Denim Bar in Arlington, VA

[herpsky]

I checked out Denim Bar in Arlington, VA over the weekend.

How I got there:

I was staying near Dupont Circle in DC. I took the blue line to the Pentagon City metro station and took a walk to the store. The fastest way is to walk thru the shopping center located above the metro station towards south joyce street. The store is located in a plaza called Pentagon Row.

The store:

-They had a huge selection of nudie jeans. I saw some RRDS, SSDS, SJDS and etc. One of the SAs handed me a pair of 450 dollar vegetable dye(?) RRs. I was like, "uhhhhhh. 450 for nudies? uhhh." If you want a pair of selvedge nudies, this is a great place to go.

-As implied by the store name, there is a bar counter located on the left side of the store.

-The store had LOTS of super-played out items such as rock and republic (or whatever it's called), seven, and our favorite true religion.

-I asked whether they carried Japanese repro denims. The answer was no. One of the dudes said, "you know that all those japanese jeans are just reproduction of levi's and it'll be too expensive to sell b/c there's way too much overhead...blah.blah.blah"

-so I tried on the 1947 LVC 501XX and Lee 101Z(?), i was impressed by the quality but i decided to to grab a pair of fenoms or some collabo levi's when i go back to japan in december. They were both ~200 bucks.

-They had various models of APC denim and julian red hobokens and calis.

-Semi-snobby attitudes. The dudes all had the emo-hipster look.

-There's a store with the same concept across the street from the barney's coop in chicago (not the one on oak st.) Not that anyone cares.

-realized that girls asses look great in citizens of humanity jeans

Summary:

Whatever. Nothing special. It wasn't really worth it. My expectations were too high.

[sunny]

Well they're very nice on the phone. One of the jeans I ordered doesn't fit (I bought them back in May, but they were shipped to my relatives in the States so I tried them on just a few weeks ago) and they let me exchange it.

[herpsky]

it really depends on what you are looking for...

i felt disappointed because i thought i'd find rare (or rather obscure) denim brands

[Astérix]

JR is pretty damn rare and obscure....

[herpsky]

i was tempted to get a pair of JRs but i wasn't too sure about

having 3 pairs of raw jeans that look sorta similar in my closet...

[Aquaphor]

How much were the JRs there? I'm heading to DC soon.

[lindt]

-Semi-snobby attitudes. The dudes all had the emo-hipster look.

Yeah I recently had a really bad experience with the Denim Bar. Normally the hot punk rockish chick has helped me in the past and she is really nice and helpful and brings out tons of stuff for you to try on. This time was my first time interacting with Mauro not over the phone. He was a complete ass in person. Any time I tried to make any comments about how the jeans fit he almost attacked my opinion like he knew better than me. He also automatically assumed I knew nothing about the jeans they carried and almost seemed like he completely discounted the option that I might buy something from him. Needless to say I did not purchase any jeans that day and I kinduv regret the 3 jeans I have bought from the Denim Bar in the past.

[lindt]

Yeah Scott at HTC is really friendly and knowledgeable. Their sale prices are great as well.

[sbrguy]

i have to say i have bought two pairs of nudies from denim bar and mauro and both times he was very professional, would explain the denim and how its made and such. also i bought my second pair after knowing a little more about different rarer japanese repros, like 45, samauri, pure blue, etc and even though he didn't carry them he did say they were made well but that he doesn't stock them.

maybe what was key is that i didn't go in trying to flaunt too much knowledge to him, he's a pretty straightfoward guy, so if you want something in particular ask him, he might not have it but it will end there and he'll suggest something similar. even though they didn't have what i wanted he never pushed me into buying anything or bothered or hassled me about asking for sizes from the back or such.

they may not have some of the more obsure brands like, other stores but theyu do have a wide variety of denim that is better than the local macy's or anything else out there, sure green in nyc has more japanese denim but they are a much smaller store with less stock and its not near me at all.

also, everytime i've emailed mauro he as been very professional and not had an attitude even when i asked him to clarify the differences between denim.

good luck.

