do my research for me since i am lazy.

[haptronic]

I have been invited to speak at Social Media Club Wellington because they found out that i invented the hap pose.

I am allowed to talk on any topic that i like as long as it is from my personal experience of social media.

I have decided to talk about the direct and changing relationship between japanese domestic denim brands and the members of supertalk.

the talk will be entitled

Using chain stitch, your train of jeans is fading wind.

this is the history i have, which is open to corrections for accuracy. given that i am concentrating on superdenim and the brands that we are closet to there will be stuff left out [like the 60s edwin stuff] and it will concentrate on forum events and inventions [the creation of denim contests, the changing to more modern cuts with japanese repro brands, the world tours].

1974 big E : levis changed the recipe for indigo on 501s which lead to lower contrast on fades.

1979 SDA : the piggy brand became one the first japanese domestic denim brands inspired by vintage levi's processes.

late 80s APC : apc created the standard which defined the modern cut of jeans with a boxier top block and therefore less hip flare.

90s : uk interest in raw denim via duffer of st george selling evisu and edwin.

1999 superfuture: wayne creates superfuture to help english speakers find their way around the cool shops in tokyo

2003 supertalk: chad adds the forum supertalk to create a place for superbored shopping experts to discuss things.

2004 supertalk becomes the go to place for deep discussion for denim in large part due to the OG selvedge denim thread.

2005 inspired by japanese online denim galleries [ryu and takhashi] members start comparing the evolution of denim through pictures, dominated by APC.

members start using proxy services set up for anime otaku to get jp only jeans sent out from japan.

2006

search for the grail of dior X eternal begins [a modern cut jean with the fading properties of japanese artisan denim.]

xcoldricex proxy service, while based in tokyo for a month coldrice ships 200+ pairs of jp denim to members.

first direct contact by a member to a japanese company [Mr Calvin Oscar] skull 5010 creating a contact via shinichi where we could all buy directly in english.

self edge and blue in green start stocking japanese denim bringing levis repros back to america

beatle contacts samurai and creates the first ever denim contest and customisation [30 numbered pairs] for a year long wear contest.

2007

after press for both self edge and blue in green levi's starts court proceedings over trademark infringement, japanese brands respond by either changing the jeans or creating a version [arcs and tabless] for the US market.

kiya [self edge] creates the sexho1 a take on the dior 21cm made from iron heart's famous 21 ounce denim. [dior x eternal meme come to life]

beatle cheapmuthfkr et al create the first denim world tour dirty dozen +1 with evisu, chicken designs first user generated patch.

many other world tours follow including the self edge flathead 3001 which is still going strong three years later.

warehouse 660 denim competition the first unofficial sufu jean for a contest in collaboration with warehouse and BiG user input on jean user designed patch, no official superfuture approval. cheap and beatle

2008

first official superfuture jean with self edge and dry bones, user designed patch Jimmy C rep bar tab consultation with members over shape and the words superfuture on a pair of jeans for the first time.

2009

a bunch of hypebeasting

2010

first user designed japanese denim without the intermediate use of a retailer. iron heart beatle buster.

any more information and pictures of grail jeans are welcome if anyone has the original dior X eternal thing perhaps tragic bliss's brass knuckle jeans, the grail eternal etc etc...

i want to tell this history and the things that have come out of the forums in the right way.

[stresMaldo]

verry interesting timeline.

I didn't do any research for you, but thanks for sharing. : )

[rnrswitch]

I think you forgot to mention the various bitch-fests I got into during my stay here on sufu.

In all realness, though, it might be interesting to point out the absurdity of American kids copying Japanese kids copying American kids. The loss of realism and how the American kids somehow believe the caricature that is presented them by such hip mags as Lightning and others. The absurdity of office dwellers wearing triple leather soled whites with turned up toes and cat's paws rubber soles.

[mr.invincible]

did workwear spawn from sufu?

[blackmaged]

from your link:

Social Media Club Wellington

" So what's the big deal about Japanese denim?"

23 hours ago

:eek::eek::eek:

[DrMoBueno]

I find it very funny "Made in Japan" is big in America while "Made in USA" is big in Japan.

[stresMaldo]

Made in USA denim made for Japanese making Made in USA repros for Americans wanting Made in Japan denim

LOL

[stresMaldo]

is the grass greener?

I dont know but thats a mean patina

cultivated in Japan: vintage American jean sativa

[morse9443]

^Same with looking through expensive JP mags filled with pics of Steve McQueen and James Dean...with captions I can't even read and styles I can only buy from Japan at exorbitant prices. Thanks for rehashing/remixing my own culture and selling it back to me at rip off prices! lol

but seriously haptronic, I'd harp on that phenomenon a little.

