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

[Jared_Lee]

To the above point, I would remind everyone that excitement and conversation is always highest leading up to the contest and then sharply declines after delivery. If we get 30 people signed up, you can realistically expect regular engagement coming from 10 or so. Two simultaneous competitions may not have enough steam for either to maintain momentum.

 

Similarly, a contest limited to 15 may not yield enough dedicated participants for the contest to maintain engagement and momentum. That could be an argument for balancing a 15/15 with Little Hand in a showdown style concurrent contest under one banner should Rebuilt get the no. 1 nod.

Edited August 22 by Jared_Lee

[MJF9]

Good points Jared… for WoMCon we had 16 final submissions from the original 26 = ~60%. There are many different fair dinkum reasons for that, of course, including lost luggage, weight change, sizing issues etc etc so not commenting on the why but it does give us a metric of what we can expect... I therefore think 1 contest in name, that could have either 1 maker or 2 makers, but that has the same start and end dates, is managed through 1 Sufu thread, 1 hashtag etc etc. The awards would need thinking through but that’s totally doable if that’s what Sufu wants… #LongLiveSufu

[Mtvare]

Sizing issues were my fair dinkum reason for dropping out, if anyone's counting. Stepping knee deep into a peat bog didn't help either, but I could have coped with the stains if they'd still fitted when they came out of the wash for the second time. 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

@Jared_Leemany, many true points.

Also, a limited contest increases the risk of people wanting to join out of FOMO rather than wanting to really participate. This could only he handled through deciding actively who can join....which then is quite gatekeeping. Problems 

[ATWM]

^ this is why the rebuilt option is a little suss to me. Nothing on the product itself, they look grand, but a hype driven sort of thing - which 15 pairs only would likely do - is just not my favorite. If that were an option it would seem to me to default to something like they automatically go to the 15 longest lived members of sufu who are interested or something like that (which I’d bet would exclude me anyways). Or something else to prevent a sort of mad grab for it. 

[julian-wolf]

Agreed on most points brought up so far re: LB contest hype potential

It almost (more than almost ) feels like, if there truly is an opportunity afoot for a very limited order of these very limited jeans that haven’t been available to the public at all for some 2+ years, it ought to take the form of a (for better or for worse, fairly selective / fairly “gate-kept”) regular group order, distinct from any contest

For whatever it’s worth, I also suspect that the price would end up being a limiting factor for a good number of would-be participants, in practice, if the last rounds of Rebuilt-made Jelado jeans are anything to go off of, so 15 folks may not end up being too far below demand

Edited August 22 by julian-wolf

[JohnM]

^ Good points Julian.  Rebuilt looks great but 15 pairs is certainly a limiting factor.  Broark, can you work your magic to expand this number?

More than the jeans, a big part of what has made sufu interesting to me for many years are the people here and the dedicated makers (e.g., Roy, Ooe, Freewheelers, Duke Mantee).  Rebuilt certainly fits that bill.  How can one not appreciate a website that includes Goethe's color circle, a 1917 comparison of stitches and seams, quotes from Schopenhauer (We forfeit three fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people), and jeans that are shipped in galvanized iron boxes that will outlive us all?

https://rebuilt.jp/category/lb-denim-blog/

 

 

[reallypeacedoff]

19 hours ago, JohnM said:

^ Good points Julian.  Rebuilt looks great but 15 pairs is certainly a limiting factor.  Broark, can you work your magic to expand this number?

I think the quantity of fabric he has was limiting it to 15...

[MJF9]

^ yes... the quality denim supply challenges are real, most notably for small makers, who are losing out to fashion houses, Levis Japan, the bigger historic Japanese denim makers... basically those with bigger buying power... a very good reason to stock up now lads and lasses  

[Double 0 Soul]

If this is a year in the making.. what about a '90s denim-boom' contest, obscure pairs are still plentiful in DS condition, given time, i'm sure everyone could pick up a pair from the golden era (i can help some of y'all out if need be) the ballers can grab something fancy.. while the lesser known shop brands can be had for less than $100.. sometimes even less than $50 for the less well heeled.. obviously this can't happen overnight but given 6-12mths, i'm sure everyone can find something in their size.. it would be a great opportunity to see how these old jeans wear (sufu style) and a lot of fun seeing what folks manage to pick up.

[AnOldFolkSong]

@Double 0 Soul

I'd be interested in this if there's a competition or not.

what brands should I be on the look out for? 

