INTEREST CHECK: Next Competition? - POLLS ARE FOR REAL CLOSED NOW!

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, PBTony said:

As much as Rebuilt would be great the 15 pairs will mean a few disappointment folk. I imagine I'm probably one of the newest members here so I'm sure 15 members would deserve a spot over me.

For sure.. if it’s anything like Denimbro.. they’ll all be given to Maynard, b_F, Bandit.. Mike Harris et al 

[Jared_Lee]

I can volunteer to not take a rebuilt pair from the 15. I was most interested in the Hendrix Park option for 24 months. Happy to sit out a rebuilt contest with the availability limitation.

[Broark]

41 minutes ago, julian-wolf said:

Out of curiosity, how did (or didn’t) this correlate with brand choice? It wouldn’t be surprising if folks hoping for for a Hendrix Park tux would’ve been more likely to swing towards 36 months, and I wonder if those votes would be more likely to swing towards 24 months and tip the scales when predicated on Rebuilt or Little Hand being the more likely winner

This is a good question and something that I was wondering as well. Below are all 40 responses for 1st place and how they correlate to contest length preference.
You can see some correlation, as you suggested someone voting for 24-36 months was more likely to choose HP (only 1 vote for 18 months and none for 12 months). 
Little hand and Rebuilt both received an equal number of 18 month votes (5). Rebuilt received the most 24 month votes (6), while surprisingly receiving no 36 month votes.

Opening up this data set to include both 1st and 2nd place votes for each brand is also interesting.

[space_cowboy]

1 hour ago, Jared_Lee said:

I can volunteer to not take a rebuilt pair from the 15. I was most interested in the Hendrix Park option for 24 months. Happy to sit out a rebuilt contest with the availability limitation.

Hendrix Park for 36 was my #1

[ATWM]

3 hours ago, Jared_Lee said:

I can volunteer to not take a rebuilt pair from the 15. I was most interested in the Hendrix Park option for 24 months. Happy to sit out a rebuilt contest with the availability limitation.

X2, although my vote was Tender at 18 months…which I would happily switch to 24 to be honest. 

[JohnM]

The good news for Rebuilt fans is that there were less than 15 first place votes.  That said, if it's a Rebuilt + Little Hand contest, some of those who preferred Tender or Hendrix Park may also want a Rebuilt pair.

[Mtvare]

Little Hand was my second choice after Tender so I'd be up for a secondary LH contest alongside the 15 for Rebuilt.

[MJF9]

Quelle surprise Rodney... a 5-pocket 18-month speed-fading contest winning the day... (and so says a 36 month non-5-pocket voter )

OK thoughts on Austin's 3 scenarios...

I can't see Rebuilt flying solo for just 15 entrants.  The last comp got 26, 40 voted in this so even with drop outs, 15 aint enough

Rebuilt v LH clearly has the highest combined score... 

... but more interesting (imo) is a 5-pocket v non-5-pocket contest... i.e. 1 contest, 1 thread, different denims, same start / end date... that should bring greater entrants... which should help Sufu overall which has to be a key objective

Re Tender, Bill said they're on the way to stores... so would be good to know what the options are  

Duration... there's an argument that those who voted for 36 months should be added to the 24 months pile which would give 24 months 46% and a clear win!!!

It feels like another vote along the lines of Austin's 3 scenarios is needed to finalise... 

[julian-wolf]

2 hours ago, MJF9 said:

there's an argument that those who voted for 36 months should be added to the 24 months pile which would give 24 months 46% and a clear win!!!

Yep, the math checks out

[reallypeacedoff]

Yup, voted for 36 months so 24 months would also be good on my end. For this comp, I wouldn't want to do anything under.

I think I voted Rebuilt/LB as #1, however, if 15 people need/want their jeans, I'm happy to jump into the LH camp too. 

[Josh'N'Roll]

Thank you, Austin, for all the work contacting jean makers, securing contest options, administering the poll, and posting the results. There are some exciting potential contest combinations given what people voted for.

