ATWM

I do too, but, well, things get pulled in weird directions sometimes. It’s probably a damning sign of the times I guess that I even felt the need to qualify that. But glad you’re well.

@Talan I’ve seen you mention your situation a few times here now and I just wanted to say I’m sorry for the insanity your country is going through. This is a nonsense thread, and that indeed is nonsense. Unfortunately I’ve heard a few firsthand accounts of things since this all started from some Ukrainian friends and just…yeah. It’s hope it ends soon and that you stay safe. @Double 0 Soul I think the reason this forum has stayed sane, in part, is the no politics policy (hopefully acknowledgement of being in a war and it sucking is not considered as such) - and people coming together around a common interest. 4 Chan, at least from what I understand, is quite a different beast. I think my household was a relatively early adopted of the internet. Probably logged on in 1995 or so for games then - I went through all of the shit, starting on AOL Instant Messenger. Yes MySpace and early Facebook. There used to be a sense of wonder and discovery and a lot humor and just amazing weirdness. Tumblr was sort of the beginning of the end in my personal recollection. The commercialization of everything did indeed make all the good stuff much harder to find. Like a funky town with good affordability might have a ton of strange shops and co-ops but then it gets killed when too a critical mass of people become interested. Though I had started earlier, I really learned photography on a forum called skateboardphotography.com in 2004 or so - it was run by a German dude and was a pretty tight ship with scathing critiques and a real attitude of wanting to improve amongst the posters. Some skilled photographers were on there and shared their industry experience working for mags like Thrasher and Transworld. It launched a few solid careers in photography. I learned more on that forum - with regards to the craft of photography - than I did in university or in graduate school for art - and mostly because the critical culture was very tough but very fair and with a common goal. Defensiveness would essentially get you bounced. You could disagree, but you’d have to show why in your work to make the argument. It’s amazing how gentle the critiques have to be in institutions now. That’s a side rant, but yeah. There were a lot of good threads on technical topics with film, processing, lighting and all of it (before digital was very good). All member generated and highly relevant. We had to pay a subscription fee of like $25 or something, which felt like a big ask for a bunch of grimey broke skaters. I remember after just about a year the founder just took the site offline with no warning and ran off with a bunch of new subscriber’s fees. Another forum followed it but it was nowhere near as good and the community was too big and chaotic. Since then I’ve made it a point to make sure anything I really care about online is something I am hosting myself. @shredwin_206 yea - similarly if I were in your shoes I’d probably be in Carhartts or Dickies etc. (I can’t pull off Wranglers)

In a curious conflict I was told by S+S that the black anniversary jeans follow typical OA sizing - which is in opposition to the above description. They told me this info was straight from the duo themselves and that they were going with their normal OA size. Black OA jeans were one of the few bucket list items I've concocted for myself that I will get if issued no matter the timing (another is if they ever redo the cossack jacket), so I pre-ordered a pair with planning them to shrink FROM tag, as per usual for OA jeans. I won't be shocked if I have to modify my order.

There’s all this, above, but also I think so many beautiful vintage pairs really were before a time before commercial washers (and especially dryers) were available. I’ve been known to dry my jeans sometimes but in the end it’s pretty reliable that I find jeans look better when the denim is almost or always hang dried and not electrically cooked, regardless of the workload they’re put under. Just preference, but I do think there is a sweet spot that isn’t just totally beating up like one might a cheap pair.

Is this pre order an only in person thing? If anyone is going to NYC and willing to help out an absentee please DM me.

It’s fine. But, with raw denim, it’s pretty tough to do because the length isn’t exactly a constant and the variable rises of jeans means the ideal inseam isn’t the same from pair to pair. YMMV but most raw pairs I get shrink in length over the course of multiple washes. Like my contest jeans, just gave them their second wash. I did a hand wash with cold water and minimal agitation. This after the first wash was a piping, steaming hot long soak followed by a hot machine wash. Even though it was cold water this time and gentler, still lost about an inch in length. I sized the jeans for where I’d hoped the eventual length after all shrinkage would be only a small cuff or could even be none, but as with many other pairs it doesn’t get there until 3 or 6 months in. If I hem them from the get go they are too short 6 months in. I do tend to get new pairs hemmed when I can, but always err on an inch or even 2 inches too long because of this and then I wear the jeans cuffed or uncuffed depending.

