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1 hour ago, superheavent said:

@nycsurfer530 Nice marbling on the 60! how ofter you wash it bro? Hand or machine wash?

I'm definitely a serial washer; probably weekly or biweekly. I use a machine wash and tumble dry and use the detergent many denim aficionados refer to as Tide. 

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i have found that the workmanship on the tcb20 jeans is not as good as the early jeans made by tcb like my tcb50's and the tcb60's jeans.  maybe this was done on purpose but the finishing  on the tcb20 jeans leaves a lot to be desired.  i am still loving the overall outside look of the denim but when you turn the jeans inside out and look at the finishing compared to the inside out finishing of the 60 and the 50 jeans, it's a whole lot of a difference.  the 50 and the 60 jeans have no loose strands of material hanging about.  the pockets are nicely stitched together.  not with my pair of tcb20 jeans.  it's not the end of the world but maybe the workmanship has been rushed in order to finish or make up the volume of the jeans.  just an innocent rant.  still loving tcb jeans though.  

take a look at the button fly section of your tcb20 jeans from the inside.  you guys have found a lot of loose strands of denim hanging about?

 

take care.

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It's done on purpose on a lot of 1920's replica jeans, the stitching style used back at that time is reproduced as well. My warehouse 1004xx are done the same way as well.

Hopefully Foxy will chime in and explain this more in detail.

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6 minutes ago, volvo240thebest said:

It's done on purpose on a lot of 1920's replica jeans, the stitching style used back at that time is reproduced as well. My warehouse 1004xx are done the same way as well.

Hopefully Foxy will chime in and explain this more in detail.

this kind of makes sense because all of the other tcb gear i have are of superb quality.  kudos to hajime then for the exact repro details concerning 1920's detailing!!! 

 

another thing.  i have been in china for the last month and have washed some tcb gear there and wow, the jeans when dry as just so much softer to the touch as if i had used a softener!  here in canada when i wash the jeans they come out very stiff.  i guess the water is just softer over there in china compared to here in canada. 

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39 minutes ago, volvo240thebest said:

^ something only Japanese could pull off, or maybe as an shop coat in an old hardware shop! Minae always loooks lovely, whatever she wears though..

Pretty much I was thinking. Im not too sure who is going to pull this off. But... I almost would like to buy it just for the thrill

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On 3/10/2018 at 3:48 PM, heavydoom said:

i have found that the workmanship on the tcb20 jeans is not as good as the early jeans made by tcb like my tcb50's and the tcb60's jeans.  maybe this was done on purpose but the finishing  on the tcb20 jeans leaves a lot to be desired.  i am still loving the overall outside look of the denim but when you turn the jeans inside out and look at the finishing compared to the inside out finishing of the 60 and the 50 jeans, it's a whole lot of a difference.  the 50 and the 60 jeans have no loose strands of material hanging about.  the pockets are nicely stitched together.  not with my pair of tcb20 jeans.  it's not the end of the world but maybe the workmanship has been rushed in order to finish or make up the volume of the jeans.  just an innocent rant.  still loving tcb jeans though.  

take a look at the button fly section of your tcb20 jeans from the inside.  you guys have found a lot of loose strands of denim hanging about?

take care.

Quality and workmanship standards are not universe nor absolute - they are, in TCB's case, TCB defined standards.

I assume that TCB's modus operandi for their reproductions is to obtain 1 or multiple original (or what is believed to be period correct) pairs of jeans and to measure and copy as many features (as they choose) as good as they can (denim, threads, stitch count, machinery, machinery settings, techniques, workmanship, finishing, etc.).

Owning the 60's and 50's, having worn the 20's proto and having owned the 1st 20's contest pair, I am convinced that difference in workmanship standards and finishing/quality (stitch count, lose threads, un-clean seam allowances, un-even stitching, etc.) is mostly deliberate and, most likely, based on the findings from the reference pair(s).
How statistically representative the reference pair is for the chosen period is an entirely different question - additionally, there are enough people out there with opinions about what defines certain periods and what these jeans should look like or feel like. I'm an not a vintage collector nor do I own any...

Available machine types in the 1920's differ from today's machine types slightly, but the main difference would have to be the choices in workmanship techniques and the acceptable quality standards in production. Based on my experiences in the sewing industry,  I would assume that today's quality standards (consistent, straight seams, sewing operator training) and machine standards (step engines vs. clutch engines, automatic thread cutters, etc.) are higher for mass produced commodities. Never forget that 1920's jeans were designed and priced as work-wear back then - today, at least from my perspective, the quality standards set by H&M, Decathlon, Zara, Uniqlo, Armani, Versace and Gucci are virtually the same for their mass produced goods due to customer awareness and expectation. (And often they are produced in the same factories.)

In reference to Conners and Bowery Blue Makers, I can say, as a vintage sewing machine collector, that original machinery adds another twist to this game - it becomes increasingly difficult to tune these ancient machines to consistent settings that satisfy contemporary expectations. Sometimes this due to advancement in technology, sometimes this is due to wear and tear on the individual machine (after having executed millions of buttonholes)...

Edited by Foxy2
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I wish I could get some solid shots of the inside of original 1920s Levi's right now, but I know for sure that up until the late 1890s the insides of pairs and inseams' stitching was not as clean as today, and there were lots of loose threads. The Leroys, for examples, were full of loose threads inside, but that's entirely period-correct. Maybe @PaulT can chime in on construction quality internally re: 1920s Levi's.

Until then, some pics of the TCB '20s with the original pair they're modeled after:

20161228-DSC_2828.jpg

20161222 - dsc - 1950

sufu-x-tcb-jeans-world-tour-back.jpg

20161222 - dsc - 1910

20160404-DSC_0140.jpg

20161228-DSC_2832.jpg

20161228-DSC_2850.jpg

20161227-DSC_2736.jpg

 

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I saw that and it's great, though look out for Inoue's (Tcb founder and owner) own jacket.
I wish I could wear my own Seaman more often but it's too light to be worn for many months, doesn't really work as a layer because of the shawl collar (I find it cumbersome to wear it under a heavier jacket), and during summer here is so freaking hot for any kind of jacket.

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I’m assuming the Japanese guys use something like starch in order to get those kinds of fades on quite a loose fitting jacket. I know Karl spoke about some glue product, did we ever get to the bottom of what the stuff is? It works wonders. 

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It

41 minutes ago, unders said:

I’m assuming the Japanese guys use something like starch in order to get those kinds of fades on quite a loose fitting jacket. I know Karl spoke about some glue product, did we ever get to the bottom of what the stuff is? It works wonders. 

It's liquid starch. There are several ways of applying it. Check out IG naoharu5, he uses it to really great effect. He applies liquid starch on train tracks between wash cycle and dryer. Go and see his traintracks...

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I really like naoharu5s train tracks. I think I’m going to try the spray starch and dryer for my next wash of my 60’s. I’ll get back with a full review.

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On 3/15/2018 at 10:55 AM, volvo240thebest said:

I saw that and it's great, though look out for Inoue's (Tcb founder and owner) own jacket.
I wish I could wear my own Seaman more often but it's too light to be worn for many months, doesn't really work as a layer because of the shawl collar (I find it cumbersome to wear it under a heavier jacket), and during summer here is so freaking hot for any kind of jacket.

I love my Seaman's jumper . Although I'm weird, I like it dark and don't want it to fade, but it's crocking like a bastard. I wonder it it's the same fabric as the Buzz Rickson armorer's jumper which did exactly the same.

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