Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[Dr_Heech]

1 minute ago, Maynard Friedman said:

Charlie, my office attire is wear whatever you want - shorts, tatty jeans, trainers, work boots, man buns, suit, chinos - all very informal, or formal if that’s your thing. Well, it was when I last went into my office - in Feb 2020 . I’ve been working from home since then, so mainly wearing a mankini!

Also, @mondo‘s “far away from retail” comment likely means as far away from retail price as possible, ie as cheap as possible! 

Nice to know, a very forward thinking work place.  So you can wear jeans to an office but not to my line of work which dictates workwear. Smart-casual is my industries preferred choice unfortunately. 

Thanks for helping out with @mondo's comment. TBH l'm just lazy these days, my Mrs gets all my tees/vest tops and boxers from Primarni as she's a regular consumer of cheap goods (and her sister has a 2 year old so grows out of stuff overnight). I buy some stuff on ebay. My socks have been Holeproof brand socks for the last 20 years, they wear like iron. Everything else l got plenty of - jackets, shirts, sweats and jeans. So apart from Tesco for ale and snacks, l'm good.

 

[julian-wolf]

2 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

l wonder what brands that we discuss here would have trousers or shorts that start off black, but with a liitle work can look 'vintage'?

Sassafras is the first that comes to mind—they have many great shorts options in all sorts of fabrics—but I know Ues has done their duck shorts in black, as well (the fade photos that I've seen look great)

[Maynard Friedman]

I think TCB make shorts that may fulfill your requirements specification.

[Duke Mantee]

2 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

I like wear/patina so always look for black stuff that has fade to red/brown possibilities 

This got me thinking, l wonder what brands that we discuss here would have trousers or shorts that start off black, but with a liitle work can look 'vintage'?

The majority of FW blacks are red based so they normally get to that vintage colouring you like - there’s a couple of exceptions, and when they say charcoal it’s most definitely brown, but I think they use the red base for exactly the reason you’re discussing mate

[Dr_Heech]

Thanks chaps @julian-wolf, @Maynard Friedman and @Duke Mantee

Something to whet my appetite. 

 

[mondo]

Ah, yes, @Dr_Heech my "retail" comment was just intended to mean that I have never purchased shorts at full price, preferring to get them from second-hand stores (there's a surprising amount of unworn, decent stuff, particularly if I'm after nondescript but presentable work clothes with enough brand recognition factor to impress those whose opinions aren't of real interest.. Nautica, Gant, RL, Boss etc), or occasionally eBay (some decent Engineered Garments and Stevenson Overall fatigue shorts come to mind). Otherwise, Mrs Mondo will sometimes furnish me with shorts she finds acceptable – e.g. the previously mentioned Carhartt, but they seldom retain the qualities she's seeking past the event for which she purchased them.

My one exception was for a pair of FW HBT "cut length" military shorts, which at 20% off were still a bit rich for my blood – but they've become my default item of clothing, worn whenever I'm not wearing something else and definitely to work (school teacher) if the weather's warm or on sport days.

For work, I find that EG have quite a few items in dark colours that age well – I've only had experience with navy, but the same shade in a light cotton ripstop develops differently to a heavy twill, so it's feasible to put together a "suit" that will be interpreted as a nod to formality while still feeling lived-in and actually having some functional pockets for whiteboard markers, unwieldy bunches of keys, whatever items I've had to confiscate on the fly (generally phones, which are not getting any smaller, are they). I tend to go to town in the hat department for school – they're needed for sport or duty, and nobody knows or cares that they're all made from WWII-era shelter halves and may have helped some poor sod evade notice in a former life (as I often try to do in this one) – sometimes they come to the attention of sharp-eyed students with Autism Spectrum Disorder who have a special interest in camouflage patterns; then we can geek out and I get to tell myself it's a teachable moment, but really it's just fun to talk to anyone who is enthusiastic about something, whatever it may be.

[MJF9]

On 7/13/2022 at 7:52 PM, Cold Summer said:

basically all just offering the same thing

A bit late to this...

I see much variation e.g. Freewheelers multiple overalls / Tender 132s etc / Tatsunosuke's military chinos / At Last Lot 147s / the list goes on... that's before even getting to the stuff more commonly seen on Sufu

There'll seem like little variation if the scope of view is narrow (btw, I'm not using narrow negatively, preference is preference which is all good)

That variation in styles is before even getting to variations between years...

Which is before even getting to variations within the year 

e.g. I'm still waiting for CSF to make the 1946 Type 1 2nd half... never mind the skullduggery, the fvcker has left me hanging with only a 1st half

[Maynard Friedman]

“All that classical/jazz/dance/rap/heavy metal/indie/rock/<insert any genre of music you may not like or be unfamiliar with here> all sounds the same to me” said most young people’s dads at some point.

