Todd Shelton

I get these rules aren’t for most guys. I’ve been at this for 15 years, and we’re direct to consumer so I hear what our guys are saying.  I hear basically, “I want to get this figured out and be done with it.” These are good, smart, busy guys who don’t necessarily have a talent or desire to engage in fashion. They want to dress better and they’re willing to figure it out, but they want some resolution after putting in the work. For these guys, the constant change of the clothing industry and trends isn’t a good thing.

The rules may seem pedestrian to some guys, but they’re not wrong. If our guy adopts them, and we put him in the right fit, in good fabrics, he’s going to look good and his wardrobe will be in balance. Fashion is made up of a lot of sub-communities, and we’re just another sub-community. We’re not looking to change anyone’s mind, we’re just looking to connect with the guys that see clothing the way we do.

PETA purchased enough shares of Levi's to qualify to speak at their annual conference. They want Levi's to stop using leather patches on jeans.

https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/levis-leather-patches-come-under-fire-by-peta

Pair of leather is hilarious.

It doesn't sound right to me either. I've been hearing it for a few years more and more, then this week I heard the dudes on the GQ podcast say it - and I'm wondering if it's gone mainstream.

I'm hearing more people say "pair of denim" instead of "pair of jeans". Is "pair of denim" acceptable language?

This photo is from 1978. Taken in Oregon. I think that's a heck of a jean fit, nearly perfect. I'm guessing Levi's 501. 

Today we released a slubby cotton overshirt. It's in an IPR offer for the next 5 days. We release new products with IPR (initial production run) offers which are about 20% off. They allow us to group larger production runs together in our factory, which makes things a little more efficient. You can see the shirts here: https://toddshelton.com/shirts

We do a lot with fit options. If fit is your deal-breaker, we can probably help you.

If you have thoughts on this style, let me know here.

The right rise can solve 'saggy crotch' and/or 'plumbers crack'.

On 3/6/2019 at 5:15 PM, SF2Turbo said:

Back rise is under rated when it comes to overall fit.

I agree that rise (both front and back) is the most under rated measurement with jeans. It's probably because brands don't generally give consumers options with rise, so we never really have the opportunity to scrutinize the rises (we just accept it). But glad to hear you cracked the code for your jean fit.   

I always respect seeing a guy wearing a weird hat. I can't pull off weird hats, they make me self-conscious. But when I see a guy wearing a weird hat, in my mind a say "respect", cause they're giving the world something to look at - creating content for folks to react to. Wish I saw more. 

If you have thoughts on slub cotton t-shirts i'd love to hear em. Good or bad?

Today we released two slub cotton t-shirts. We consider this release an Experimental IPR (initial production run) - we use experimental IPRs to test the waters on fabrics outside our core collection. 

This fabric is from Japan and we make the t-shirts in our New Jersey factory. We specialize in fit. If you have any questions on fit, let me know. You can see the shirts here: https://toddshelton.com/t-shirts

It's amazing how that hotrod jean culture is so similar 50 plus years ago as it is today - maybe dudes today aren't wearing those paperboy hats or sunglass holders, but everything else is being worn today almost exactly. I imagine 100 years from now, it'll still be happening. And the girl in the stripe shirt would look very current in NYC today.

1 hour ago, kaloph said:

A "long" time ago (2011?) I was in dad-jean mode and picked up a pair of washed, non-selvage Todd Shelton jeans due to the long inseam option. Customer service was great and the fit was just what I needed. I discarded them when I blew out the crotch -- shame I didn't know about darning back then.

Thanks for the note. 2011 was pre-New Jersey factory, those jeans were made in Los Angeles. We can do a lot more now with fit, and the make is 100% ours. Come back and see us sometime, but mainly I'm glad those jeans made it all the way to crotch blow out. 

16 hours ago, babydials said:

Thanks Todd, you were an excellent host.  I enjoyed the factory tour and the beer.  Look forward to breaking in my jeans.  Found the right spot for my pillow.

The pillow station seemed to be a surprise hit with folks, that's funny - glad you found a home for yours. Thanks for coming out and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Consensus was people had a good time, and that makes it worth it. Which jean did you get? 

2 things:

1) We're having an open house at our factory this Saturday, Feb 23rd, from 10 to 4 - if you're in the NYC area, please stop in. We're having beer and snacks and you can see how we make clothing. 

