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Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.


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17 hours ago, tchengaa said:

hi there has anyone bought anythings from the brand Workers? 

I’ve never pulled the trigger, but someone mentioned Workers on here awhile back and they’ve been on my radar ever since. Looks like good stuff. 

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For my fellow USA residents, what’s the longest you’ve even had an item held up in customs? I have a pair of canes that have been In Los Angeles customs for about 6 days now. In the past it’s usually only taken 2-3 days. Unless the tracking has a delay in being updated, which I’ve seen before too. 

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1 hour ago, SuperJackle said:

For my fellow USA residents, what’s the longest you’ve even had an item held up in customs? I have a pair of canes that have been In Los Angeles customs for about 6 days now. In the past it’s usually only taken 2-3 days. Unless the tracking has a delay in being updated, which I’ve seen before too. 

I've had tracking info w/ EMS deliveries f/ JP not update, and then all of a sudden the package shows up at my PO. My experiences have varied from between 3-6 days to receive a package once it's landed in LA. I did have one occasion where the package was lost for about 6 weeks after it left customs, and then it miraculously showed up after traversing around the better half of the country. 

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The only time there is a hold up is when I'm sending something to Japan.  Two weeks is the shortest and a month and half is the longest.

I can only imagine how long it takes to get a pair of shoes, jewelry, and electronics would take to receive.  I just stick to clothing right now.

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I was a bit surprised that none of the Japanese labels made a special run of jeans to mark emperor Akihito abdicating this year. I'm guessing that they would have to be a retro cut, maybe the 80's or earlier, which would have to have a distressed/used/second hand look and they would also have to be a lot of loose threads, as most of the stitching would be unfinished, maybe because some of the people sewing them knocked off early and took a half day, leaving the job uncompleted. Also, they'd only be available with very short inseams.

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Levi's really needs to make a 501 Selvedge STF in their Premium line in the $130 +/- range. Better quality all around, matierias, stitching, bi-color thread, construction, leather patch, etc. Don't care where they are made, don't care where the denim comes from, heck it could even be sanforized. If the denim is from the new owner of the Cone looms, then great; if MiUSA, then great; but both would probably add an upcharge. They have all of the DNA to do it, it's just a matter of putting the right pieces together to complete the puzzle. 

The current standard 501 STF are just meh. Meh denim, meh stitching, meh thread color, meh pocket bags. Just meh. Nothing really "wrong" with them, but nothing really great. Except the cut - the cut is really good. It may not be exactly everyone's cuppa, but it's what nearly everything is based on, and everyone looks good in them, whether TTS, +1 or -1. 

On one hand, it's what Levi's started with, what made them iconic, so I don't see why they wouldn't make a Premium 501 Selvedge STF. There's certainly a market (at least IMO). On the other hand, it would prolly steal some hype from LVC. i.e. the MiMX Cone Selvedge 501 STF that I scored in an Outlet last summer are 98% of what my LVC 1976 are. And they were about 1/4 the price at full retail (I scored them for under $30). Sure, there are enthusiasts who want something very specific and are willing to pay for it; and that's great too (but then again I think most people scour the 'net and wait for sales). Just give us a high-quality, no frills, everyday knock-around pair. 

I'm just so frustrated that Levi's is chasing and creating new throw-away fashion trend garbage season after season, year after year, yet they won't make a high quality, reasonably priced version of their core garment. 

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4 hours ago, SuperJackle said:

For my fellow USA residents, what’s the longest you’ve even had an item held up in customs? I have a pair of canes that have been In Los Angeles customs for about 6 days now. In the past it’s usually only taken 2-3 days. Unless the tracking has a delay in being updated, which I’ve seen before too. 

According to EMS Tracking, my Canes just spent a total of 38 hours in LA Customs enroute from Denimio. On a weekday...no weekend delay.

Very efficient.

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2 hours ago, 501XX4EVER said:

 

I was a bit surprised that none of the Japanese labels made a special run of jeans to mark emperor Akihito abdicating this year.

 

This is not the first time he broke with tradition. He also married a commoner. I thought that his abdication was met with positive approval by the JP population? I would not be surprised if his son chooses this same method when the time comes.

Your post attached some sarcasm, is this an insight to the unreported opinion of the population? 

With an official 10-day holiday to mark the event, I do agree orders may take longer to be filled.

Edited by Pedro
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13 hours ago, mpukas said:

I'm just so frustrated that Levi's is chasing and creating new throw-away fashion trend garbage season after season, year after year, yet they won't make a high quality, reasonably priced version of their core garment. 

