Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[Dr_Heech]

11 minutes ago, Flash said:

@Dr_Heech Still building that wall ??? Stealing a wage you are 

' Hey! Teacher, leave them kids alone!'

Hello stranger,  welcome back.

 

[Geeman]

Good to 'see' you @Flash

[MJF9]

@Flash it's been a while... hope all well

[mlwdp]

Bought a Retaw air freshener to put in the car.  Anyone familiar with this air freshener?  How long do they last?

 

Edited December 7, 2025 by mlwdp

[Double 0 Soul]

This^ is ‘peak nonsense’ 😂

[mlwdp]

Looks like DHL fixed their tariff fees conversions.  Didn’t get something ridiculous even though this is annoying.  This was for tshirt.

 

Edited December 8, 2025 by mlwdp

[ATWM]

I recently got an unjustified late free from UPS for like $4.37 (for a fee I paid online within hours of receiving the email before delivery). The delivery in question was taken, and tariff paid, more than two months ago. I had to spend almost an hour on the phone to get it rectified. It honestly felt like a tiny shakedown. I can imagine that en masse, they just willy nilly send these bills to a ton of people, most of whom cannot be bothered to dispute a small fee, and just rake in a bunch of extortion profits. There was no explanation on the late fee, no record of an initial invoice that was unpaid. It was absurd in a sort of Orwellian way. The effort I had to put in just to get a poor soul on the phone was something no rational human would go through. It was a sort of corporate abuse a functional government would be actively cracking down on. 

Haven’t ordered anything overseas since and no plans to, but now that feels like capitulation in a way. 

Edited December 8, 2025 by ATWM

[mlwdp]

It’s basically bribery.  Minus another item coming in that’s gonna suffer the same fate, I’m bowing out on buying overseas as well anymore until the courts decide.

Edited December 8, 2025 by mlwdp

[CSL]

Yeah. I got a nice bill from UPS today for a Zenmarket parcel this morning.

Price of goods = $281.54

Fees = $44.40 (Which I assume  is 15%)

Plus (and this is the part that pisses me off) = $14 'UPS Brokerage and partner Government Agency fee.

Since the tariffs took effect I wasn't planning to buy anything else from Zenmarket but I couldn't turn down a pair of vintage SugarCanes in my size. (The $281 also includes a pair of Buzz chinos).

Edited December 9, 2025 by CSL

[Alec Leamas]

21 hours ago, ATWM said:

I recently got an unjustified late free from UPS for like $4.37 (for a fee I paid online within hours of receiving the email before delivery). The delivery in question was taken, and tariff paid, more than two months ago. I had to spend almost an hour on the phone to get it rectified. It honestly felt like a tiny shakedown. I can imagine that en masse, they just willy nilly send these bills to a ton of people, most of whom cannot be bothered to dispute a small fee, and just rake in a bunch of extortion profits. There was no explanation on the late fee, no record of an initial invoice that was unpaid. It was absurd in a sort of Orwellian way. The effort I had to put in just to get a poor soul on the phone was something no rational human would go through. It was a sort of corporate abuse a functional government would be actively cracking down on. 

Haven’t ordered anything overseas since and no plans to, but now that feels like capitulation in a way. 

I recently got a similar UPS bill just with "government charges" on it against the amount, and the amount was significantly higher than I had calculated (20% of item cost + fees) - I emailed to dispute this charge but I've yet to hear anything back. I had similar thoughts, in high enough numbers, these fees would cover a good portion of profit for UPS I bet, or a bonus here and there..

[tjsma]

3 hours ago, Alec Leamas said:

I recently got a similar UPS bill just with "government charges" on it against the amount, and the amount was significantly higher than I had calculated (20% of item cost + fees) - I emailed to dispute this charge but I've yet to hear anything back. I had similar thoughts, in high enough numbers, these fees would cover a good portion of profit for UPS I bet, or a bonus here and there..

If you’re in the UK, you probably had to pay duties too, which is an additional 12% of price + VAT 🥴

[Alec Leamas]

27 minutes ago, tjsma said:

If you’re in the UK, you probably had to pay duties too, which is an additional 12% of price + VAT 🥴

You're probably right - and of course they'll liberally apply an exchange rate. Never mind. You win some you lose some.

[okimoto]

According to Timeworn, EMS is now shipping to the US once again. Does anyone know which postal service they transfer to once they hit the states? Hopefully not UPS

[Alec Leamas]

9 minutes ago, okimoto said:

According to Timeworn, EMS is now shipping to the US once again. Does anyone know which postal service they transfer to once they hit the states? Hopefully not UPS

I would have assumed it's USPS rather than UPS, but I'm not sure - EMS uses the Universal Postal Union so most commonly uses the national postal service of whatever the destination country is

[julian-wolf]

Historically, EMS has always transferred to USPS

[rbeck]

