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Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.


cmboland

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Slight change of topic here, but I feel I need some denim confessional time...

 

At the end of the day, I'm a denim head through and through. I wear all denim every day, all day, and don't think I could wear anything else. But have any of you ever gotten...fatigue...of it all? Maybe I need to switch it up, maybe my priorities and spending habits have shifted, or maybe I'm just in a drought period, but I no longer feel the same amount of excitement when I see the latest collections drop, or the latest seasonal brand releases. I no longer check the usual sites every day, and post even less frequently. Haven't purchased any denim items since maybe end of 2016, and generally even stopped scoping out vintage on the bay. And yet, I can't imagine wearing anything other than denim. Am I going crazy?

 

I suppose innovation is difficult when the past is your inspiration, and chambray is chambray, wabash is wabash, etc, etc. 

 

Perhaps it is just a slump, or a temporary state of mind, but I wonder if anyone else ever feels the same. To this issue, I have no solutions, but hopefully I'll get that sense of excitement and inspiration back soon, as this is a blue life after all...

 

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@aho - it's perfectly normal to have your enthusiasm and excitement wax and wane for a particular hobby/interest, and still have that hobby/interest as core element of who you are. Don't be concerned about not participating as much as you have in the past, or as much as you think you should as representative of you dedication to denim. And, even if your enthusiasm does genuinely wane and you move on to other interests/hobbies/types of clothing, etc., there's still nothing wrong with that. Sometimes you just need a break from it, step away for a while, and then when you come back with a fresher set of eyes, you may find your energy is renewed. 

 

I too wear denim every day, all day, and can't imagine ever wearing anything else. But my level of enthusiasm and knowledge will never equal yours or most other members here. And that's fine with me. I live vicariously through you guys! ;) 

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I'm still in that honeymoon period largely because I keep discovering new brands and styles that I really love. 

 

Something that I think helps me (and likely helps others as well) is being interested in far more than just denim. In fact, denim itself is fairly low on my list of favorite clothing items right now.

Ever since I got into this world of denim/work wear/being a beardless urban lumberjack, I've always cared about leather jackets, engineer boots, and outerwear more than jeans. Then there's shirts, sweatshirts, t-shirts, etc. I'm also obsessed with sunglasses and hair products, so I have a lot of ways to help diversify my narcissism.

 

Even in terms of pants/bottoms, denim is not my favorite item now. Sure, I wear it a lot, but right now, I'm far more interested in getting great pairs of nice chinos/pants/trousers from brands such as Freewheelers, Mister Freedom, and Stevenson Overall Co. As we speak, I'm attempting to get a pair of moleskin pants from Freewheelers that I've wanted for months from South Korea of all places.

I'm sure there will be points that my interest in raw denim, clothing, etc will drop, but I doubt it will ever completely disappear. For example, I have been a drummer for almost 15 years. I don't care about it as much as I used to and all my drum gear money has gone into clothing lately, but I still play and in fact have a second job where I play drums every week, sometimes more.

I've been attending denim-specific events which is very fun (and kinda gets my girl into the scene as well). I think meeting people in person that are involved in this scene is helpful to keep me addicted to the clothing itself.

I'll be going to Japan this summer and meeting/visiting quite a few shops and brands as well as getting a pair of White Kloud and a trip like this helps keep my interest very high.

I don't see my interest ever fully disappearing. I'm more worried about not having enough money to fuel my atrocious spending habits!

 

Edited by dudewuttheheck
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Dude summed it nicely, I enjoy denim, too, but I like other things aswell, so I'm probably not a denim head through and through. Mixing things up keeps the hobby interesting for me. Maybe you should just jump in the deep end of the pool and grab a pair of, say, duck chinos and try it out. If you don't like it in the end, no harm done. On the other hand it might broaden your hobby.

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15 hours ago, aho said:

Slight change of topic here, but I feel I need some denim confessional time...

 

Perhaps it is just a slump, or a temporary state of mind, but I wonder if anyone else ever feels the same. To this issue, I have no solutions, but hopefully I'll get that sense of excitement and inspiration back soon, as this is a blue life after all...

 

This is totally normal! I think.

I spent 2012 to 2016 on other hobbies and did not check up with any brands or websites, but continued to wear denims and leathers. It's good to have a few different hobbies, as I think interests related to clothing can be hard to sustain, especially with big life events and such.