[shagnscoob]

i bought from denimbar over the phone once and it worked out really well. their prices for APCs are unbeatable.

[sell veg]

Every time I've been in there they've been super cool. And now that BIG is in NYC, do we really need another Japanese repro retailer a couple hours away? all the employees look more hipster; I don't think they're targeting the repro crowd. They aim for either a) the douchebag (no offense to those who like Rock and Republic...), or the skinny hipster.

[synthi]

Just to add some balance to the equation, I ordered some Rag & Bone jeans a few months ago following the exchanging of a few e-mails with Mauro and he was really helpful and even chucked in a few free gifts! Considering he was shipping across the pond to me in the UK I found this particularly generous.

[sneakeraddict]

what does he actually stock aprt from Nudies?

does he have a website to browse? Im in the UK also, and free postage certainly seems like a great deal especially if you get free gifts!!

[synthi]

No online store sadly. Maybe in the future? afaik they stock Julian Red, Nudie, Rag & Bone, APC along with the usual LVC of course. I'm sure there's a lot more. Oh and btw the free gift was just due to unexpected delays causing Mauro to ship out a little later than he expected to. It was off his own back and a nice touch, not a standard thing.

[sunshkine]

Sorry to bump this for my little Q, but I have been in contact with Mauro and I wanted to find out if anyone has had experience purchasing from denim bar from Canada.

How was the service, were customs an issue ?

Thanks alot!

[acekieffer]

I went into the new denim bar location in bethesda and had a fine experience.

they had a good inventory of what they had so far (only about half of what they are expecting)...the guy working there was super nice (cant remember his name, dave?)

he was helpful and quite knowledgeable.

i tried on some nudies and julian reds...JRs (cali) were $184 i believe.

im waiting til they get new standards in to try those, hopefully soon.

[startmeup]

they acted really surprised when i came in and asked for julian red right away. theyre so used to uggs x leggings x fake lv bag x oversized sunglasses people coming in and asking for sevens. i was horrified at the sheer amount of shitty denim that lay in front of me.

[herpsky]

they hide the good shit behind the bar

e.g. LVC

[dry the rain]

the really tall black guy who worked there over the summer (i'm sure he still works there) is a fucking great guy. talked to him for a long time about fits and life in general last time i visited. i mean, yeah, they rock the skinny hipster look, but i like that look and some (those kids included) of the people that rock it.

[sell veg]

yeah, that guy is a nice guy. no attitude.

[@work]

Bought a pair of slim jim's and rescues last summer from them. Descent price, customer service was good. Delt with the black dude, he was cool.

[watchman]

I have heard a lot of horror stories about the service, but even though i go there a couple times a week(i work next door) i have never had a bad experience. The black guy (Jeff) is definitely really cool, and so are all the other employees. Joey(aka joey_formal on SF) is a big Levis head so he's chill to talk with about repros and LVC. The reason they probably seem to have snobby attitudes is because there are so many people coming in for sevens or citizens, that they aren't used to an actual educated consumer.

[dry the rain]

^^^i think that's probably the case, watchman.

[joey_formal]

I have heard a lot of horror stories about the service, but even though i go there a couple times a week(i work next door) i have never had a bad experience. The black guy (Jeff) is definitely really cool, and so are all the other employees. Joey(aka joey_formal on SF) is a big Levis head so he's chill to talk with about repros and LVC. The reason they probably seem to have snobby attitudes is because there are so many people coming in for sevens or citizens, that they aren't used to an actual educated consumer.

watchman thanks for the kind words bro, let me know next time your in

and for those looking we have a fresh shipment of APC NS sz 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, and some sick nudie slim kim washes at bethesda

and yes that is the case watchman, but none the less we pride our selves on our service.

[watchman]

i'm sure i'll be in soon Joey. Haha for reference, you borrowed my Paul T book and i work at Up Against the Wall