Conners Sewing Factory

[Maynard Friedman]

4 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

Alternatively, l've got an industrial staple-gun in my garage. Send them to me @dudewuttheheck and (Bosh!  Bosh!) .. I'll have it done in a jiffy  

If you were a British child of a certain era, you’ll know that double-sided sticky tape is the correct method. Here’s one I made earlier… 

[Duke Mantee]

59 minutes ago, Maynard Friedman said:

If you were a British child of a certain era, you’ll know that double-sided sticky tape is the correct method. Here’s one I made earlier… 

 

[Fooleo]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CS69V-Bp8V8/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Dropping there here since it is irrelevant.. 

I know CSF does not have a reputation for being the kindest or most approachable brand, but this is seriously wack... 

For anyone who might not have been following, a vintage enthusiast from HK put 2 years into producing this english language guide to Levi's Jackets only for Konaka to threaten to sue him and insist he take it down to preserve his own image, and prevent anyone else from gaining knowledge he somehow feels that he is the only one allowed to possess..

Edited August 23, 2021 by Fooleo

[Iron Horse]

I saw that on Instagram but it’s unclear why Konaka claimed that; something about using photos from eBay listings that CSF went on to win?

Edit: It’s been clarified and it was along the same lines, just not eBay but a different auction house. Either way, not a legally sound move at all by CSF, AFAIK owning an item or photo doesn’t actually transfer copyright ownership. 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Iron Horse

[dudewuttheheck]

9 hours ago, youngofthesoonest said:

If I’m understanding this discussion correctly, it seems like those jeans are completely ruined and unwearable. Send them my way and I’ll properly dispose of them for you. 

I think we might be a similar size now too, so I'm extra worried if you're still down in LA...

[Broark]

@Fooleo reading that really pisses me off. That’s really disappointing.
I heard some other stuff recently that put me off CSF, but but this just kinda reinforces it I guess. One less customer, not that it matters too much, he’ll be fine.
Just lame that in such a small community you’re going to get your Jimmy’s rustled over a guy’s passion project meant to spread knowledge...

[julian-wolf]

So…does anyone have a copy of the guide? Is this the one that was posted a few months ago in some or other thread here?

[Broark]

14 minutes ago, julian-wolf said:

So…does anyone have a copy of the guide? Is this the one that was posted a few months ago in some or other thread here?

I have a copy of the one that was posted on Denimbro a little while ago.

[Fooleo]

19 minutes ago, julian-wolf said:

So…does anyone have a copy of the guide? Is this the one that was posted a few months ago in some or other thread here?

He put out an abbreviated version like a year ago, but just released the final version about a week ago which is a few hundred pages long and much more in depth. 

Just PM me if you're interested, happy to email it to you. 

(FWIW he states in the preface; 

"Knowledge has not been the most transparent thing in the vintage community, especially among resellers and buyers. Rookies can be fooled easily if not careful enough or mistrust a person. I am a believer of knowledge is meant to be shared and this is the most important reason why I started this project. " 

So I don't think he would mind too much if it is still shared so long as it is not "public") 

[Duke Mantee]

Wow, Yoshiaki really does make the best Levi’s … they even come complete with the same litigious attitude 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Duke Mantee

[Flash]

Not a good look on Yoshiaki at all 

@Fooleo id contact denimseeker directly before you share the book , im pretty sure he asked that it not to be shared incase it causes more trouble for him 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Flash

[Iron Horse]

Yeah I talked to denim seeker and he says he deleted the book and doesn’t seem keen on sharing it for the time being. That said I think legally he’ll be more than OK, I don’t see him being successfully sued for this.

He posted this FWIW:

 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Iron Horse

[dudewuttheheck]

That seems really low from Yoshiaki...

[silencejoe]

It remine me what happen to Devis 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I'm with that one dude on IG: claiming copyright issues of these pictures but doing repros of Levi's jeans (with red tabs and sometimes with arcs) is quite hypocritical

[conqueror]

what a petty loser, even moreso when you consider the dude's entire business is essentially based on copying others. reminds me a bit of full count going after TCB, which is another ridiculous case and made me stop supporting FC altogether. i wish DS stood his ground.

edited because i can't type. libel case when?

Edited August 24, 2021 by conqueror

[Flash]

I love my conners items for what they are but after this i have lost a fair bit of respect for konaka san , I always thought they were so engaged in the community and would love to see something like this being done 

[Broark]

For anyone keeping score, this isn't the first time something like this has happened. I have a feeling it won't be the last.
Like Duke mentioned seems the Levi's ethos is starting to run a little too deep. I don't think this kerfuffle is winning him any fans either personally.
Below is basically an apology letter, which I'm guessing stemmed from the threat of legal action to Bridge of the Times from Konaka.
It's funny because he mentions that Konaka helped him set up his business to begin with...

 

[Flash]

Anyone care to translate ? 

[Broark]

4 minutes ago, Flash said:

Anyone care to translate ? 