 

Edited by mikecch
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On topic, I don't think it's a bad thing at all to appreciate the things we have instead of always wanting something new. It's better to have less but better, and things we actually wear and enjoy. It's also easy to fall into the trap of buying into a look and then thinking it defines you as a person. Are we just our Japanese repros of American clothing? If so, and our interest in said hobby wanes, it could make us lose a sense of self. 

Better to recognize a hobby for what it is: not something you let distract you, but something that brightens up your day.

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15 hours ago, aho said:

Slight change of topic here, but I feel I need some denim confessional time...

 

At the end of the day, I'm a denim head through and through. I wear all denim every day, all day, and don't think I could wear anything else. But have any of you ever gotten...fatigue...of it all? Maybe I need to switch it up, maybe my priorities and spending habits have shifted, or maybe I'm just in a drought period, but I no longer feel the same amount of excitement when I see the latest collections drop, or the latest seasonal brand releases. I no longer check the usual sites every day, and post even less frequently. Haven't purchased any denim items since maybe end of 2016, and generally even stopped scoping out vintage on the bay. And yet, I can't imagine wearing anything other than denim. Am I going crazy?

 

I suppose innovation is difficult when the past is your inspiration, and chambray is chambray, wabash is wabash, etc, etc. 

 

Perhaps it is just a slump, or a temporary state of mind, but I wonder if anyone else ever feels the same. To this issue, I have no solutions, but hopefully I'll get that sense of excitement and inspiration back soon, as this is a blue life after all...

 

I think fatigue happens to everybody. my experience has been that once you first get into raw denim you start small and then it snowballs from there. Eventually you wind up with 15 pairs of jeans that end up in your closet as you discover new brands and new obsessions, whether it be leather goods, jeans, tops, etc. I've grown tired of jeans and leather goods but have narrowed my focus to jackets and shirts. Sometimes i'll reflect on my spending habits and think how ridiculous it was how much I spent on X when I could've saved that money for Y. But, all hobbies eventually come to an end.

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I also lost interest a while, but am now heavily back in love with all that. I think it's good to spent some time with other things,, but someday all the things you're passionate about will get you again. Music is a similar topic, I get bored of all it and then it takes just a great liveshow or recorr you hear by chance and it re-ignites your passion.

Like I wrote elsewhere, I also could imagine that we one day end up getting jeans again that we already had as we don't need to experiment anymore and just stick with what we love most. I kinda like that idea.

Edited by Max Power
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Since I moved to Southern California and need to buy a house I'm too poor to be as addicted as I previously was to the Japanese repro scene.  Since I've moved here ~8 months ago the only thing I've bought are the SG x SE collab jeans mainly because I bike to work and my TFH's thighs were about ready to rip at the seam when I was riding.  Not to mention heavy loopwheeled T's, thick flannel and head to toe denim no longer really suits the climate.

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I wasn't allowed my first pair of jeans until I was 11, so they were forbidden fruit, so much I became obsessed by denim, and now only wear jeans, I love leather/shearling coats but in summer I wear a denim jacket.

i have books on the history of denim, study future collections,baby my own jeans and mourn them when they go into holes,and have to go into a charity bag or to Ruedis museum(he's got my first ever custom Japanese shadow denim jeans, my best jeans Ever to date)..

i can't imagine not loving denim so much-I can't fix on a single pair and wear it until it's a rag as I love All of them, that's why I'm capping my collection (Hopefully !!!!!!) at 12 pieces-11 jeans and a denim jacket-until I've worn out some, otherwise my collection will get out of hand and I'll never fade a pair out into nothing.

sad that my Momotaros are too big having worked on them for 13 months,,having a break from them whilst I build up a bit.

i will definitely live in jeans for the rest of my life!

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  • 3 weeks later...
6 hours ago, SuperJackle said:

This isn't really a new thing. As the article states, PRPS have been doing this and similar things for years and so have other brands. Nordstrom's description probably was the main provocation, but the urban lumberjack thing and fake ruggedness has been a thing for a while as we should well know. It sort of feels like this article should have happened 4 years ago :/ 

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I regularly lose interest and regain interest with most of my hobbies.  

