Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[space_cowboy]

^ I noticed that too - I hope he got to keep the clothes!

[Broark]

Superstitch is developing a documentary on his travels to Japan to ultimately learn how to operate a shuttle loom himself (?!) back in France.
Neat trailer here, looking forward to seeing the entire film.

 

[Jared_Lee]

On 3/28/2026 at 7:13 AM, Double 0 Soul said:

Looks like @Jared_Lee is doing a spot of modelling for BiG 

Yessir, my connection to BiG runs back to 2008. Pretty amazing that Naoki is still there and we still find cause to come together. He knows Fullcount are my favorite jeans so when they have a collaboration or lookbooks, he'll ask me to model. There's one more BiG 20th anniversary collaboration set coming that I'm very excited for.

[reallypeacedoff]

Indigo Invitational / Redline Rally...

[not me]

Edited April 1 by reallypeacedoff

[MJF9]

@reallypeacedoff mind boggling

[beautiful_FrEaK]

disgusting

[Double 0 Soul]

@shredwin_206 ghost?

Shit.. I didn’t even know he was dead!

Plumbing accident I suppose..?

RiP brother…

[shredwin_206]

@Double 0 Soul c’mon man. You know I got much better boot taste than the trash that guy has on! Hahahha too much starch. That’s cheating 

[Double 0 Soul]

Holy crap! .. he’s risen from the dead!

It’s that time of year I suppose 🤷‍♂️ 

[reallypeacedoff]

Try no washes for two years, and he's a farmer. 

None of these idiots have girlfriends, surely?

Edited April 1 by reallypeacedoff

[Double 0 Soul]

Only the four legged kind.. 

[julian-wolf]

Honestly, I think having a set of work / chore clothes that rarely or never get washed can be fine, if that’s all they get used for. I’ve taken a similar approach in the past, and I know 00 used to as well. Whatever, as long as he takes it all off before going inside the house that’s his prerogative

I just can’t get over how ugly that jacket is, though

[reallypeacedoff]

From what I gather though, many of these dudes literally go to sleep in their gear too. Might not pertain to this fellow in particular, however, from various comments I have seen on IG. Many wear their denim in the rain/mud/animals all day every day. I couldn't imagine wearing 20+ oz denim in 110s 100% humidity either.  Mind boggling. I guess anything for the fadz.

[ATWM]

It’s wild what social media will get people to do that, I think it’s safe to say, may not happen were they to go on living their life without such an outlet in their head.

I say this with full recognition I just posted again in the WAYWT thread. 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

1 hour ago, ATWM said:

It’s wild what social media will get people to do that

As I understand it there are folks in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries that were doing this for years, and simply found out they can get some good prizes from the comp. 

[Double 0 Soul]

You'd be proud of me @julian-wolf .. i've just replaced my old down vest after nearly 20yrs in the workshop

Trying to appear less homeless.. yada yada.. It was only £22.58 from eBay

One of my friends bought this^ vest in the sale while he was working at YHA in Leeds back when he was a student in the 90s.. so it's from the days when North Face was a credible outdoor company and all the kit was MiA.. It's even been up Mont Blanc.

When he started running ultras and slimmed off.. it was too big so he gave it to me.. not really my style but perfect for keeping me warm at work, i've worn it every winter for 20yrs...  worn over a denim jacket, over a sweatshirt, over a t-shirt, over a LS thermal over a LS merino base.. it's never come close to touching my body, it only smells of workshop.

I tried washing it in the early days, washing pertex / down isn't a great idea.. it would freshen it up but it would never remove the grime ..

I started buying baby wipes and emptying a full pack on my bench then wearing it the rightway around and scrubbing it with handfulls of wipes.. then worn back to front, inside out.. inside out / back to front .. like Fred from Big Hero 6 with his underwear.. (scrubbed till all the wipes were gone) truth be told, the baby wipes didn't remove the grime either but it made me feel better.. then i would box it up and put it away till nxt winter.

Here is the true colour on the back

Gaffer tape superglued over puncture holes because Tear-Aid wont stick to sawdust / grime

Pfft.. 2yrs.. this is prabably 18yrs with no wash, but like you say.. nvr been out of the workshop

I'm going to bin it in the coming weeks with a replacement ready for next winter..

Edited April 1 by Double 0 Soul

[indigoeagle]

Structural changes in the Japanese denim industry?

In a recent Japanologue interview:
"I ask everyone this, but are you guys in any way worried about a shortage of selvedge denim in the future? Or more specifically, mills that can weave it, factories that can sew it, people who can fix all the machines. It’s no secret that everyone is getting older…
 

H: I don’t think we even need to go into the future for that to be an issue – it already is a problem right now. There is already a shortage of denim. The waits are getting longer for selvedge denim.

K: The people in those industries and in those areas are also worried, not just the brands. It’s this odd situation where there isn’t enough, and yet we also need to keep them filled with orders so that they can survive. As a brand, we need to work together with the denim mills and sewing factories, and that means keeping them full with orders as much as we are able. I know some places are bringing in younger people to learn the trade, but still…all we can do is try and keep giving them business."

and

"Some people feel that we are in a kind of second denim boom at the moment here in Japan. Of course, there was the big one in the 90s when the J-denim repro brands exploded, but there seems to be another upturn over the past few years. Have you noticed that?...

H: No, I do think there is another boom happening recently with selvedge denim."

https://www.japanalogue.com/omotodenim/
 

And in the Iron Heart forum Alex writes on the question whether the 684 fit will also be made in other fabrics:
"...but 21oz will not be an early one due to the issues at the mill that weaves it."

