Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[mikecch]

I have to confess this "secret denim master" thing doesn't tick me off as much as it does some of you. The hobbyist denim market seems so saturated that it would seem hard for a new brand to be noticed without some kind of gimmick. Obviously Tanuki does not have the same aims or intended audience as CSF or TCB. Hype moves products, and realistically speaking people aren't interested in knowing all the fine details concerning their pants. We may be the weird ones here.

I'm reserving judgement until we get to examine these jeans in more detail. I'm still receptive to picking up a pair and reviewing it at some point, if the price is right buying from Japan.

At the price Blue Owl is selling them for? I'd be hesitant... Easily go with someone tried and true than gamble on a big unknown.

Edited July 21, 2016 by mikecch

[itsbenhere]

dont feed the troll 

 

 

true, fun to spice things up though!

 

I don't think I have emphasized anything about the quality, why are you talking about the quality?

 

You stated "People are so comfortable praising relatively unknown and mediocre jeans costing over 40,000 yen. Yet this reasonably priced quality new brand is getting no love." after stating "It's sickening that this board is so full of hypocrites these days"

 

Trying to piece together your shitty argument, one can only assume that you are calling us hypocrites because we bash Tanuki (allegedly a quality brand) while praising other unknown brands of questionable quality that are even more expensive.

 

Problem is no one bashes Tanuki because it's unknown, but instead because of the approach they used to market their brand.

[karanimal]

Who are you to tell people to go somewhere else?

So if the opinion is different from yours, it's not welcome in the conversation is it?

I don't think I have emphasized anything about the quality, why are you talking about the quality?

 

Your opinion and arguments are very reflective of how immature and closeminded you are. We've had one of the most engaging conversations in this thread in months and you show up out of the blue and run-a-muck in the discussion, thanks mate.  

 

I'm sure someone on sufu will buy these jeans and wear them, we have people wearing apc which is fine and dandy but if a brand is going to market themselves like this why don't we have a right to discuss the marketing techniques they've used 

 

It'll be interesting to see how this brand does in the market and who else starts to carry them 

[OptimusPrime]

Your opinion and arguments are very reflective of how immature and closeminded you are. We've had one of the most engaging conversations in this thread in months and you show up out of the blue and run-a-muck in the discussion, thanks mate.  

 

I'm sure someone on sufu will buy these jeans and wear them, we have people wearing apc which is fine and dandy but if a brand is going to market themselves like this why don't we have a right to discuss the marketing techniques they've used 

 

It'll be interesting to see how this brand does in the market and who else starts to carry them 

 

You are missing the point on the impact of this conversation about Tanuki initiated by Kiya, basically he is criticizing the marketing strategy of this new brand that his competition is launching.

It's a different story if he is doing that behind closed doors, but for a business owner to do that to his competition on a public forum, there seems to be something wrong in that practice.

[karanimal]

Kiya typically does not represent self edge outside of the self edge thread, i think you are missing the entire conversation we had above about how the general feel of this conversation is around how the marketing technique is good but shady at the same time 

 

Never once did Kiya say "ah fuck that shit man, FH blows that shit out of the water. I fucking love kobayashi-san and would never try stray from him with Tanuki" 

 

For all we know this is a new flat head brand! they are launching new brands all the time...Hard Bird is their new one, plus gotta roll is pretty low key. 

[itsbenhere]

I like that kiya is a real person with real opinions, fuck robot store owners that don't say anything because it'll hurt someone's feelings or could be construed as negative.

It's blue owls job to pick up brands that are legit, if these criticisms are really so invalid then they shouldn't hurt business at all. If anything, kiyas dislike will encourage people to buy from them!

[mikecch]

For all we know this is a new flat head brand! they are launching new brands all the time...Hard Bird is their new one, plus gotta roll is pretty low key.

They have some funny names. Remember "Glory Park"?

[dudewuttheheck]

I hope they do eventually reveal some more details about how they make their products. I could not agree more that transparency is extremely important. I love that somewhere deep in the TFH thread is a bunch of pictures detailing how many of their products are made. I love that David Himel told me proudly that he does not sew all of the jackets himself and that when I met Michael Masterson, he admitted that there are a couple of of buttonholes that others can sew better than him. 

 

I really hope this isn't a Rampuya brand. I've always liked Momotaro and their unique, almost completely in-house production. 

[Aries]

Let's change topics guys.

 

I'm selling a pair of boots. Granted, the construction and materials look identical to Red Wing and similar brands, but trust me about this, these boots are made by immortal lizard boot masters.