I'm in for either of the 5-pocket options and agree with MJF9 that a 5-pocket vs non 5-pocket showdown would be cool. It's likely the only way to determine true denim pant supremacy.

I voted for Rebuilt/LB as my top option and would love to wear a pair for the contest. However, I will go with the flow if Little Hand ends up being the 5-pocket option. 

I haven't participated in a contest before and am stoked about this one. 

 

[eeejayaich]

Amending my previous position. We voted Rebuilt as the winner. I say we move forward with the 15 pairs distributed via lottery. We knew going into the vote that this was a possible outcome and we kept them as an option. Let the vote stand. My 2 cents. 

Edited September 2 by eeejayaich

[Double 0 Soul]

How did this denim contest become so complicated .. it’s like watching the RI Christmas lectures 

[julian-wolf]

Split contest between wildly different styles seems like a stretch. I’d be up for LH vs. LB if they agreed to do similar models, but otherwise I think it’ll be a pass from me (although I remain quite biased in that if there was any opportunity for me to get in on a pair of standard ‘40s or ‘50s jeans from LB it would be tough to pass up)

[mlwdp]

Speaking of Little Hand, they got celebrities backing them now (Jason Momoa) according to their recent instagram post.

[Double 0 Soul]

One step away from a Shia LaBeouf collab..

[julian-wolf]

Is that meant to be a mark for LH, or against them?

[CSL]

I would imagine part of  Jason M  backing them has to do with getting a pair made to his body specs (and I don't blame him a bit).

I recall a while back someone was knocking how his Freewheelers leather jacket didn't fit well. Those full on body building physiques require special tailoring. 

[bartlebyyphonics]

5 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

Is that meant to be a mark for LH, or against them?

Unfortunately he is making me steer well away from this event (as I would take a little hand to open up a rebuilt spot) ... Aquaman is just no...

[ATWM]

Eh, the product is the product. I don’t think it speaks one way or another to what LH actually makes - other than that another denim head is into it. Big surprise! There are worse actors out there for something like this. My kid loves him in Minecraft and that’s enough for me to not cringe at wearing the same maker of pants he has. He doesn’t seem to take himself too seriously.

At any rate, there’s definitely someone I may not get on with in the world wearing the same brand of pants I am on any given day. It’s okay. I still like the pants. 

Edited September 4 by ATWM

[Double 0 Soul]

It's nvr good for the culture when millionaire celebrity types buy into it.. but it's not necesseraily them who do the damage.. when i used to be part of the aircooled vdub scene.. it was mainly working class peeps struggling to keep their daily drivers on the road while attending whatever VW festival you could limp your car to.. drag racing by day, bmx vert and raving by night.. the Prodigy used to play Bug Jam long before they troubled the charts with Charly.

There was always a few VW's for sale.. the same Samba would be for sale every year for a crazy price of £10k my microbus cost £3k.. as beautiful as it was.. you'd have to be a total bell end to buy it but eventually that bell end came along in the form of Jamie Oliver who bought it.. not because he was a VW enthusiast just because he though it would make him look dope.. within the next few years a whole swathe of middle class wankers bought into the scene forcing the prices up.. the following years saw the split screen bus prices rise well beyond £65k putting them out of the reach of the enthusiasts.. the whole scene changes.. gone were the strobes and £3 greasy burgers, replaced by organic quinoa and mood lighting.

[ATWM]

For what it’s worth, which probably isn’t much, Momoa has been featuring Sufu appropriate or adjacent denim etc for years, even when I was on IG a good while back. Dude is clearly legitimately into the stuff, enough so that I wouldn’t be shocked if he’d lurked here in the past. AFAIK I don’t think that’s really blown up or ruined any of the makers he’s touted.

He’s also a big fan of Leicas, a stupid affliction which I share, which I honestly would love to ditch in many ways, but goes back far enough that I just can’t seem to. Leica has a whole cast of people I’d love to never be associated with in the material realm, but still, nobody makes what they make. 

