Duke Mantee

Bobby Gillespie wearing Nudie a la Gram Parsons … I remember having pints with The Jesus and Mary Chain when he was the drummer …

Here’s said ‘fact’ https://clickamericana.com/eras/1900s/unlikely-history-of-levis-jeans I’ve not bothered to try and verify (like most stuff most folk read), it’s just something I’ve found browsing the interweb and may or may not be nonsense. Hopefully @Dr_Heech can verify the details. It’d be interesting to know the reality if this is made up bullcrap.

Aye, a ‘fact’ I read somewhere about or by Levi’s. I’ll see if I can find it again. What would that be? Maybe 1500 pairs on a 12 hour shift? Hopefully you can give me better details but the purpose was to demonstrate the difference in scale. And I totally agree with the trainees, mixtures of components etc, but I still think even a trainee being pushed (by necessity or greed) in production will find a way to become efficient quickly and that brings consistency. I’ve seen that in every type of business, including the offices I ran.

Same denim - different dying and thread types. Frankly if anyone can tell the difference between any of the 601 (excluding war denim) without closely inspecting them side by side is doing amazingly well

I’m surprised no one takes much notice of denim styles beyond the 60s … and even the 60s stuff that is looked at is fairly limited.

Thank you. Yes, I think it is relevant to other eras too. I guess the focus was just on war denim given the popularity over the last few years. If nothing else perhaps manufacturers (and buyers) are becoming more focused as to what genuine reproduction should be?

As I’ve told others - you should be wearing these with the hem sitting on the ankle touching your shoe. Cuffs weren’t allowed as per the War Production Board via Executive Order 9024 signed by FDR in 1942

I think there’s something right and something wrong with that. It’s a scale issue fundamentally. CSF makes a pair each day (I dunno, I’m just guessing) but Levi’s factories were producing a pair every 30 seconds. Point here is that a machinist repeating a task hundreds of times quickly is more likely to find efficiency through consistency. The variations then would be that each machinist would be slightly different to his/her colleagues making the same part. As I said elsewhere the cutting would have an influence because the machinist would be working to join parts that don’t match the way they should, but the repro folks have never figured that or decided it’s too difficult to account for so they focus on the ‘wonky-ness’ of stitching because it’s easier, then screw it up by using excellent machinists in good conditions making jeans ‘slowly’ giving them too much time to think about their ‘mistakes’

I’d have thought Sugar Cane would have been the first decent stab at war denim - @Double 0 Soul is your best bet probably. Real McCoys is a possibility but IMO their S003 are not great. Those FOB Factory don’t look great either. Freewheelers tried the ‘wonky’ stitching too, again not amongst their best. The challenge with reproducing war denim is understanding the whole manufacturing process to make them look as they would have been. Wonky stitching is only part of the picture and from what I’ve seen only CSF capture the atmosphere, most others seem to find it difficult to capture that feeling.

They look the business - glad you eventually got sorted

Lofgren only have a single stitch on the welt

Can’t believe these haven’t sold

Just got a message the hardware was ready - I’m really pleased with this, especially given the cost

… a happier time

I never said it was a good thing or a bad thing …

It’s ok buddy - I know ARCA - doc and I were just engaging in some banter. I appreciate the links tho’ - thank you!

Anyone looking at that ass isn’t going to notice any kind of pocket

1951 are £150 new at current exchange rates so that Marrkt pair is going to save someone £20+ once you add shipping - pretty good to get a chance to try/buy

‘Flatten’ - yes, but clearly there will be a residual (Gaussian) curvature. It’s also possible that the main central section will flatten whilst the edges curl up since there’s no weight applied …

So about that original query; the base curvature is caused by the midsole being made from a hard thick leather which takes time to break in and ease tension on the build, and the sole unit (it’s most noticeable on the the outsole being the thickest part) are cut to ‘splay’ to assist with balance and to avoid rolling your foot. All this from the guy who rebuilt my Lone Wolf boots

I’m warming to the Highballer seeing you wear it - one that I was never sure about

Euclidean is so pes planus …

Yes, yes - I get all that, but where’s the science you were talking about? Numbers man, I need numbers!

I think you might be overthinking it, no part of the sole is flat but I guess the cobbler isn’t doing anything other than cutting a little bigger to relieve some stress on the stitching. But that’s just some wild theory on my part … so if you’ve got some numbers/calculations to expand on your thoughts throw them up here, I think I’ll cope

Is it to accommodate the different bend radii of the sole components?