Sadly, this has been going on for years. Levi's only goal is to increase its market share and appease its shareholders. Quality and longevity are secondary.

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2 hours ago, ColonelAngus said:

Sadly, this has been going on for years. Levi's only goal is to increase its market share and appease its shareholders. Quality and longevity are secondary.

Amen Brother.

Greed is Good.

This is the reason I switched to SC.

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1 hour ago, Foxy2 said:

Joking aside, good knifes are still on my mind - probably something from the likes of Blenheim Forge or Hohenmoorer Messermanufaktur...

If you think denim is an endless, convoluted, all-consuming, obsessive downward spiral, JP cutlery is on a completely different level. And then there's sharpening and stones - on a whole other level itself. 

I've been an avid cook since a teen, and a few years ago did quite a bit of private chef work. I got heavily into JP knives and stones and sharpening, but made a conscious effort to nip it in the bud. Too time and financial consuming. I have a decent collection of a few wa- and yo- western knives, but only a couple of single bevels, and a few synthetic stones (but no JNats). I sharpen regularly. I mainly cook western food and don't have a use for traditional JP knives. Look into Jon and Japanese Knife Imports in LA - he's prolly by far the best western sharpener, and who I mainly learned from years ago. His YT channel has lots of valuable sharpening info - look into the older vids. Also look into Max at Japanese Natural Stones and Daniel at Epic Edge. Of course there are others, but these guys have been around for a while now and know their stuff. I can provide others if interested. B)

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8 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

I think him and SJF would make a great couple although they might get mistaken for Beavis and Butthead!

After previous revelations I dare not read the comments. .

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Levi's did a short little interview with Yutaka Fujihara and Naoki Kawamata about their love of the 501 and their book The 501XX: A collection of vintage jeans. Worth a read.

https://www.levistrauss.com/2019/05/02/denim-doubles-two-lifelong-levis-fans-in-japan/

 

Edit: Might as well mention that my blog is fixed now! http://indigoveins.com/ And in dire need of updates, haha. 

Edited by Bobbo
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better unsanforized projectile denim for STF would be fine (maybe even better than selvedge would end up)... something closer to 80s/90s/early 2000s STF. the problem i have with levi’s is the same i have with pretty much all cone denim - streaky non-uniform indigo that looks sanforized even when it isn’t.

it shouldn’t be hard to make a projectile denim with a uniform(ish) indigo and a nice subtle texture (not artificial looking vertical slub without the horizontal to balance it out). add some nice puckering/marbling you see with just about every older pair of levi’s with projectile denim and i have a very hard time believing they wouldn’t sell. all of the “vintage” levi’s people buy in shops these days is projectile and you have a pretty much endless supply of mills to utilize... not to mention the additional flexibility when it comes to tapering.

if i had the know-how i would try to produce jeans like this (japan-market could have tabs and maybe even arcs like full count/warehouse). i know i would pay $100 for a pair like that and even a smaller scale company could prob sell a little lower (levi’s lower than half that).

 

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Any superdenim friendly brands make a good lightweight rain jacket? Don’t need it to be super waterproof or anything technical really, just need something lightweight and water resistant. I really like the Colombo Maximilian parka but can’t find it in my size anywhere.

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@wavehead You make a really interesting point. I would love to have a fairly affordable jeans option made from a fabric with a similar texture to, say, Full Count, which could be an unsanforized shrink-to-fit fabric that wasn't selvedge and had enough character to give some good fades, but nothing too crazy. (Obviously, a denim like Full Count makes is done with Zimbabwe cotton which is a bit more obscure/pricy, but you know what I mean.) 

If somebody figured out how to make a high-quality, affordable pair of jeans that omitted some of the obscure details (hidden rivets, etc.) that could be a better gateway option than the current Levi's STF or Unbranded stuff. Even better if you found a way to produce it ethically.

 

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On 5/7/2019 at 7:11 PM, Broark said:

Any superdenim friendly brands make a good lightweight rain jacket? Don’t need it to be super waterproof or anything technical really, just need something lightweight and water resistant. I really like the Colombo Maximilian parka but can’t find it in my size anywhere.

I recently bought aa North Face rain shell. It's pretty great. Super light and keeps water away. I bought it on ebay so didn't have to pay retail but I quite like it.

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Of interest to anyone who's been eyeing this or that on Yahoo: looks like Buyee's running a no-service-fees promotion for the next couple of weeks that should save like $5 or $6 per auction

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