julian-wolf

The gusset almost looks after-market??

Sewing machines are pretty complicated, and small changes can have strong effects on how stitching turns out. The tensioning (and, correspondingly, the thread gauge) plays a big role. The whole reason we see the particular style of roping that we’re used to is an imbalance in how the top and bottom feeds pull the fabric—and the operator has quite a bit of control over how strong of an effect this is. Paying enough attention, it’s not too difficult to get a fairly even stitch out of a 43200G, or to get good roping with the straight stitch on a modern home machine. The folder also plays a big role; standard folders came in at least a few sizes, and I’m sure bigger factories had plenty more machined in-house, some of which resulted in very different hems than others.

Great Lakes / Tender Co. / Rocky Mountain Featherbed / Tezomeya / Duke’s / The Vanishing West / Frank’s

As if called forth by @smoothsailor & kin, Tyler, The Creator’s put out a new album chock full of absolute bangers

I wish there were alternatives. I really like Town View for simple soft sole mocs, and there’s a few options for Wallabee style joints, but there really doesn’t seem to be anyone else doing a great job of general all-purpose rubber-soled high- and low-tops and everything in between

Yep, I’ve stopped looking at any new / full price Russells They’re great moccasins but not $800 great, and given the coincidence of their recent restructuring it’s very hard to imagine that much of the increase in revenue is going to the workers anyway

^ Out of curiosity, Doc, if you’re comfortable w/ sending them out to get arcs added then what’s the mental block to just getting a tab sewn on at the same time?

I’ve had my Tender shades (w/ prescription lenses in them) for around 4–5 years and they’re still good as new

Great Lakes x2 / Hollows / Cane’s / Frank’s

The MiUSA line is legit, I think they use the same factory as Mister Freedom for their jeans?

Made in California? Or just the “Sugar Cane California” line? SC California is almost all made in China, as far as I remember

Yard work styleless mashup Great Lakes + One Ear Brand + Tender Co. + Tezomeya + Hollows + Cane’s + Hoggs of Fife

Is that true? I remember the lot 470 denim being very quick to give up dye, lots of examples floating around with pretty drastic fades

The Self Edge 1947s use the lot 470 fabric, which definitely is not “non-fade”—plenty examples of faded pairs floating around

While we're on the topic…my first car, the day after I bought it (for $750…) Only ever driven one or two things since then that were as fun, and never owned anything that was anywhere to as easy to work on RIP

I obviously would never suggest it on any public road with other cars, it intersections, or just about any interesting features…but America’s really, really big, and most of Utah and Wyoming and Nevada are completely empty

This just isn’t a relevant take. I would love it if it were—getting to share the road with bikes and pedestrians would be great by me, if for no other reason than that it would mean I could be a cyclist or a pedestrian myself. The reality for a big chunk of folks in America, though, is that like 80+% of driving is on 8- and 10-lane motorways with nothing but cars and trucks in every direction. The whole holier-than-thou vote-with-your-bucks argument is great when you’re talking about not wanting to support a new chain in town that’s putting out local businesses, or whatever, but, as has already been mentioned, car companies here are going to push for bigger and bigger no matter what consumers want, because that’s where the money is.

To be clear, no, the max speed isn’t the same for every car. There are straight, flat, empty stretches of road hundreds of miles long in the high desert where it’s pretty nice to be able to do 120–130 mph and still feel in good control It’s obviously not a common use case—especially taken to that extent—but some cars being (much) faster than others is very much a real consideration

Agreeing with all points from @AlientoyWorkmachine. I’ve been extremely lucky to live for most of my life in walkable / bikeable parts of my city, but now with more people + more dogs in the family it felt necessary to have a little more space, and that meant (as it does for so many) either spending $4k+ a month on rent or moving farther out into a more residential (& less accessible) part of town. The house we’ve landed in is beautiful and very homey feeling, and I do like a lot of things about the neighborhood overall, but the reality of it is that going anywhere or doing anything requires getting in the car. That really, really sucks, but there’s no clear way to get around it without moving to a very different part of the country—or a different country all together. This is where family is, and this is where work is, so here we are…looking at SUVs just to commute and run the dogs and go get groceries.

That would really be the dream—it’s a little hard to understand why anyone would buy anything other than a station wagon as their primary vehicle, given the choice That said…for my current use case, what I’d like to see is more options for sporty little 2-seater EVs. I’m in the market for something that I’d be fine using mostly for commuting. We’ll be keeping the old Subaru around for road trips and all that, so it’s not like we need much space in the commuter anyway. As soon as you get to the smaller options, though, they’re almost all severely underpowered—and, as has been said, that starts to feel like a pretty real safety concern when spending an hour a day on 80 mph freeways, even if the smaller size itself isn’t already

The modern gas Volvos do seem like a lot of fun. My absolute dream car, in a lot of ways, has always been the V70R (or, really, the 850 T-5R, if I lived somewhere where they'd been available w/ standard transmissions…but the V70R is a close second)—the Outback 2.5XT that I've been driving for the last 4+ years is great, and probably more reliable than the Volvo, but it still sort of feels like a facsimile. I never thought I'd consider buying an electric car, but I guess lots of "car guys" would probably say that. A buddy of mine (& a definite "car guy") got a Polestar II when they came out and he loves it. The interfaces are weird and all that, but fuck they're fast. That said, even if I could swing it at MSRP, I don't think I'd see it as a great value proposition—but these days enough of them are showing up on the used market for more or less half price that it's hard not to consider them, especially with how expensive used gas cars are right now. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Neat choice @Broark, I have trouble getting behind those from an aesthetic perspective but they seem like the pragmatic choice in a lot ways, and of the models they make yours is by far the least bad looking I’ve been looking at EVs recently, too, and if the plan was to make it our only car that one ^ would definitely be in the running. As is, I’m most likely to land on either a Polestar II or one of the new Volvos, but it’s still pretty up in the air…all I know is my new(ish) job has me commuting 25 miles each way and the parking lot has free electric charging, so I’d be a fool not to take advantage

Not actually today Tilley / Tender x3 / Tezo / Hollows / Russell

Tilley / Tender Co. tux / Russell

Yep, it’s the lightweight slubby one from maybe 4 years ago. That’s funny—it’s one of my least favorite tees. Fit isn’t at all how it was described, the fabric’s really flimsy, and a few of the seams are just overlocked + straight stitched without any folding or topstitching, so they tend towards sitting weird. It just gets pulled out when it’s too hot for anything else