Denim Blunders, Reflections and General Nonsense.

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, ColonelAngus said:

I don’t baby my clothes either. I have a pair of shorts from a Japanese brand, who shall remain nameless

 

45 minutes ago, AlientoyWorkmachine said:

Why keep them nameless?

Hello Kitty?

[UkeNo]

3 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

 

Hello Kitty?

My money’s on it being McCoys

Edited June 5, 2023 by UkeNo

[Maynard Friedman]

^ Yonex 

[Duke Mantee]

Japanese brands aren’t better - we just inhabit a place where we choose to believe that. We choose because it allows us to be part of a group.

Some Japanese products are very very good, some less so. Some American products are very good, and some American businesses are desperate to service this market sector so use Japanese materials. The same might be said of businesses in other countries including Japan, where they often use materials from other countries.

It’s interesting to hear what folk think,  and every opinion has some validity, but what I have grown to dislike about the debate is the clichéd language and the narrow range of comparisons.

I think it needs to be asked what is really meant by ‘Made in Japan’; I think the debate needs to take a broader view; I think if anyone is genuinely interested, the research should be more meaningful … and from a personal point of view, “rugged”, “raw”, “teacore” and every other related word used in that context should be subject to a word filter by the forum - cliché control if you like.

[Double 0 Soul]

There was a time when i would have contributed towards this discussion (it's a very good subject) but.. i honestly don't care anymore, that ship has sailed, i can't even feign interst..

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

1 hour ago, Duke Mantee said:

Japanese brands aren’t better - we just inhabit a place where we choose to believe that. We choose because it allows us to be part of a group.

Some Japanese products are very very good, some less so. Some American products are very good, and some American businesses are desperate to service this market sector so use Japanese materials. The same might be said of businesses in other countries including Japan, where they often use materials from other countries.

It’s interesting to hear what folk think,  and every opinion has some validity, but what I have grown to dislike about the debate is the clichéd language and the narrow range of comparisons.

I think it needs to be asked what is really meant by ‘Made in Japan’; I think the debate needs to take a broader view; I think if anyone is genuinely interested, the research should be more meaningful … and from a personal point of view, “rugged”, “raw”, “teacore” and every other related word used in that context should be subject to a word filter by the forum - cliché control if you like.

I have a friend who works logistics in the the auto industry in nearby Detroit. There's a certain segment of Detroiters who look down on "foreign" vehicles. He went on tell me that the GM car he had recently purchased (General Motors is one of the big three auto companies based in Detroit, and an acceptable brand badge amongst the people he was referring to) was assembled in China. It came over on a boat and then trucked from Seattle to Detroit. Meanwhile the Toyotas that don't pass muster are actually assembled in Tennessee. All of the cars, no matter where assembled, are a mishmash of parts from all over the globe, and it was only getting more complicated. His conclusion at the end of it was that it makes no sense because "There is no such thing as Made in America." Implied was that the correlation of provenance with quality was also a fool's errand as he'd chosen to buy a car that was made in China. 

As for what Made in Japan means - for me I tend mean something along the lines of "woven, designed and assembled in" - but as I stipulated above, the Japanese stuff I mostly gravitate towards really just come from a certain subset of brands that have been filtered to me through various retailers that I tend to associate with something along the lines of reinterpreting certain vintage American products that were considered unremarkable, ubiquitous and generally unpretentious (this really means to me blue jeans, jackets, sweat/t/waffleknit wear/military-esque standard issue) with a level of obsessive detail and with materials that I can't currently find in America - or if I can - at a price point that is better. 

 

[ColonelAngus]

6 hours ago, AlientoyWorkmachine said:

Why keep them nameless?

Because I happen to still like the brand and own many pieces from them. In the case of the shorts, that could’ve been an outlier. I just don’t think naming them on a public forum is productive. I’ll gladly name brands I dislike though lol

[ColonelAngus]

2 hours ago, UkeNo said:

My money’s on it being McCoys

Thankfully, no. I’ve read enough bad reviews of McCoy’s quality control that I wouldn’t waste a dime on their stuff

[indigoeagle]

I still think, Japan is different from the situation in say EU and US due to their tariffs.
Japan has been protective for decades of its markets through tariffs and also "non tariff trade barriers".
Of particular importance seems to be the protection of agriculture, especially rice.

While economic theory postulates that with free trade all over the world (achieved through the well known free trade agreements of the various acronyms) everyone benefits, it seems that Japan is doing quite fine.
Plus nowadays we have the questions, whether it makes sense to a) ship spare parts and goods back and forth around the world and b) do we want to become dependent of other countries with regard to agricultural, industrial and pharmaceutical products etc.?