2) We released a tan selvedge jean yesterday. It's 11.5 oz, denim from Japan, jean made in New Jersey. If you have any fit questions, let me know. https://toddshelton.com/jeans/tan-selvedge-jean

We did a series of tonal stitching jeans. Released 3 today. Two are selvedge, one is non-selvedge (fairly affordable for a made-to-order jean). At our brand, February is denim month, so we doing more denim releases than normal this month. Many of the jeans are on sale because they're initial production run products, which we group together to create efficiencies. You can see the denim category here. If you have any questions about the fit options, let me know, happy to help. 

16 hours ago, Spiraltoy said:

So, this might be a stupid question but roping, what’s the science behind it? To get the best result, should you hem before shrinking a pair of STF jeans or has it more to do with how the chain stitching machine is set up and the competence of the operator?

The past years I have (like many others) been drawn more to roping, puckering, train tracks and leg twist and more subtle fades as opposed to crazy nep, slubs and heavy weight denim.

I think the science behind it is that the hem stitch is not in balance, the upper and lower parts gets twisted as they go through the sewing machine. Like the denim on the bottom side of machine is ahead of the denim on the upper side (let's say by 1/4") as it's fed through the machine and stitched. When the hem fabric gets folded, it gets a little bulky, and it helps create this imbalance. How the sewing machine is calibrated also helps create the imbalance. The sewing operator can keep it more in balance or create more imbalance depending on how the handle the hem as it goes through machine - they can tug on it. Then once washed, the twisting tension increases. Hope that made sense.

How does the UK collect those duties? Do they send you a paper mail notification that you must go to post office and pay duties to claim your goods? Or can you pay electronically and the package will clear and ship?

Today we released a 14 oz selvedge stretch denim in raw. This denim doesn't look or feel like stretch denim to me. It's for a denim guy that's open to stretch. https://toddshelton.com/jeans/pro-stretch-raw-selvedge-jean

Our specialty is fit. We work with guys to find their right combination of fit options, then we deliver that fit consistently over time. We have lots of fit options, don't let that overwhelm you, cause you'll need them, and we can help you navigate them.

We had a write up done in Heddels this past week, you can learn more about us in this article.

Today we released a grey selvedge jean. The entire month of February, we're doing denim releases. This jean is made in USA (New Jersey) and the denim is from Okayama. If you have any questions about construction or fit, let me know. https://toddshelton.com/jeans/grey-selvedge-mids-jean

Yesterday we released a new denim jacket design. It's not as traditional, we wanted something different. We reduced some the bulk at chest by removing pockets, and added interior pockets. We tweaked the collar and how it rolls. And we used a combo of tonal and contrasting stitching. If you have any thoughts, let me know. 

https://toddshelton.com/jeans/selvedge-denim-jean-jacket

My name is Todd Shelton. I have a men's clothing company based in New Jersey. A few notes about the company:

- We make all of our products in our NJ factory

- We established the factory in 2012, before that we made in other factories throughout the states

- Denim was the first category we made in our factory and is our best-selling category today

- We buy all of our denim from one mill in Japan, we've been working with them for 10 years

- We have 6 seamstresses, 3 people in the studio, and myself (we're a 10 person team currently)

- We have 55 sewing machines, one seamstresses cuts and sews a jean start to finish

- 4 of our 6 seamstresses do jeans 

- We also do all of our washing in-house

- We sell direct-to-consumer only, we're not sold in any stores

- Our specialty is fit, having a factory and being direct-to-consumer gives us a lot of flexibility to meet a guys fit needs

You can see our denim category here: https://toddshelton.com/jeans

A little about me...I moved to NYC from Tennessee in 2000 to start learning the direct-to-consumer clothing business (which back then was basically print catalogs) because I wanted to start a men's clothing catalog (I was inspired by the J.Crew catalogs as a kid). I took a job with a clothing catalog in Weehawken, NJ and went to Parson's at night - released my first product in 2002 and sold it on the streets on Houston St in Soho, Saturdays and Sundays. I left the Weehawken company in 2009 and went full-time into my company - and in 2012 started building our factory. That's my story.

I've been reading here almost daily for the past few months. I'm looking forward to becoming a part of this community. I plan on sharing some of the stuff we're doing here at the factory, and hopefully I'll meet some people here. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Thanks so much,

Todd