Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[ATWM]

I tend to run cold, so from October through about April I tend to be in jeans, baselayer, sweater or crew sweat/hoodie/denim jacket …. Most of the time for most of the things. The colder, the more I’ll choose the layers to be wool varieties. We keep our heat relatively low. If I go outside, throw on a thin or thick coat on top of it, or not, depending…denim jackets are perfect windbreakers so if I’ve got a merino base and a wool jumper on the denim jacket may be all I need - but only a few fit over the bulkier wool…sort of. Really only from mid-June to mid-August do my jackets not get much wear, though sometimes in the mornings they still come out. 

Edited November 13, 2025 by ATWM

[MJF9]

Great reasons above for why having different denim jackets in different sizes, lengths, denim weights, indigo shades and lining combinations is absolutely essential 😁

[Double 0 Soul]

Rode to work through the snow this morning, first time this year.. a couple of cars passed me having come from the Peak District, it was a good inch n’arf deep on the roof.. 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

1 hour ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Rode to work through the snow this morning, first time this year.. a couple of cars passed me having come from the Peak District, it was a good inch n’arf deep on the roof.. 

wanna switch? 😢

 

[Maynard Friedman]

^ I’d take that, I got soaked in the freezing sleet this morning whilst out with the pooch.

[Double 0 Soul]

16 minutes ago, Hopethisoneisnttaken said:

wanna switch? 😢

For sure!!!

I'd happy trade this freezing cold, multi-baselayered, wet feet, dark at 3.30pm denimclad existence for a life of 27°.. shorts with pineapples and ukuleles, shirts with flamingos.. a tatty old straw hat, handlebar mustache, boat shoes, glass of margarita.. well maybe not the boat shoes. 

My extremities hurt and they will till March.. 27° doesn't cause me physical pain! 

[Maynard Friedman]

How about some shorts like these Neal?

[Double 0 Soul]

I love them 😍

[ATWM]

Eh, too much sunshine and easy livin’ makes a man miserable. 
so does a few days above *80 /27C

[Cold Summer]

Mild temperatures where I live north of Atlanta, too (I even converted the scale to Celsius for you blokes across the pond):

I like cool, dry weather, but mild weather like this is nice because it helps to keep the energy costs down. (Though I'm sure there's some generative AI-feeding server farm devouring resources/passing along the costs to residents to offset that.)

I always feel like I live in "the best place." It never gets too hot or too cold, natural disasters are rare or nonexistent, we have pretty scenery and outdoorsy stuff to do, there's no salt on the roads to rust out our cars, winter isn't too dark, and so on. Unfortunately over time more and more people figure this out so Appalachia gets flooded with new yuppie residents trying to grab a piece of the pie and the prices of everything go up.

Edited November 19, 2025 by Cold Summer

[aho]

Strategy moving forward is "denim lifestyle" products, growing women's market share, and particularly India/Asia. I didn't really follow the blue tab line but interesting that the focus was on using Japanese fabrics. 
 

Edited November 20, 2025 by aho

[Dr_Heech]

My phone got wet working outside walling in blizzard conditions the other morning and now is playing up (Yes l put it in a bag of rice overnight to dry). Going to take a while to sort so l won't be as active as usual. Have 2 years worth of photos so hoping to get those back, if not they're all on here. Also denim seekers denim jackets Ebook which l downloaded. Feeling better without it though other than chatting on here, no mandatory emails, work WhatsApp groups and no one phoning. I still have a landline so am contactable but apart from Sufu, l am not bothered a bit by it's absence. Trying to master this tablet thing in the meantime. Anyway, carry on..

 

[redragon]

20 hours ago, aho said:

Strategy moving forward is "denim lifestyle" products, growing women's market share, and particularly India/Asia. I didn't really follow the blue tab line but interesting that the focus was on using Japanese fabrics. 
 

Must say…their recent collaboration with Barbour is pretty rad, the switch up on respective iconic models is quite compelling 

[Double 0 Soul]

Unused 18yr old carrier bags from Vintage Paradise and Magic-U 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

On 11/19/2025 at 11:35 AM, Double 0 Soul said:

For sure!!!

I'd happy trade this freezing cold, multi-baselayered, wet feet, dark at 3.30pm denimclad existence for a life of 27°.. shorts with pineapples and ukuleles, shirts with flamingos.. a tatty old straw hat, handlebar mustache, boat shoes, glass of margarita.. well maybe not the boat shoes. 

My extremities hurt and they will till March.. 27° doesn't cause me physical pain! 

It’s still dark at 4 it’s just hot. Don’t know about the margaritas as I’m going to work, and shorts are not allowed there (but boat shoes are haha). 
 

31c is painful either way you look at it haha. I just might take you up on that switch. 