[haptronic]

i need stuff specific to supertalk/superdenim.

i need fact checking and images....

so i might have to resort to desperate measures...

if no one comes up with images for me...lets say one per day..

a denim bluekakke guy will get banned every 24 hours until the 7th when i have to talk....

these will be taken from among your finest...

[denimdestroyedmylife]

can't find these ANYWHERE

i will pay no less than $800

plus finders fee + shipping

help me out

(pics courtesy of the minya)

[denimdestroyedmylife]

here's takashi's eternals (denimgalleryheavy):

[rnrswitch]

Ryu's 47s. These things inspired me.

[beatle]

Hap - great topic ...influence that social media and western consumer has on Japanese Repro market. On so many levels.

Remember how getting your hands on some Hawaii Canes was harder than scoring dope about 5 years ago - and now it's possible to find most brands at US retailers.

Thus - importance of Western market has shifted - Japanese Repro brands are willing to something else than Repro Vintage cuts like 47 55 or 66 - but interested in doing modern fits and collaborations.

What's also a little known fact is that back when I organized the Samurai contest with Toshiko from Samurai head quarters they were dealing with the Levi's law suit - they had just received the papers ...so they were really afraid to go through with this just as not to be in the spot lights.

I will try to jog my memory for more facts

[coleslawyum]

Actually it's quite easy in the US to score dope...

[beautiful_FrEaK]

@Hap: I always see Studio d'Artisan advertises with 1979 and not 1977. Dunno what's right here. Maybe you take a look into that

[denimdestroyedmylife]

chicken's evisu DD+1 patch

designed with input from gordon blue/green

[beatle]

hell yes, btw - remember the party ? the day Thorns took a limo..good times

[beatle]

What's also an interesting and unique fact - most of the big Japanese Repro brands such as Sugar Cane, SDA or Samurai, PBJ and Oni have gained notoriety through the internet and sufu / superdenim verses from a PR campaign.

[beatle]

@Hap: I always see Studio d'Artisan advertises with 1979 and not 1977. Dunno what's right here. Maybe you take a look into that

I only know that SC started out in 1977 with American Repro jeans- not sure about SDA.

SC was the first brand to move from traditional cotton mixture - 60% American cotton and 40% Zimbabwe cotton to for instance Sugar Cane fibers grown in Okinawa.

this thread might help - or not..lol..grey area

http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=12110

[jimmyc]

[mikecch]

Should probably mention Toyo's Union Star jeans commission in the 60s, and how this led to the creation of the Sugar Cane label later down the track in 1975 (but didn't start repro work in earnest till the 80s).

SDA did start in 1979, and made it big in 1986 with the original D0-1.

The even older companies like Canton (changed name to Big Stone in the 70s, went bankrupt in the 90s), Edwin (their history is on their Japanese website), etc deserve mentions too!

Interesting fact is that Canton and Oni are related (the founders of the two companies are father & son)!

[cheapmuthafukr]

subscribing

also, dont know if it was a first, but the fit pics that i had taken for the warehouse contest, and posted on here, were later used in lightning magazine in an article about the contest.

[blee13]

This is interesting. Good info!!

[poly800rock]

back in 03 very few places sold selvedge. there was no superdenim. i only found superfuture because i was wandering around ueno and missed out on japanese levi's which were mentioned once on superfuture back then.

simpler times.

history preservation was the first to sell sugarcane's in the states i believe. I still think the other guys have to go through them?

[coleslawyum]

Yes, History Preservation is the exclusive middleman for North America. So you gotta cut them a piece before you can get yours. Pretty shady if you ask me…

[kiya]

Yes, History Preservation is the exclusive middleman for North America. So you gotta cut them a piece before you can get yours. Pretty shady if you ask me…

Nothing shady about it, they're a distributor.

In reality it isn't that much work for them considering the only store in America (outside of HP) that carries Buzz Rickson and Sugar Cane is Self Edge and we enjoy working with Charles, he's a walking military garment history book.

[poly800rock]

well, exclusivity is probably the reason sugarcane don't change to do direct.

[rnrswitch]

Wait BIG doesn't sell Sugarcane?

Anyways. Wasn't there also a link that originally inspired the Samurai contest. One between the owner, stock dude, and register dude of a denim shop in Japan. The link showed the three pairs of jeans after a year or so.

The early days of SUFU were weird. There was so little LVC info and I thought it was nuts when I got my first sugarcane 47s. Ahhhh. The glory days. Now we are all a bunch of spoiled little brats jumping from company to company stocking up on denim to fill our closet space.

[avonalliv8]

BIG sells buzz and SC