yung_flynn

Too dark here for nice photos without lots of effort this time of year. vintage Made in England balmacaan/Mercer/Sugar Cane/ Red Wing

I’ll echo the Deluxeware recommendation, mostly out of selfish curiosity to see what they’re like.

Here are the post-wash measurements and some fit pics for the Rockets (size 32). Roughly a 7.5% shrinkage across the board I’m sure that the front rise and waist will stretch a decent amount Waist: 15.5” Front Rise: 11.5” thigh: 12.5” Leg Opening: 8.7” Inseam: 32.5” I went back and forth between size 31 and 32. Kato-San said that either would work but recommended 32 because the pattern is more balanced. I’m happy with my choice. I like the fit a lot. It feels like there is more room in the crotch than the rise measurement suggests. The denim is also really dark with a coarse hand feel. They should be slow faders. According to Kato-San, the yarn have been dyed deeply with more than 12 dying steps. I’m excited to get some good wear on these starting in 2025. I’ll get some better photos in WAYWT too once the snow clears some and the sky is less grey

I kind of agree. I only rarely pull them out to wear but I have yet to get to a stage where I entertain the thought of laying out for measurements or photos. Every time I wear them I feel like I should wear them more too. I just have been grabbing my Kyotos for that type of fit at the moment. The Cats Drove would be a good candidate for me to take on a trip for some sustained wear.

Thanks! I really like the Cats Drive denim and its hand feel. I’m still on the fence if that fit is for me though. The No. 2 pair might be my favorite from them though. I weirdly like how saggy the seat is on them

How’s the denim feel compared to the No. 2 which I think that they based the different gauge yarn concept on?

They look and feel more like chambray. They definitely don’t look like the denim pocket bags that Simone shared for WoM. I’m guessing that the Rockets site just had a mistranslation. The HBT pocket bags were out of stock in my size but I’m not complaining either. The 37 model from Rockets also looks nice and uses the same denim. I think that there is something different about their sewing or construction based on how they’re marketed (part of their higher price) but I couldn’t figure it out so I couldn’t really justify the $80-90 price difference. The rise is noticeably higher on those though (12.8” for 32 waist after washing I think) and the thigh and leg opening are about a half inch wider

@Broark I’ll take a peek and snap a pic. They do look more like chambray

My mom moved this fall and sent me my old high school lettermen’s jacket. I finally got around to having it cleaned and snapped a pic just for fun. No clue how i ever thought that this was my size Cushman/Buzz/Red Wing

These arrived for me yesterday. They’re the s0001xx model from Rockets - WW2 with denim pocket bags. I like the look and feel so far and am hoping to wash and hang dry (need to minimize inseam shrinkage) before my in-laws come for Christmas. Here are the pre-wash measurements, some photos (not my greatest work), and some pre-wash fit pics. The darker blue colors are most accurate it’s really grey and snowy here and I didn’t have time to bring out my real camera setup. I will update fit and measurements once washed waist (laid flat and not aligned): 16.75”/42.5 cm front rise: 12.25”/31 cm thigh (at crotch seam): 13”/33 cm leg opening: 9.2”/23 cm inseam: 35”/89 cm

Mostly just a poor guess in the absence of any other information. There are a few real blacker lined Lee 191-LB jackets on various market places but unfortunately none of them have any composition tags. It could be a wool/rayon blend too since rayon was popular in that historical era and rayon blends have a distinctive hand feel from 100% wool (usually a little smoother than wool or wool/nylon) I did find a really poor photo of the SC composition tag for this repro. Unfortunately I can’t read Japanese and it’s too blurry for me to make out the numbers but I dropped it here anyway in case anyone has better luck decoding it

I don’t know about this model but there’s an M-series Storm Rider on Yahoo Auctions where the wool liner is given as 80/20 wool/nylon. I would guess that this would be similar. it’s a great looking jacket though!

I ordered a sweatshirt from them earlier this year. They took a few days to send an invoice and ship, but I had no issues and my sweatshirt arrived a week or two after ordering

Yes. We found that this summer that our plot extended a good 10 feet past where we had originally thought, which gave us free range to purge a forest of buckthorn. It turned out that there were a good 4 - 5 chance oak saplings hidden in the mess along with about 10 old growth trees. The plan now is to merge with the rest of our landscaping and yard. Our hope is for more of a prairie look. The adjacent space will hopefully become a vegetable garden long term when our son is old enough to free some of our time again, until then we'll just rely on the CSA from our friends' farm.