^ Probably Upper Peninsula in Michigan? Beautiful indeed! But yea you guys got walloped @PartTimeBarista - glad you’re doing okay. I know it’s been really rough for some people. I’ve lived quite a few places in the US and the grid in Michigan is a level of shittiness only rivaled maybe by PG+E. That said this storm would have been a problem anywhere.

All makes sense. Specifically developed denim is a big selling point for me, maybe the biggest outside when it comes to the details. I really love the 1946 junky denim, for example, have nothing else quite like that.

Freewheelers tux. Before the contest came together I was planning for the year in mostly black denim. Now it’s just for on the off days. Otherwise pretty much the same thing as usual.

Need based purchases aside (lol, nothing to say here), I feel like I am struggling to see the distinctions still between some of the other things on offer in the strict repro scene. I mean, I take it that they repro a very specific pair from a specific year - and the marketing drives that home, but the end result is still something quite comparable to other things on offer - maybe a coin pocket stitch is different in a just so way, but at a higher price. Or am I wrong on this? And again, this might be my own biases, not being a historical purist - appreciating details for the sake of them more so than that they appear on an archived pair (though also admitting the way my favorite way all the details come together do tend to reflect jeans from 1937 through 1951 or so).

@Double 0 Soul curious what the particular appeal of this series is to you? We’re all drawn to things for idiosyncratic reasons I understand.

@Duke Mantee I’m not sure if you take the same pleasure or interest in making other leather goods, but I am quite happy to own two different bags you’ve made as well, and look forward to using them for some long time or even passing down an old weathered version of one if they make it. And the one simple belt is far and away the nicest one I’ve ever owned, and one that I’m proud to wear when the occasion calls for it. Understanding it is not exactly a profitable enterprise for you I very much appreciate the task you’ve set out for yourself, as my son went through a pretty rough journey some years ago that made me have to really revisit my priorities and responsibilities in life. It’s a different situation of course, but it makes the things I’ve gotten from you that little bit much more important. I hope you’ll keep working with leather even if Standard is closed, but if not, I am grateful for having gotten the chance to own some of the thoughtfully made pieces you’ve spent your time on.

My 611s right before first real wash. Shot in open shade so tried to get these more accurate, but this still feels a little more dramatic than how they look in reality. Maybe the coin pocket pic is closest to most accurate. little bit of button rust with multiple passes of hand stitching reinforcing that back seam now. Still holding but sheesh lots of time left. Maybe need to lay off the bike commutes in these.

@chicote they're probably a bit on the smaller side, but that's how I'd rather err anyways. Definitely not really small by any stretch, will fit a fat wallet or whatever just fine. To be honest, they weren't too much one way or the other for me to really register them having a notable size either way - I had to go back and look after you asked. The front pocket bags, on the other hand, are generous (but not out of line) and a solid contrast to my experience with Warehouse, and that's something that I tend to care more about.

I shoulda put money down on who the proxies were going to, would have been a better bet than most anything else these days. They look great.

Instagram is more or less a digital shopping mall at this point. You could tell in the early days. I was early on facebook and not so much on IG, but it got to the point where - as a photographer - that was actually where you got decent jobs (for awhile). When it was still new(ish) art buyers and photo editors actually would use it as a source. That was a poor decision - I always felt like IG was not and could not be a portfolio but I was in the minority with that sentiment. I always tried to forge working relationships with personal (and not social media) contact, but for awhile I played the game. The reason I got on it was for work, but it wasn’t supposed to feel like or look like it - but it still was. I’m not alone in that sense. That happened in so many industries. It has become an almost necessity of small business / creative, because that’s where so much of the public goes to see what exists. You need to be visible, somehow. I fuckin hate it, I am happier being off the platform, but to be honest, deleting all of my Meta etc. accounts is a privilege in its own right. Most of my colleagues would love to but cannot fathom it. It’s become like an extension of themselves and needed to exist in the digital world where they actually bring in the revenue that pays their rent. So yea, it’s pretty shit in a lot of ways but that’s the world we live in.