I get the heritage appeal of 100% cotton fabric everywhere, but these jeans I made almost 2 years ago have polyester (maybe poly blend) pocket bags and have no pocket holes from my phone's corners whatsoever. Every other pair of jeans I've worn in has gotten pocket holes within like 4 to 6 months, and they just so happen to be the most annoying holes to repair too. Been kinda nice being able to keep coins in my pockets not gonna lie, much prefer that to the alternative just for the sake of heritage. Maybe we should make everything out of plastic 😅

Edited December 9, 2025 by rbeck

[aho]

On 12/9/2025 at 3:47 PM, rbeck said:

I get the heritage appeal of 100% cotton fabric everywhere, but these jeans I made almost 2 years ago have polyester (maybe poly blend) pocket bags and have no pocket holes from my phone's corners whatsoever. Every other pair of jeans I've worn in has gotten pocket holes within like 4 to 6 months, and they just so happen to be the most annoying holes to repair too. Been kinda nice being able to keep coins in my pockets not gonna lie, much prefer that to the alternative just for the sake of heritage. Maybe we should make everything out of plastic 😅

^Industry has you beat; Upwards of 70% of all clothes are made with synthetic fibers, at least 52% are made with polyester

[Jared_Lee]

On 12/8/2025 at 9:44 AM, ATWM said:

I recently got an unjustified late free from UPS for like $4.37 (for a fee I paid online within hours of receiving the email before delivery). The delivery in question was taken, and tariff paid, more than two months ago. I had to spend almost an hour on the phone to get it rectified. It honestly felt like a tiny shakedown. I can imagine that en masse, they just willy nilly send these bills to a ton of people, most of whom cannot be bothered to dispute a small fee, and just rake in a bunch of extortion profits. There was no explanation on the late fee, no record of an initial invoice that was unpaid. It was absurd in a sort of Orwellian way. The effort I had to put in just to get a poor soul on the phone was something no rational human would go through. It was a sort of corporate abuse a functional government would be actively cracking down on. 

Haven’t ordered anything overseas since and no plans to, but now that feels like capitulation in a way. 

And this is what the CFPB was for.

[ATWM]

10 minutes ago, Jared_Lee said:

And this is what the CFPB was for.

yea it sure was =( 

[Cold Summer]

I was reading some super old threads/posts in established threads from the 2005-2007 early days, and it's fascinating to me how much of the discussion revolved around nitpicky things nobody around here does anymore: like taking a raw pair and soaking it for 20 minutes, debating whether to soak in cold water or hot water, panicking over hip flare, and that sort of thing. There's a bit of charm in seeing how the English-speaking denim community had a tendency to make things needlessly complicated and ritualized back then, but it's also annoying when I'm reading an old thread and 19 out of 20 posts are this line of discussion, fit checks with dead image links, and other fluff, with actual substantial content being a bit scarce.

Now we all just toss a raw pair in the washing machine and give it a warm wash to get all the inevitable shrinkage out of the way then hang dry, or tumble dry if you need a little more. It's all a lot more straightforward, and a less OCD way of treating jeans in general. Or, you just buy a one-wash pair (which these days are almost always gently-done without tumble dryer nukage) and avoid almost all the shrinkage and can wear them out of the box. I can't even remember the last time I did anything more complicated with my wash routine than wash in the machine on the delicate setting, no spin, and hang dry. I always seem to get good results this way.

When I got my Flat Head 6002W jacket off Yahoo Auctions or whatever about 2.5 years ago, it had been worn and washed an indeterminate amount of time, but without any real contrast or substantial signs of wear besides some broken box pleat stitching. My jacket has faded great and you'd never know I didn't start with totally raw one.

Edited December 12, 2025 by Cold Summer

[bartlebyyphonics]

saw this at local station: looks like ezra collective are secret denimbros… the (looks like) raw lvc type 1 is a perfect fit now (that aint going to fit after a wash…)

 

Edited December 12, 2025 by bartlebyyphonics

[Dr_Heech]

More walling shenanigans this last week -

 

 

 

[Double 0 Soul]

Can i get a legit check on these Sugarcanes?

Edwin-esque arcs, loose unfinished 46-esque threads, offset rear loop.. reverse yoke?

Made in HK (which is the only reason i suspect they might be fake) ships from Austin TX.. could be one of @Broark many past regrets

Slideshow here

[Broark]

Sheesh those are bad, curious where you see that they ship from Austin?
Website honestly looks like they'll steal your CC info once you try to buy something. 

[Double 0 Soul]

Scroll down to 'Shipping'

 

[Maynard Friedman]

I think the 2 patches prove they’re legit Canes.

[Double 0 Soul]

5 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

I think the 2 patches prove they’re legit Canes.

That's what i was thinking.. like the SC41701 ?

[Broark]

Yeah that website is 100% fake. Just took the blip about shipping from Austin, and it matches the shipping page from OnlyNY exactly.

I also looked up the age of the website and it was only created this month.

[MJF9]

They're defo legit... you can tell by the arcs

[Double 0 Soul]

I'll give them a miss.. if the website is fake, the jeans could be fake too?

1 minute ago, MJF9 said:

They're defo legit... you can tell by the arcs

The arcs remind me of the shrug emoji.. which is what you'd be doing if you bought them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