[Duke Mantee]

35 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

There was a time when i would have contributed towards this discussion (it's a very good subject) but.. i honestly don't care anymore, that ship has sailed, i can't even feign interst..

I don’t care so much now either - too rugged for my liking

[Flash]

Does anyone know of any used denim shops in Tokyo ? , im not talking vintage I'm looking for repro stuff thats been worn in . I've came to the realisation that I'm a bit sick of wearing super dark denim day in day out ( only jeans I wear now is my old faded conners ) so buying used could be a way to get some variety 

[Double 0 Soul]

Find used jeans for sale on Rakuten.. this will point you to the vintage shops where they're stocked.

[Cold Summer]

You can also look on Yahoo Auctions Japan, you can find a lot of good-condition, worn pairs on there for popular brands like Warehouse, Full Count, etc.

[Double 0 Soul]

^I'd hazard a guess that flash is on his way to Tokyo and fancies a rummage around some vintage shops for nicely worn repro denim.

[Flash]

7 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

^I'd hazard a guess that flash is on his way to Tokyo and fancies a rummage around some vintage shops for nicely worn repro denim.

Hit the nail on the head mate 

[Double 0 Soul]

Some here.. https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/shopping/vintage-tokyo-top-20

and here.. https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/tokyo-best-vintage-store-guide-woolrich/

[julian-wolf]

54 minutes ago, Double 0 Soul said:

^I'd hazard a guess that flash is on his way to Tokyo and fancies a rummage around some vintage shops for nicely worn repro denim.

Still, same applies here as with your Rakuten recommendation—many of the big resellers on Yahoo seem to correspond to brick & mortar storefronts 

[CSL]

On 6/5/2023 at 1:48 PM, ColonelAngus said:

Thankfully, no. I’ve read enough bad reviews of McCoy’s quality control that I wouldn’t waste a dime on their stuff

I guess we all heard about Double O's disintegrating jeans. Then again I have a ton of McCoys stuff that I've never had an issue with. I'm curious to know what other negative stuff you've heard.

[Double 0 Soul]

^^Is that guy still around 'No Boots, No Life' he used to have some nice stuffs..

Edited June 7, 2023 by Double 0 Soul

[Double 0 Soul]

1 minute ago, CSL said:

I guess we all heard about Double O's disintegrating jeans. Then again I have a ton of McCoys stuff that I've never had an issue with. I'm curious to know what other negative stuff you've heard.

Ooms disintegrating shorts.. Unders disintegrating jeans.. Ben's collapsing engineer boots.. and so on

[Maynard Friedman]

^ Half of my pack of ridge cut chilli McCoys were just crumbs and powder

[CSL]

8 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Ooms disintegrating shorts.. Unders disintegrating jeans.. Ben's collapsing engineer boots.. and so on

Thanks for elaborating, Double O. I hope it didn't sound like I was having a dig at you. Your RMC jeans experience just happens to be the first thing that comes to mind when that subject comes up.

 

7 hours ago, Maynard Friedman said:

^ Half of my pack of ridge cut chilli McCoys were just crumbs and powder

Now that's a true outrage!

Edited June 8, 2023 by CSL

[Double 0 Soul]

2 hours ago, CSL said:

Thanks for elaborating, Double O. I hope it didn't sound like I was having a dig at you. Your RMC jeans experience just happens to be the first thing that comes to mind when that subject comes up.

I was quite vocal about it 

[mlwdp]

USPS Reddit is now marked as private. Can’t see the board anymore.  I take it that the I-95 recent closure is going to be affecting a lot of USA shipments unless I’m wrong.

[JDelage]

A bunch of subreddits did a 48hr "strike" to protest the recent API changes at Reddit.

[Geeman]

5 hours ago, JDelage said:

A bunch of subreddits did a 48hr "strike" to protest the recent API changes at Reddit.

Mate, I don't understand a word of this.

[Maynard Friedman]

20 minutes ago, Geeman said:

Mate, I don't understand a word of this.

I’ve translated it to Brummie for you:

Uh bounch of soubredditts did uh 48 hower "stroike" to protist the reecent API chainges at Redditt.

[Geeman]

Aaaah. Perfectly clear now, thank you. 

Apart from subbreddit and API.....?

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

5 hours ago, Geeman said:

Aaaah. Perfectly clear now, thank you. 

Apart from subbreddit and API.....?

consider yourself blessed and move on with your happy life if you don't know what that means. 

[Talan]

10 hours ago, Geeman said:

Aaaah. Perfectly clear now, thank you. 

Apart from subbreddit and API.....?

The same here.