For the people in the industry it is probably quite clear, but as an outsider I wasn't aware of this.
So it seems on the one hand- as had been discussed before here- that the demand for selvedge denim is deteriorating and also as in many industries- especially manual labour ones- there aren't many young people interested to work in that area.

So this shouldn't be an excuse or rationalization to hoard more denim for an uncertain future. I'm sure there will also be new models and sufficient supply. But we have seen delays in product and it also seems that the numbers are smaller than they used to be (that might also be scarcity marketing).
 

[Broark]

I feel like that's a pretty reasonable expectation with an aging skilled workforce that doesn't appear to have enough backfill combined with a shrinking consumer base.
Mills have to keep their production capacity at a manageable level, especially when there's no real need to extend themselves.
I do think it'll continue to push fabric costs up with shrinking availability of some limited stuff, but no reason to hoard. Don't fall for scarcity marketing!
I'm not as in tune with the youths these days, but it doesn't seem like the younger generations are as interested in where or how something is made. And that's why we'll continue to see landfills piling up with Temu and Shein shit.

[julian-wolf]

7 hours ago, Broark said:

I'm not as in tune with the youths these days, but it doesn't seem like the younger generations are as interested in where or how something is made. And that's why we'll continue to see landfills piling up with Temu and Shein shit.

I think you’re right to identify this as a big issue, but it feels important to avoid framing it as the younger generation’s fault, or really even their choice—from one end, they’ve been pretty actively brainwashed by places like Amazon for most of their life, and from the other end their career opportunities are getting worse and worse at the same time as nice things are getting more and more expensive

It’s not their doing that they’re uninterested in where things are made any more than it’s our generation’s doing that we’re “uninterested in in buying houses” and “uninterested in going on vacations”

[Broark]

Yeah that's a good point, wasn't intended to be framed with fault attributed to them at all.
They've been brainwashed and force-fed since the jump.

[ATWM]

Yes, the internet is essentially a gated community for much of the younger generations (actually for everyone, just some of us can remember when it was a little better). It’s hardly the internet - it is just essentially 10 big tech companies. They just don’t know what they don’t know, and when they do, can’t often afford it. Even if you try to start out the search on your own the terms you may start with generally leave you with pricier, not so good stuff from big brands or social media start up brands that are marketed forcefully but no better (and often worse) than getting outfitted at Target. You have to sort of luckily stumble out of the gates somehow to even have a chance of learning about what else is out there, and none of those companies curating your browsing want you to do that - except possibly Shop (as mentioned in the other thread - an app I am not a fan of bc Shopify wants to do to small biz what Spotify does to music imo - which is to say take more and more cuts for a standardized convenient experience where everything is available). 

Edited April 5 by ATWM

[Double 0 Soul]

I downloaded my first evr app last summer (google maps / translate)

..and my second app in December (Mr Porter) .. to track those sweatpants

Im not really an app guy

[cheapmuthafukr]

Hit a deer with my motorcycle this morning. I discovered that West Ride 22oz jeans will hold up in a motorcycle wreck. Had a new fade mark on the knee, but not even close to getting through. My bike didn’t fare as well.

[reallypeacedoff]

1 hour ago, cheapmuthafukr said:

Hit a deer with my motorcycle this morning. I discovered that West Ride 22oz jeans will hold up in a motorcycle wreck. Had a new fade mark on the knee, but not even close to getting through. My bike didn’t fare as well.

Damn dude, how did you fair? Hope you are all good!

[cheapmuthafukr]

12 minutes ago, reallypeacedoff said:

Damn dude, how did you fair? Hope you are all good!

I’m fine. Nothing broken, just sore.

[CSL]

Glad to hear that^^

[Cold Summer]

On 4/1/2026 at 1:26 PM, Hopethisoneisnttaken said:

As I understand it there are folks in Thailand and other southeast Asian countries that were doing this for years, and simply found out they can get some good prizes from the comp. 

Absolutely, this exact same thing was going on back in 2011-2012. Around this time there was a massive trend/crazy around selvedge denim in Thailand and SE Asia, with the Pronto Denim Carnival being an absolute bonkers event [which I went to with Flat Head.] All these guys were manufacturing wacky over the top fades by never washing at all and wearing their super heavy denim stuff 24/7.

Actually, I think the trend blew over a long time ago - there are still hardcore nerds doing stuff like that, which get disproportionate attention on social media and stuff like these contests, but it's a fraction of the volume of denim stuff being bought/sold compared to 10+ years ago.

[Double 0 Soul]

On 3/29/2026 at 3:19 PM, Jared_Lee said:

Yessir, my connection to BiG runs back to 2008. Pretty amazing that Naoki is still there and we still find cause to come together. He knows Fullcount are my favorite jeans so when they have a collaboration or lookbooks, he'll ask me to model. There's one more BiG 20th anniversary collaboration set coming that I'm very excited for.

I haven't bought anything from BiG since Gordon was there.. i've barely even looked after they went through the wilderness years but i've just perused their stock over 24 pages and there is a lot of very nice garb.. i doff my cap to their buyers.

All because i got an email promoting their Macmahon Mills knitwear.. i'm a sucker for anything with cats on it ..but it also opened my eyes to their current stock.. they've definately turned a corner, i'm too stuck in a repro denim rut to change my ways but another time.. another place, i would have certainly been a very enthusiastic BiG shopper!

[mlwdp]

I swear, AI moderators have ruined Reddit.  I’m glad we haven’t embraced AI here! 

[Hopethisoneisnttaken]

11 hours ago, mlwdp said:

I swear, AI moderators have ruined Reddit.  I’m glad we haven’t embraced AI here! 

The day it’ll happen here I’m signing out. Hopefully will never happen.