[Dr_Heech]

2 hours ago, MJF9 said:

..

e.g. I'm still waiting for CSF to make the 1946 Type 1 2nd half... never mind the skullduggery, the fvcker has left me hanging with only a 1st half

 

You'll be waiting a long time for that, and if it does get made then you'll have to jump through all the various lottery hoops, sign a no resale agreement and pay roughly 40% mark up on what they used to cost (which was astronomical), only to find historical inaccuracies and inaccurate/inconsistent sizing issues a'plenty.  

Talking of CSF, l'm getting my WW2 Specials (#24 in the 501XX book/bf's old pair) finally hemmed next weekend fingers crossed. Soo chuffed as it's been a pre-pandemic wish to do so. Shame as the roping is strong but whatever, it'll come back on the new hem.  Just don't want too many cuffed pairs these days. Here's hoping Soas can do it but just in case, is there anywhere else in London doing chainstitching on old machines?

Calling @Maynard Friedman 

Edited July 16, 2022 by Dr_Heech

[Maynard Friedman]

I use Rivet & Hide these days Charlie, just because it’s more convenient to get to. Quality is the same I reckon.

[Dr_Heech]

Just now, Maynard Friedman said:

I use Rivet & Hide these days Charlie, just because it’s more convenient to get to. Quality is the same I reckon.

Thanks bud, I'll check them out online and see if it's more convenient transport wise for us.

 

[Maynard Friedman]

May also be worth checking the turnaround times if you’re just down for the weekend Chas. In my experience SoaS has been quicker than R&H.

[Geeman]

36 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

May also be worth checking the turnaround times if you’re just down for the weekend Chas. In my experience SoaS has been quicker than R&H.

Drop them in at R+H , pick up next day no problem.

I use them all the time, drop in or post. 

[Dr_Heech]

22 minutes ago, Geeman said:

Drop them in at R+H , pick up next day no problem.

I use them all the time, drop in or post. 

Thanks but will want to have them hemmed while l wait. Will check em both out prior to friday and take it from there.

[MJF9]

@Dr_Heech Soldier Blue are also spot on (they have a relationship with SoaS)

Yep that CSF comment was in jest - I’d swerve them as a non starter for them reasons indeed

[Geeman]

12 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

Thanks but will want to have them hemmed while l wait. Will check em both out prior to friday and take it from there.

They have done that a couple times for me, drop them a line in advance 

[Dr_Heech]

Good information. Thanks @Geeman

[MJF9]

Buaisou are branching out... wonder if we need to buy now before prices rocket

 

 

 

 

[Maynard Friedman]

Jimmy Choo’s (indigo-dyed) blue suede shoes?

[Broark]

Saw that the other day and thought it was a really strange collaboration...

[ATWM]

They did a really weird nike collaboration awhile back and had some pretty gaudy adverts to go with it. Given some of their projects I don't really think of them in the denim world, but more like just really into indigo and any sort of art that could go with that. Not a fan of all of it but I like seeing them try stuff that falls outside the whole heritage thing. 

[MJF9]

The indigo is beautifully done so I'm not surprised the appeal is wider.  Pretty sure those Jimmy Choo blue shoes wouldn't go with a pair of S601XX though!

[julian-wolf]

They've been doing dyeing for bigger fashion-oriented brands for a while, haven't they? I don't think this signals any change. The prices are already high enough that there's not much of anywhere they could skyrocket to…

[MJF9]

I also doubt the prices will go even higher but would never rule it out.  I only looked very briefly recently and noticed some 'luxury' brand t-shirts are over 5x the price.  

[ATWM]

Their jeans are very prohibitive but their knits, while objectively expensive are pretty in line and even more affordable than some of the brands that are favored here - so yeah, it could get worse - I am thinking of Cottle, which prices their knits noticeably higher (but have a much greater variety). I got my thermal as a one off - it filled a spot for me, but it's not like they offer much variety and not many people I know are looking for whole collections of blue shirts...even here!

[JDelage]

I have one of their indigo tee. The price was reasonable (that is, compared to other made-in-Japan indigo tees...) IIRC everything is (beautifully) garment dyed though.

[Dr_Heech]

Wtf!?! 

 

 

Never thought in a thousand years that l would see silver tab make a comeback. 

Edited July 29, 2022 by Dr_Heech

[julian-wolf]

1853??

[Dr_Heech]

1 minute ago, julian-wolf said:

1853??

1853 is the start date of LS&Co, when the business took off l think.

[julian-wolf]

I had no idea! Any insight as to why that isn’t the date that’s referenced on the “for over xx years“ tags? Are those specific to the 501? The rivet patent seems to take so much precedence in most discourse that I guess I just assumed the founding of the company was at around the same time

Edited July 29, 2022 by julian-wolf