Let me know if you find it!

^ With you there. One up and one down is my favorite way to or see a WH arc.

Yea I’m a bit ambivalent on the arcs. On the one hand I do like that they’re there as most of my pairs are without arcs, but I don’t love the particulars of it. But they didn’t put me off much because yes with some wear they’ll be less prominent and I even bet I could rub it off into a traditional shape without much work.

Last pic might not look like it, but the waist is just sitting up there due to the stiffness of the denim - I probably have about 2 inches of room there. So it is proportional to the cut. I don’t find it out of line with what a raw pair sized up a bit (which is what it is) should be, to be honest. BEARS yes. I also sort of enjoy the packaging but then the addition of another box for the sake of it also makes me just wince a little bit at the same time. Just how I am wired. But here I am buying things I don’t need, so that’s on me. First impressions are on this pair are good though, I am so curious to shrink them down and wear them - but the time will come.

For @beautiful_FrEaK As I’ve said before, I’m not the historical critic some of you are knowledgeable enough to be. For whatever reason curiosity got the better of me with the resurrected Silverstone pair. For a WW2 denim it feels fairly substantial but not overly so. A good bit less coarse raw than Warehouse newish WW2 denim, and a little lighter in shade. I like the back printed arcs. The packaging is nice but over the top. Fit is generous, but the smallest they had was 31. I expect them to shrink up nicely enough, but still be a little roomy. Had them hemmed, but probably not enough. These feel closer to Freewheelers new in terms of fit and finish, but the design and spirit is a little closer to warehouse, if that makes sense. That said, in this very specific niche they do feel a bit as their own thing. The arcs, fabric and detail combinations is just a little bit different. I don’t love too much wonky stitching and these avoid that. As usual, the real tell comes with lots of wear, and that is a long way off for this pair. I am still quite committed to my WMJ pair. As I already have a few WW2 pairs that are dry and next in line (Ooe, Freewheelers), this is - probably - filed away with a few pairs for when my waistline inevitably expands a little bit at some point. That said I can’t totally predict the whims of me going in storage and starting something I didn’t expect!

The word panic implies some degree of irrational response. I know someone who is generally a very rational and restrained top economist. They just bought a car they were going to wait a few years on, specifically because of current events. Generally that would be quite out of character. For my part my EMS parcel came last week without trouble (which was not a reaction buy), there is one other one still making it’s way through - my curiosity about the Silverstone Groundalls WW2 pair couldn’t withstand the chaos. I don’t expect any issue there either. Right now the de minimis exemption is active but is scheduled to end May 2 for good from China and Hong Kong and there aren’t concrete plans to end it from elsewhere though that is certainly on the tale. Good chance for those in the US our money will be worth less and the jeans price will be higher pretty soon though. The real issue is the stability of the dollar. Who knows what will happen but buckle up!

Funny, I had the exact same experience. Anyways, after that I’d decided I would pick up a pair if it came easily enough, that I wouldn’t make a mad dash and if I missed out so be it. Enough good options out there. It’s worked out okay.

I think Ooe mentioned that multiple times on their IG account it was going to be limited to Inspiration - which isn’t S+S. Instagram (unfortunately, in my opinion) seems to be their preferred and only way they communicate with their customers. They have for a long time made certain models for certain occasions - whether is inspiration, s+s, Holk or Barnstormer in Japan etc. I don’t think this means they won’t make more for retail, but it also might. Regardless, they’re not bound by any speculation on this site. I’d like a pair and was hoping for that to be available too but oh well.

^ I think it just means they made these things exclusively for Inspiration?