 

Just trust me. And buy mine over theirs; theirs have zero lizard labour compared to mine!

[Cold Summer]

If I had to guess I'd say that Tanuki is Rampuya. Something about the aesthetics of the pairs I've seen reminds me of Momotaro and Japan Blue, and the marketing sounds like something they might do. Not my thing.

[nycsurfer530]

Mmm love me some good sufu chatter

[dwilson123]

I actually highly respect Kiya for his no-nonsense no-filter approach to forums.  That doesn't mean I necessarily agree with everything he says but I give him props for having an opinion and sticking with it.  Too many owners would be too shit scared of driving away business because of an abrasive online persona.

[setterman]

Three pages of chat devoted to a new brand that's six years late to the game, appears to be average at best, and has a nonsense secretive marketing campaign.  I'm sure they appreciate the attention guys.      

[dwilson123]

Not sure what you expect on a denim forum when a new denim brand launches

[setterman]

Not sure what you expect on a denim forum when a new denim brand launches

 

Discernment.  

[ColonelAngus]

I hope they do eventually reveal some more details about how they make their products. I could not agree more that transparency is extremely important. I love that somewhere deep in the TFH thread is a bunch of pictures detailing how many of their products are made. I love that David Himel told me proudly that he does not sew all of the jackets himself and that when I met Michael Masterson, he admitted that there are a couple of of buttonholes that others can sew better than him. 

 

 

I think transparency is usually what appeals to consumers. They like hearing stories and how a brand came to be. But, I sometimes find these 'stories' a bit derivative, especially with leather goods. There are probably hundreds, or thousands of entrepeneurs out there trying to make a name for themselves in the leather goods industry. The problem I see though is that it's become so saturated and everyone and their mother is making belts, wallets, lanyards, etc., and they all have a story. After awhile i've stopped caring about that person's reason for wanting to make leather goods because we all know that it's to make money. So, like any consumer I look at several factors like quality of leather, design, presentation and cost. This is ultimately how i'll decide to spend money on a wallet (or whatever). For example, I really like VermillyeaPelle's bags and think his stuff looks way better than Filson's. The fact that he makes them himself is even better because I know they're not mass produced and that he's not skimping on materials. I can definitely put my money behind a company like this. I still like some of Filson's stuff but don't think they're worth what they charge, especially when a lot of it isn't even made in the US.

[Geeman]

I'm selling a pair of boots. Granted, the construction and materials look identical to Red Wing and similar brands, but trust me about this, these boots are made by immortal lizard boot masters.

Just trust me. And buy mine over theirs; theirs have zero lizard labour compared to mine

How to cop?...

Edited July 21, 2016 by Geeman

[Geeman]

They have some funny names. Remember "Glory Park"?

I have a special edition THC tshirt with all the FH brands printed on the back.... there's bloody loads of them!

[Niro]

3 days of wearing my new PBJs and 3 days of getting food stains on them...oh the sadface 

 

I have a special edition THC tshirt with all the FH brands printed on the back.... there's bloody loads of them!

 

That sounds like a cool tee...do you have a pic?

[Geeman]

Will get one up in the next few days

[emgee420]

3 days of wearing my new PBJs and 3 days of getting food stains on them...oh the sadface 

 

i know that feeling...i generally get food on new jeans within the first week...never fails

[Maynard Friedman]

Will get one up in the next few days

Your wife is waiting patiently.... 😄

[karanimal]

Hey guys, anyone here into pc gaming or have a pretty sweet rig at home? 

 

I moved to australia last year and left my computer at home! I bought a second hand PC with some pretty sweet specs two weeks ago and I'm slowly upgrading some of the pieces in it! 

 

Currently, 

 

• i7 4790k @ 4.5ghz 
• EVGA GTX 980 4gb SC ACX 2.0 (going to eventually upgrade that to a 1080 when prices drop for a 4k screen) 
• Gigabyte z97m Gaming 5 m-itx mobo 
• 16gb ram 
• 250gb ssd
• 500 gb hdd
• Bitfenix Fury 750w Gold PSU 

 

Currently upgrading the case to a corsair air 240 m-itx from a bitfenix prodigy (the power button is broken, one usb port is not working, no side window so previous owner dremeled a hole in the side panel lol) 

 

Upgrading the CPU cooler from a basic air cooler, currently at 4.5ghz to a cooler master nepton 240m, hoping to push 4.6-4.7 with this but we shall see 

 

Keyboard - Ducky shine 2, red led, brown switches 

Mouse - corsair m45 raptor 

Monitor - asus vx238h 23" (will eventually get a 4k  monitor) 

 

Monster inspiration headphones  since my shure srh840 broke and an audio engine d1 DAC 

 

What are you guys playing on? This thing is a beast for lightroom now and photoshop, i can't believe i was working on a macbook pro for so long, never again 

Edited July 21, 2016 by karanimal

[mikecch]

Right with you buddy. I built mine 10 months ago.