[redragon]

Sometimes I envy those of you who lives in countries with 4 seasons… 🥹

Edited November 24, 2025 by redragon

[PBTony]

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2025/nov/24/its-an-acceptance-of-where-my-body-is-now-the-modern-day-appeal-of-workwear?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

"I don’t love my brown canvas SNCF coat because I’m trying to identify with the bloke who originally wore it, but because it was fairly cheap and made of natural fibres by unionised labour long ago rather than in synthetic material by people working in dubious conditions today"

Hear hear

 

 

 

[Cold Summer]

On 11/23/2025 at 6:20 AM, Double 0 Soul said:

Unused 18yr old carrier bags from Vintage Paradise and Magic-U 

Vintage Paradise... there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Back when I worked at Flat Head in 2013-14, they were one of the biggest stockists in Japan. Apparently, they closed around the end of 2019. Kind of sad.

The store I bought stuff from in Morioka when I lived in Iwate in 2011-12, The Outsiders, closed back in 2018 as well. I feel like it's hard to make a living doing this stuff now.

[indigoeagle]

2 minutes ago, Cold Summer said:

Vintage Paradise... there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Back when I worked at Flat Head in 2013-14, they were one of the biggest stockists in Japan. Apparently, they closed around the end of 2019. Kind of sad.

The store I bought stuff from in Morioka when I lived in Iwate in 2011-12, The Outsiders, closed back in 2018 as well. I feel like it's hard to make a living doing this stuff now.

Quite a few have closed in the last years.
I remember a shop called Sunday which had quite detailed blog posts especially on Warehouse items.
Then there was VARI, the first one I had purchased my BR sweatshirt from.

And a number of others.
Sometimes one stumbles upon a website still running, but with only old items and the shop having closed down already.

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, Cold Summer said:

Vintage Paradise... there's a name I haven't heard in a long time.

Back when I worked at Flat Head in 2013-14, they were one of the biggest stockists in Japan. Apparently, they closed around the end of 2019. Kind of sad.

The store I bought stuff from in Morioka when I lived in Iwate in 2011-12, The Outsiders, closed back in 2018 as well. I feel like it's hard to make a living doing this stuff now.

Vintage Paradise got tangled up in the whole The Real McCoy's International debacle..

Back in 2013/14 they were also one of the largest stockists of RMC (hence pride of place branding on the carrier bags^) .. at this time there was only a handfull of other RMC stockists outside of JP, namely Blue In Green in NY and Superdenim UK in York..

Not content with his millions of dollars, collection of Warhols, sports cars and fighter jets.. Hitoshi Tsujimoto also wanted a larger slice of international sales market so Blue In Green (who at that time were on par with Selfedge as a denim retailer) split their store in two and opened a dedicated McCoys room..

Superdenim UK closed and Lewis opened a dedicated The Real McCoy's store in Covent Garden and all the RMC retailers in Japan received a strongly worded letter informing them that if they are found to be marking down the value of McCoy's goods for international sales they would lose the sales contract and face possible legal proceedings.. Within weeks the Vintage Paradise webpage turned into a The Real McCoy's webpage?? it was very odd..

In the months following, Blue in Green stopped stocking RMC entirely and became a shell of it's former self.. then in the years following, Lewis from Superdenim walked away from RMC London and opened Marrkt.. and Vintage Paradise closed it's doors for good

I loved VP! .. it was such a shame

[Cold Summer]

Fascinating Double 0, I have some vague recollection of an RMC controversy along those lines but I don't think I knew much in the way of details. I remember when BiG opened the dedicated RMC store and was really surprised when it vanished after just a few months. By the time I bought my only RMC item, my A-2 jacket, from Standard And Strange in mid-2019, they'd been the exclusive North American retailer for the brand for quite some time, I think.

That seems like one chapter in the story of growing pains for Japanese denim brands (and retailers.) I remember when Pure Blue Japan standardized their pricing for stores like Denimio and Okayama Denim with international retailers, and how controversial that was. And of course, Iron Heart has made it incredibly difficult to get their stuff from Japanese retailers at Japanese prices for a very long time now.

Things seemed to get prickly over the "old" status quo where either Self Edge or Blue In Green carried basically every brand of note with almost no overlap between them, to what we have now, where basically every major American city has retailers handling any number of these brands and little is exclusive to anybody.

[aho]

From an interpersonal level, I've always had great respect for Tsujimoto-san. Met him at Inspiration LA 2012, and thereafter he'd always yell "Chicago!" whenever he saw me in future events, etc. Small thing, but being remembered by the big boss made an impact. It's all business, and in that sense, it seems they made the right decision since RMC has maintained their brand all these years later. 