But if LH wants to start charging $800 a pair because of this (and I’ve no reason to suspect that or anything, just hypothetically), unlike with Leica, there are lots of alternatives.

[MJF9]

Interest in denim seems to be growing by many means. Here’s but one example of a collab I saw just now

Edited September 4 by MJF9

[julian-wolf]

That somehow feels like JW and CSF both simultaneously jumping the shark

[shredwin_206]

You may not like Momoa but you’ve got to respect his passion for cool stuff. 
My buddy’s works for one of the best vintage guitar shops in the US and has sold Jason some incredible instruments. He’s actually a pretty decent musician. Also my kids know him as the garbage man from Minecraft haha 
 

[JohnM]

Given my initials and this discussion, I thought this was an opportune time to finally reveal to all of you that I am, in fact, the real Jason Mamoa, lurking here in disguise as JohnM and pretending to be an old, bald dude with too many pairs of jeans.  But the fact that I am the latter is all too obvious, as I think Double 0 pointed out (wisely) years ago.  Plus, Jason is 6'4", 230 pounds, so it's probably best to forget this idea.

[Double 0 Soul]

Speaking of bellends.. Elton John did the same procuring his photograph collection.. at the time he admittedly didn’t know the difference between a vintage photograph and a Pokemon card.. but his husband did and between the two of them amassed a massive collection in a ‘pfft.. name your price I’m Elton John kinda strategy..’

There was genuine vintage photograph collectors who’d been into the hobby for 30+yrs complaining that not only had he forced the price beyond their means but he’d removed a massive amount of trade from the market.. these photos were bought for pence.. sometimes pounds and traded with other collectors.. who knew what each other had in their Pokédex / photodex.

and as we move away from the subject of bellends  ..I think I accidentally did the same thing by moving the m-series archives from a DB sub forum to sufu.. those jeans used to be £80 tops.. nowadays Japanese sellers are asking closer to £500 sometimes even £1k because they type the product code into google and find a whole community of monied idiots .

[Mtvare]

I've nothing against Jason Momoa but I've a lot against celebrity culture, so it's a big black mark against LH for me. Disappointing.

[ATWM]

 

5 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Speaking of bellends.. Elton John did the same procuring his photograph collection.. at the time he admittedly didn’t know the difference between a vintage photograph and a Pokemon card.. but his husband did and between the two of them amassed a massive collection in a ‘pfft.. name your price I’m Elton John kinda strategy..’

There was genuine vintage photograph collectors who’d been into the hobby for 30+yrs complaining that not only had he forced the price beyond their means but he’d removed a massive amount of trade from the market.. these photos were bought for pence.. sometimes pounds and traded with other collectors.. who knew what each other had in their Pokédex / photodex.

and as we move away from the subject of bellends  ..I think I accidentally did the same thing by moving the m-series archives from a DB sub forum to sufu.. those jeans used to be £80 tops.. nowadays Japanese sellers are asking closer to £500 sometimes even £1k because they type the product code into google and find a whole community of monied idiots .

It’s funny, in the photography community John is looked at largely positively. His passion for the medium put upward pressure on the market, yes, but that’s what is needed for it to be a sustainable pursuit for the artists. There aren’t a lot of passionate photography collectors compared to other mediums, and we really need that. Galleries are struggling mightily etc.

Artists want higher prices so they don’t have to live in squalor. Collectors want it cheap, especially if they feel like they found it first (they often did not) there’s a certain entitlement to it. Old story. 

Edited September 5 by ATWM

[Lorcan]

3 hours ago, Mtvare said:

I've nothing against Jason Momoa but I've a lot against celebrity culture, so it's a big black mark against LH for me. Disappointing.

I dunno, what's a small maker supposed to do if approached to make something by someone like Momoa, turn them down for not being a 'real enthusiast'? I don't love celebrity culture either, but this can swing into gatekeeper-y territory also. He already made him a jacket a couple years ago anyway I think, so nothing new. Now if LH prices shoot up to CSF territory I might be more inclined to agree but that hasn't happened (yet).