This is what comes out of google translate: “Apology This time, I apologize to Mr. Yoshiaki Konaka of CSF "Connors Sewing Factory".  As described below, I have continued to lose money against Mr. Konaka, and as a result I have lost the trust of Mr. Konaka.  It was Mr. Konaka of CSF who gave me the opportunity to launch B.0.T.  I went to Shiga, where Mr. Konaka is starting a business, in order to ask Mr. Konaka for advice when starting a B.O.T business.  Mr. Konaka made arrangements for sewing machines and fabric threads for me, who was thinking of starting a business.  The location of the current workshop was also decided by having Mr. Konaka push his back.  He also talked about what he should not do when running a clothing sales business and the morals of the industry.  Simply put, "Don't imitate people. You have to value your originality."  However, I ignored Mr. Konaka's management advice, developed a product that easily scrutinized CSF, and trampled on the "belief in work" that Mr. Konaka and his colleagues value.  Despite receiving repeated attention from Mr. Konaka, he proceeded with his own self-centeredness, and without noticing that it hurt Mr. Konaka's heart, he moved only by his own thoughts. rice field.  As a result, I was isolated from Mr. Konaka.  However, even though it was recorded, I continued to develop products that imitated CSF, and the production stance also imitated Mr. Konaka.  I'm really sorry to Mr. Konaka and everyone at CSF.  We would like to take this opportunity to deeply apologize.”

[Flash]

I heard about this a while back  ( edited ) , stuff like this is a bit more grey and you would need to understand exactly what happened to make a judgement..... the denimseeker thing is plain as day though and Yoshiaki is wrong 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Flash

[Broark]

If that’s the case then totally fair, I thought it was more so about the product that BoT offers. That’s a bit more of a grey area indeed.
But in the same breath, couldn’t Konaka just say this about anyone making a similar product (war era reproduction jeans)? He certainly doesn’t own that intellectual property. Just a bit of a slippery slope, and to me it seems like he doesn’t want anyone else to have a piece of the vintage repro pie…

[Flash]

I haven't got all the details so I probably shouldn't have spoke on that in any detail so ill edit my post 

[conqueror]

i saw what you wrote, @Flash. i took screenshots and forwarded them as necessary. you will be hearing from CSF's legal team shortly.

Edited August 24, 2021 by conqueror

[Broark]

1 minute ago, conqueror said:

you will be hearing from CSF's legal team shortly.

We're all on notice. 

[Flash]

13 minutes ago, Broark said:

If that’s the case then totally fair, I thought it was more so about the product that BoT offers. That’s a bit more of a grey area indeed.
But in the same breath, couldn’t Konaka just say this about anyone making a similar product (war era reproduction jeans)? He certainly doesn’t own that intellectual property. Just a bit of a slippery slope, and to me it seems like he doesn’t want anyone else to have a piece of the vintage repro pie…

Don't necessarily agree with everything here but in the same vein i don't think Yoshiaki is worth defending because of the recent issue 

[Maynard Friedman]

You’ve got to wonder whether the various CSF fanboys on this forum - and there are plenty, we know who you are(!) - were supplying CSF with info and informing on anyone they could in order to secure reduced waiting times for their jeans 

[unders]

Poor show CSF. More attaching red tabs and less litigation please. 

[Fooleo]

17 hours ago, Flash said:

Not a good look on Yoshiaki at all 

@Fooleo id contact denimseeker directly before you share the book , im pretty sure he asked that it not to be shared incase it causes more trouble for him 

I was also a bit concerned about the same so I reached out to him via IG DM after posting. His position is that basically he has done everything within his power to protect himself and "officially discourage" anyone from sharing, however he has "no power to stop  " anyone doing whatever happens with the file after. He also emphasized that it is "not a commercial book, just a file he would like to share with friends" 

Edited August 24, 2021 by Fooleo

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

Ok, I'm not sure what compelled me to go down this rabbit hole as I personally have never had any interest in CSF (the old front page photograph of the site was enough to put me off permanently)...but what's the actual issue here? The proprietor is pissed off that photos of auction items he won are published as references in a fan's collectors guide? But they are pictures he didn't even take? 

Granted, I am not a lawyer but I'm pretty familiar with photography laws in the US and the UK but how on earth is this a legally salient argument, and how is the publisher of this ebook actually in any trouble? Like where is the CSF owner actually making some sort of IP claim...over what exactly? Generally you need to be the one who made the photograph to have any claim, and even then, it's gonna get tough for you if the photograph is only in the context of an image (like an ebay screenshot) that is assembled for something like a reference, or satire, or other what are considered fair uses. Is the law that different in Japan?

And then yea - the idea that anyone treasures IP to this degree when they making their business off what are essentially high end repros (we could say counterfeits, knock offs, bootlegs) is pretty funny shit. If I cared enough I would ask that someone please, please send me this thing and I make a wetransfer upload of it possibly with an addendum of a middle finger over a CSF logo as the front page.