They said they feel morally conflicted about using horse leather.

Personally I don't see the difference between using leather from horses, cows, goats, sheep or deer.  For the most part these animals were bred for slaughter or hunted responsibly.  They're not endangered nor is their harvesting of the leather throwing out the ecosystem.  It isn't like when beaver pelts were so sought after in North America that we nearly made the animal go extinct.  I would assume where ever they are sourcing the leather from would be producing the leather in a responsible manner.

Does anyone have any experience buying from Rakuten? I'm trying to grab a pair of 3009s as i'm unsure if the ultrasuede ones are going to be replacing the normal pair. I'm trying to order from 2nd but I can't find their email address to get a shipping estimate. Also, anyone have any thoughts on the normal 3009s vs the double stitched versions?

2nd generally runs me about $30 shipping to the states

Well guys, here's something different: I decided to start writing some in-depth pieces, halfway between review and editorial, about some of my favorite garments, and I thought I'd write about my green Flat Head flannel that I've had for about five years. Check it out.

This actually got me thinking.  I'm normally not a sentimental person.  My mom gives me boxes of stuff from my childhood and I either throw the stuff away or just shove it in a closet and don't give it a second thought.  But some of my clothes I do have a bit of sentimental attachment to them.

My Nudie Slim Jims.  My second pair of selvage raw denim.  The pair of jeans I was wearing when I met my wife.  The jeans I was wearing when I proposed to my wife.  The jeans I wore for our engagement shoot.  They're far and away my best fitting jeans but they're now pretty scrappy and have patches of Samuri denim glued onto them just so they don't completely unravel.  I could never bring myself to get rid of them, though.  They now mean way too much to me.

My Canada Goose bomber.  When I first bought this I got it because the reviews raved it would basically kick winter in the balls.  And it does.  It was far and away the most expensive item I ever purchased.  I think I got it for a bit over $400 at the time -- which feels like insignificant chump change for much of my other wardrobe items now.  This was before I even wore raw denim.  This is when I was in the kick of "expensive = good" for clothes.  So I was head to toe in 7FAM, JBrand and all the other "designer" stuff you'd buy at any Saks or Nordstrom.  But then I got my Canada Goose.  Possibly my first ever garment that was expensive not because of name brand (back then it wasn't nearly as big as it is today) but because it used the best materials they could find and constructed with care.  It completely changed my mind.  I started to research more clothes made in the first world and eventually I found out about raw denim.  I'll probably never get rid of the jacket simply because it is far too functional for Ohio winters but it also represents a turning point where I stopped taking items at face value of if they're expensive it has got to be good.  Now I did more research and learned why some things are more expensive and why some things are expensive just for the sake of costing more.

I don't really have any attachment to any of my TFH items.  I got into TFH maybe only a few years ago when I first bought my first HNW-52W heavy western flannel.  I now own 3 of those, a wabash, 2 sweats, 3 tshirts, that horsehide bag Kyle sold me and I'm sure some stuff I'm forgetting.  Now I just like TFH because I prefer the aesthetic and it fits me well but I was already pretty deep in Japanese repro before getting into the brand.

FWIW I think it looks pretty decent fit wise

So I want to update my opinion (that everyone cares about so deeply, I know) on shell cordovan.  After wearing my shell boots for maybe 8 months I don't think I can go back to regular leather.  The beauty is in the simplicity of care.  I just wipe them off with a horsehair brush every few wears and they look almost brand new.  I have some scuffing here and there which probably requires some reno but they're extremely low maintenance boots.  I get a great shine from the boots without doing *anything* fancy to them even after wearing them daily for months.  The leather is amazing.  I'm sold.  Its going to be hard to impossible to go back to non-shell boots.

Software dev.  Mostly back end stuff.  Lately mostly Hadoop and it's ecosystem stuff.

The new SG jeans will be out May 1st in two fits, we'll have more info on them in late March.

If you're at SENY or SEMX we have pairs there to check out the denim, which is extremely good, probably the most interesting denim we've done yet for a collaboration.

Is the collab going to feature a custom patch?

I do really like my TFH jeans though probably not more than my PBJs or TSGs.  They're all on that "top tier" level.  Below it would be my Momos, my IH and a slew of others I'm forgetting.  I don't think I've ever bought a pair and just gone "these are terrible."

With that said I'm probably going to buy those TSG collabs when they come out if the fit/fabric interests me.

I really only wear one pair at a time and have a secondary pair if I can't wear those (ie: they're in the wash.)  My primary pair just get taken off and thrown on the floor next to my bed every night and my secondary pair I have on a snap hanger so they're standing up and down (not folded.)  Everything else, including retired pairs, just get folded and put on the top shelf of my closet.

My issue is my Type3 is just more functional.  I use it as one of my actual fall jackets so I'd never be able to give up the jacket being lined nor the hand pockets.  IMO this Type2 with the hand pockets looks just as busy as a Type3 but without the classic styling of a Type3.  The draw of a Type2 to me is how clean it looks since they generally lack slash pockets.

Hm, not exactly my cup of tea.  I'd like to own a classic Type III from FH but am scared of the huge shoulders.

Heh it would be odd to see you in Iron Heart head to toe but a TFH Type3 since Iron Heart is so well known for their denim jackets

best value for money in a loopwheeled shirt? Also what kind of construction details should you look for in a high quality shirt?  Thinking of upgrading my tee-shirt game i'm located in Canada. i've tried out Our Lady White, 3sixteen, and Iron Heart, and a SDA baseball tee. Our Lady White was probably my favourite in terms of fit, wearing a size small gives me a nice and slim fit. the new stevenson looks really nice but im not about to drop 160CAD on a tee(http://www.selfedge.com/stevenson-overall-co?product_id=1494). i've heard good things about barns. and this strike gold tee looks pretty ideal in terms of pricing http://global.rakuten.com/en/store/klax-on/item/sgt006/.  thanks in advance

Sorry I'm late on this.  I find Strike Gold to be about the best you can get if you import them from Japan.  The fit is pretty decent, the neck is amazing and the fabric is great.  They're by far my favorite.  But I will warn that you have to size up.  I'm a Small in basically all USA brands but I require a Large in TSG and honestly I may go to an XL my next go around.

Hm thats interesting Ben I've never had my buttons come undone.  Are you talking about the waist button or the fly?

Yeah the pockets are hard to use and the actual bags are pretty flimsy as well

For my money Klax-On has by far the worst modeled pictures.  Nothing looks good on the guy they throw clothes on.