Right now, I have 1 pair of jeans that fit me, the FC1101 and even those I struggle with.  For the first time in my life im going through a fat phase, where my gut is too big for the waistband on most of my pairs.  So Im not wearing jeans much. I wear looser fitting Orslow pants because when I sit down I dont have to battle the waistband.  Our house has been under construction since late September and Im fed up and dont have the energy to dedicate to losing the weight.  Im also going through a slump in my photography so the only thing I really give a shit about these days hobby-wise is riding my bike.  But I do know that things regularly change and i would rather be naked than wear a pair of garbage Gap jeans so despite my denim slump Im still in the 'Til death do us part" portion of the game

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It's funny that you mention that gnomes, as I'm actually going through the opposite.
I've always been a bigger guy my whole life, and I've been losing weight lately for a change.
I've only mainly changed my diet, but I was just trying on a bunch of jeans that I've collected over the years and they all seem to fit better than when I first bought them.
Hope things turn around for you, I can't imagine how stressful house renovations are.

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my condolences gnomes, i'm in exactly the same (food) boat. i've gone from all buttoned up easy peasy on my sd-103 to two top buttons unfastened held up with a belt aho style :D

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34 minutes ago, oomslokop said:

my condolences gnomes, i'm in exactly the same (food) boat. i've gone from all buttoned up easy peasy on my sd-103 to two top buttons unfastened held up with a belt aho style :D

lololol I've been experimenting with the top button undone the past couple weeks.  Aho started a movement

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About 7yrs ago, looking at my accumulating jeans stash,  I asked myself [honestly?!?!] how long am I gonna be able to hold onto [hoard] these jawns  ... What if I gain weight?

With a heavy heart, before things got really out of hand, I made a series of purges.  All w32s__  SuFu-preferred att,   w/c were sized-down, pos-repping:D semi-nutcrackers had to go.

I kept a few pieces like 5010xx, 007, 701, SExSC02, but subsequent purchases were intentionally future-sized__ i.e., SU1 to w34 ... factoring into consideration the residual shrinkage from regular [more frequent] wash cycle + reality [ineluctable weight gain as I get older].

 

As to denim-thusiasm,  the possession-obsession &/or obsession-compulsion component of it ebb&flows ... like, right now, it may seem I'm less active & light on the current updates, but it does not mean my interest is waning.  Denim has pervaded my life ... it is a part of my normal existence  ... I am a denim lifer ;);)

Edited by BrownMetallic
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To add to the possession obsession point you make BM, the whole "Need to insta- Cop, limited edition collab" hype that some denim retailers employ(or emplayed) holds very little sway with me these days.  Im no longer interested in the struggle to get my hands on something.  If its not readily available or at least in a semi-regular production run Im not trying to fight to cop.  Over hyping and under producing a garment is not in my wheelhouse these days.  

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^Straying off topic, but damn those were the days, saving up every college dollar I could, palms all sweaty when the SExFH05 dropped and my credit card wouldn't go through due to a site bug...My size sold out in minutes but luckily I "kopped" one of the last size 29's....9 years later and here I am wearing size 36's, still needing to let loose the top button hah!

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I've owned a fair number of special or limited edition jeans, yet the ones I always go back to are my 3Sixteen ST-120x and Samurai S710xx, both popular models sold all over the place. Limited edition for its own sake doesn't really attract me much either, anymore.

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1 hour ago, garden gnomes in space said:

To add to the possession obsession point you make BM, the whole "Need to insta- Cop, limited edition collab" hype that some denim retailers employ(or emplayed) holds very little sway with me these days.  Im no longer interested in the struggle to get my hands on something.  If its not readily available or at least in a semi-regular production run Im not trying to fight to cop.  Over hyping and under producing a garment is not in my wheelhouse these days.  

for me it depends on the article of clothing and how it fits into my wardrobe. I'm not particularly interested in adding more denim to my rotation, so ltd edition jeans do nothing for me. however, I have been slowly adding more shirts to my collection and i've been quite impressed with the flannels that IH have been putting out. I won't jump at every flannel they release, mainly because I simply don't have that kinda spare change lying around, but it sounds like the fabrics they use are woven by a small mill and therefore have limited runs. I don't think IH hypes their stuff, because not everything they do is a winner, but sometimes they get a really nice and unique looking fabric and it's a work of art, so in that regard I it's the customers who hype the brand because everyone wants their latest and greatest shirt.

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