NZXT 450 black

i7 6700K water-cooled with Kraken

MSI 980 Ti water-cooled

MSI z170 XPower titanium edition mobo

DDR4 RipJaw 16 Gb 3000 MHz

Samsung 950 m2 SSD

Intel 730 SSD

WD Black 5 Gb

Audio is run through Arcam irDAC and Violectric V200 amp.

Headphones include Beyer T1, E-mu Ebony, Fostex TH-X00 Mahogany, Shure 1840 and ZMF Omni in Red Sandalwood.

PCMR!

[karanimal]

HOLY hell that is a wicked setup, i should have figured you had a beastly set up 

 

Which headphone's do you find yourself using the most? I'm looking to eventually replace my shure's and get a proper headphone amp, the d1 is good enough for the time being and was portable enough that i would use it at the school library @ uni 

 

I've played a few hours of the Witcher 3, pretty stoked that my setup can max that game and maintain 60fps, my old rig struggled with the witcher 2 with a 7970. Any good games out that i should be getting? Haven't even been looking at games for the past 2 years 

[mikecch]

^ For games I use the T1 because of its accuracy and spatial abilities. For music, the Fostex cans for EDM, Omni for other stuff. The Fostex x Massdrop cans are good value, check them out!

Witcher 3 is great! Fantastic really!

I also like Fallout 4.

Also, TES Skyrim is having a remastered edition in October.

[karanimal]

that titanium mobo is gorgeous, just googled it! 

 

I'll probably try to get fallout 4 

 

Do you think the remastered skyrim will be good? I had a pretty modded skyrim going at one point and it was fantastic, if the modding community can get behind the remastered version it might be pretty amazing! If only they could improve the combat system and make it more challenging it would be perfect 

[ironheartfan123]

You are missing the point on the impact of this conversation about Tanuki initiated by Kiya, basically he is criticizing the marketing strategy of this new brand that his competition is launching.

It's a different story if he is doing that behind closed doors, but for a business owner to do that to his competition on a public forum, there seems to be something wrong in that practice.

 

no one was commenting on his/her competition (and there would have been nothing "wrong" with it had someone done so); if people agree with the view that Tanuki is a gimmick brand based on its "secret master" story and thereafter decide not buy those jeans from blue owl (or associate blue owl with gimmick products), that's blue owl's own fault only for carrying the gimmick product; the comments were personal views expressed about a truly contrived origin story and denim brand. i personally like the insight from a shop owner on why such products might create issues when trying to run a store with integrity (which doesn't sound easy) and while no store is perfect, i appreciate the relative integrity, authenticity, and purpose of SE and their willingness to be real people with personal views

[SuperJackle]

RE Tanuki, and perhaps this may be close to the end of the discussion for better or for worse, but I don't think they look that bad. Nothing out of this world for sure, but not bad.

Kyle mentioned that it's probably rampuya behind it to some extent, which makes sense given blue owl's close relationship with momotaro et al, not to mention the signature colored inseam thread, and the denim kinda resembles momo vintage label. We all know they can make a quality product, and these even have some welcome details like elongated front pockets, which is a plus at least for me.

I think my main point is, Tanuki is trying to establish itself based on secrecy or hidden mastery, which sounds corny or lame, but when it comes to actually getting transparency with our favorite Japanese companies, it's sort of all the same to someone like me. I don't speak Japanese and I'll probably never visit these denim mills and secret sewing houses (ahem, flat head) so all I have to go on about any of these companies is what I learn here and from others, or information from retailers. Any of these Japanese brands might as well be from Mars, but I think that's part of the appeal, for me anyway.

Edit: Just thought I'd add that the fits are terrible, but perhaps if this brand had debuted with a straight 50's or 60's cut, they'd have more of this board's attention, myself included. Maybe that says something about sufu haha

Edited July 22, 2016 by SuperJackle

[Geeman]

Your wife is waiting patiently....

Keeping her keen....