Re: BiG, I think they also made the right choice in shifting from solely repro/raw denim, expanding to more fashion friendly Japanese brands. Heritage and all that peaked mainstream mid 2010's and really it's only in the last few years that we're seeing another resurgence given Gen Z having more spending power, fashion influencers, and the cycle of fashion making its way back round. As an enthusiast, of course things never changed for us, but I don't think our types could've sustained shops like BiG, etc. during those valley years who would've needed to pivot/diversify to survive long term. Just my two cents as a retail outsider!

[kiya]

2 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Vintage Paradise got tangled up in the whole The Real McCoy's International debacle..

Back in 2013/14 they were also one of the largest stockists of RMC (hence pride of place branding on the carrier bags^) .. at this time there was only a handfull of other RMC stockists outside of JP, namely Blue In Green in NY and Superdenim UK in York..

Not content with his millions of dollars, collection of Warhols, sports cars and fighter jets.. Hitoshi Tsujimoto also wanted a larger slice of international sales market so Blue In Green (who at that time were on par with Selfedge as a denim retailer) split their store in two and opened a dedicated McCoys room..

Superdenim UK closed and Lewis opened a dedicated The Real McCoy's store in Covent Garden and all the RMC retailers in Japan received a strongly worded letter informing them that if they are found to be marking down the value of McCoy's goods for international sales they would lose the sales contract and face possible legal proceedings.. Within weeks the Vintage Paradise webpage turned into a The Real McCoy's webpage?? it was very odd..

In the months following, Blue in Green stopped stocking RMC entirely and became a shell of it's former self.. then in the years following, Lewis from Superdenim walked away from RMC London and opened Marrkt.. and Vintage Paradise closed it's doors for good

I loved VP! .. it was such a shame

Just some clarification here regarding a couple of things.  BiG didn't split their store in two, they wanted to do that but RMC insisted they would only be interested in backing a flagship style partnership if BiG got an entirely new space just for RMC products.  So BiG rented a second retail space next door to their store.  without getting into it too much, this decision and the things to which it led to changed the trajectory of BiG forever. 

[Double 0 Soul]

Thanks for the clarifcation @kiya

48 minutes ago, aho said:

It's all business, and in that sense, it seems they made the right decision since RMC has maintained their brand all these years later.

I'm not so sure @aho.. Gordon and Satoh (VP) were good chearleaders for RMC, they enthused about the brand and helped it gain traction outside of Japan.. yet they were left to pick up the pieces in the wake of Tsujimoto-san selfish business decissions.

Edited November 24, 2025 by Double 0 Soul

[Double 0 Soul]

34 minutes ago, kiya said:

 "without getting into it too much, this decision and the things to which it led to changed the trajectory of BiG forever"

When you write your memoirs Kiya.. i'll buy a copy!

[redragon]

On 11/24/2025 at 11:18 PM, Cold Summer said:

The store I bought stuff from in Morioka when I lived in Iwate in 2011-12, The Outsiders, closed back in 2018 as well. I feel like it's hard to make a living doing this stuff now.

Did not know you live in Morioka, what a beautiful city, blew up recently because it enters Nytimes best place to visit (2023 i think)

had a chance to visit a year ago, still abit traumatic from eating 100 bowls of Wanko Soba loll

[Cold Summer]

Interesting, I did not know that. It's a nice city, though I liked the other cities within driving distance of my town, like Kitakami and Yokote, just as much. The whole region had an anxious atmosphere around it when I lived there from 2011-2013 since this was shortly after the 3/11 earthquake/tsunami and the effects were very much felt across Tohoku. I imagine that all these years later, the vibe is quite different from when I lived there. I'm sure it's a real nice area to visit now.

[aho]

Not to support endless consumption and all that but some good sales on lots of great brands at Independence: 

https://independence-chicago.com/sale/

Picked up an SC denim shirt and a flannel. Good option for US based people not wanting to get beat up by tariffs

[Alec Leamas]

Speaking of tarriffs - looks like our government has been inspired by Trump's customs shake-up and followed suit - the £135 de minimis to be removed by March 2029 at the latest!

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-customs-treatment-of-low-value-imports-into-the-united-kingdom

The "Temu Tax" they're calling it. smh

[Double 0 Soul]

10 hours ago, Alec Leamas said:

Speaking of tarriffs - looks like our government has been inspired by Trump's customs shake-up and followed suit - the £135 de minimis to be removed by March 2029 at the latest!

https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/reforming-the-customs-treatment-of-low-value-imports-into-the-united-kingdom

The "Temu Tax" they're calling it. smh

Imo,  this^ does need to happen, anything that restricts the flow of cheap toxic , Chinese crap into our economy / environment can only be a good thing.. we will suffer as a consequence but it will be a small price to pay.

I haven’t read the article, no doubt the government will fuck it up under pressure from Chinese lobbyists.

Edited November 27, 2025 by Double 0 Soul