Vintage Club Room balmacaan/mid-70s Brooks Brothers shirt/Sugar Cane/Red Wing here’s a bonus one too. Denime/LL Bean/Hollows/Buzz/Franks All the invasive species have been cleared from my photo backdrop

I don't mind leg twist at all. In a way, I kind of like it because I can easily look at my train tracks. I probably would never buy a pair due to the lack or presence of leg twist personally, but I do appreciate seeing some of the extreme examples, like on my pair of Denime Kyotos which seem like they have twisted more than 90 degrees or on LHT pairs with reverse twisting. Nobody has ever noticed or asked me about it on my jeans in real life. I wonder whether some of the aversion to leg twist is cut dependent. I feel like it would be more annoying on an ankle hugging pair with a very aggressive taper

@tooth @Broark thank you! That was helpful. I think that I will go with the s0001xx WW2 model unless I have a last minute change of heart, since that is Rocket's specialty and that was what I was going to get anyway before spotting the 37 model. It also helps that the WW2 model is ~$80-100 cheaper too, presumably due to the extra hardware. The 1937 model is described as "Tailor made" using a vintage sewing machine on the Rockets site, but it's hard to grasp how that is different than their WW2 models after reading the description and talking to Kato. A 1937 model can wait for another time and gives a good excuse at some future point to try the TCB 30s or the Freewheelers 37.

Help me decide: the s0001xx WWII model with denim pocket bags or the 0003xx 1937 model from Rockets? I don't have either a WW2 or 37 model at the moment and I like different details from each. According to Kato-san, both models use the same denim with different period appropriate hardware and details. The 37 is a tad bit (~2 cm) higher rise too. I kind of have been waffling back and forth between the two for a bit because I would be happy with either

Same for me. Mine fit and they stretched a ton, but I think that I would have preferred a size larger. I was surprised by how tight they were through the hips and seat initially. I pull them out from time to time to wear and I always enjoy wearing them, but they've not yet enticed me into a prolonged stretch of wear. I've contemplated selling mine occasionally as well, but I don't really need to clear the space and I do like them so they're remaining for now.

I really like the look of those late 40s WW2 jeans, like the others more than I liked the original s40. I was on the fence for a while on whether to grab them to fill my surprising lack of WW2 repros but I was more tempted by Rockets instead (and even there I’m still waffling between the WW2 and 37 pair). If TCB ever restocks or these hit Bears though, I still might be tempted because the measurements look identical to the 1890s whose fit I really enjoy (seat is obviously different). @willi by the way, have you put any significant wear into your pair of Cats Drive jeans? I think that you’re one of the few others here with a pair. I’ve only worn occasionally and I’m still on the fence on what I think of the fit.

I have a bunch of rolls of film that I still need to develop (as long as they turn out). I have some digital ones as well actually from my other camera, but time is currently at a premium once I'm home due to our little one

I live in a tri-city area where each of the 3 small cities within a 30 min radius peaked in a different era of 20th century America (and really in successive eras in a way), and it is interesting to see the differences in urban design among them along with a gradual shift towards cultural homogenization over time One peaked in the 1920s-1930s and significantly declined post-WW2. This city had (and still has to an extent) a quaint walkable downtown with many local shops even if it is now in decline overall. There are lots of cool homes and mansions from the 20's-30's and more deco architecture as well in various states of repair. It's actually a pleasant and enjoyable place to walk around. Another city peaked in the post-WW2 auto manufacturing boom and began a rapid decline in the 60's/70's. Houses tend to be more of the smaller postwar variety and many are in significant disrepair. Walkability is much lower here as well due to the auto-friendly nature necessitated by its primary employers. We've spent much less time here, partly because it's not very pedestrian friendly. The 3rd city (which is where we live) began to peak from the 60s-90s. Houses tend to be much more mid-century at the early end of things to homogeneous McMansions at the later end of things. There are minimal walkable areas of commerce and relatively few small businesses. Most everything is car reliant and big box stores. Everything is cleaner and "better kept", but much more boring.

Mine were comfortable out of the box - some of the most comfortable shoes out of the box that I've had comparable to Alden. It did take a day for the heel counter to loosen up a bit, but nothing like a PNW boot. My feet and gait are not representative of the mean though (very flat, very narrow with wider toes, sloped inward) so I always caution against reading too much into my experiences

Denime/Bosie/Sugar Cane/Red Wing better close-up of textures and colors

That sounds interesting - kind of like a less Ivy/Gorp version of a Rocky Mountain Featherbed vest