[Double 0 Soul]

The best place to start is opening the auction sites.. (Mercari, JDirect, Rakuten..ect) in 3 or 4 tabs.. open our own Unknown Japanese Brands thread (most of what i post in there are pre-lawsuit brands) and open places like Jeans Pavillion then cross check the jeans posted in the above with the auction sites..

Edited August 29 by Double 0 Soul

[oomslokop]

what could i get for 50 bucks @Double 0 Soul? size 36

[Double 0 Soul]

1 hour ago, oomslokop said:

what could i get for 50 bucks @Double 0 Soul? size 36

Jeez Ooms.. you fkin cheapskate!

What about a nice pair of Salty Dogs?

These jeans are an American casual vintage replica model manufactured in the 1990s. Oishi Trading developed the legendary early Japanese brand "CANTON" in the 1960s, and incorporating that know-how and dedication to Union looms (old sewing machines), they revived and launched the "SALTY DOG" line during the replica boom of the 90s. Because it faithfully reproduces vintage details such as XX (Double X) from the 1950s and 60s, it may look old at first glance, but as a product, it is classified as a Japanese vintage item manufactured in the 90s (about 30 years ago).

https://zenmarket.jp/product.aspx?shop=mercari&itemCode=m20595778405&q=canton+jeans++&p=2&pos=214

..also look at the budget brands.. Zool, Blue Way, Bartack, Canton, Cloze, Barns, Earth Culture and so on..

Edited August 30 by Double 0 Soul

[Broark]

Y'all want me to just close the books and run with the vintage idea? Save myself some effort. 

[julian-wolf]

That depends, of course: who’s winning the votes?

[eeejayaich]

@Broark, let’s not be hasty now! 

[PBTony]

44 minutes ago, Broark said:

Y'all want me to just close the books and run with the vintage idea? Save myself some effort. 

Ooooo is it result day?? 👖

[MJF9]

^ the vintage is just normal Sufu init tho bro???

We can do that as well as a contest, especially if the contest is a 3+ years slow fader 😉

[Double 0 Soul]

It’s the opposite of normal sufu.. normal sufu is buying the flavour of the month 

[Broark]

1 hour ago, PBTony said:

Ooooo is it result day?? 👖

Just about, we’re neck and neck…going to be close.

[Double 0 Soul]

Whoops.. sorry people, i didn't mean to derail, i haven't read any of the thread, i just chimed in with an idea.

i didn't even know there was a poll for voting 

..as you were

[oomslokop]

18 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

Jeez Ooms.. you fkin cheapskate!

What about a nice pair of Salty Dogs?

..also look at the budget brands.. Zool, Blue Way, Bartack, Canton, Cloze, Barns, Earth Culture and so on..

 

[MJF9]

15 hours ago, Double 0 Soul said:

It’s the opposite of normal sufu.. normal sufu is buying the flavour of the month 

… with the flavour of the month(s) being vintage 😉 

Banter aside, it’s a good shout to scour the web for old crackers. I’d expect Chat could be set up to run a check of what’s for sale on a regular basis… but does that remove the fun of the chase… it sounds kinda like a denim Tinder… anyway, I digress…

What’s the scores on the doors @Broark?

[Broark]

2 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

What’s the scores on the doors @Broark?

Technically we still have a few more hours to go (polls set to close midnight in my timezone, so another ~17 hours), so everyone be sure to vote if you're interested and haven't yet!
Right now we're sitting at 38 votes with Rebuilt and Little Hand leading the pack, with only a few points separating those two.

[Double 0 Soul]

19 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

… with the flavour of the month(s) being vintage 😉 

Banter aside, it’s a good shout to scour the web for old crackers. I’d expect Chat could be set up to run a check of what’s for sale on a regular basis… but does that remove the fun of the chase…

.. well, at least there would be a chase 

[Broark]

The polls are officially closed! We have received a total of 40 votes. 
I used ranked choice voting to determine these results, each first place vote equates to 4 points, second place 3 points, etc.
Drum roll please....
With a total of 119 points, Rebuilt finishes in first place by a narrow margin!
Little Hand comes in a close second place receiving 111 points. But here's where things get interesting.

Both Rebuilt and Little Hand received the same total number of first place votes. With this data we can go a couple of different directions.
1.) Run the Rebuilt contest outright with 15 slots. Some people might be disappointed since we have a limited number of spots available. How those slots will be distributed is TBD.
2.) Run with both Rebuilt and Little Hand simultaneously, a traditional 5 pocket shootout. This will take a little more logistical work on my end, but I'm happy to try and arrange it if that's how you all want to proceed.
3.) Proceed with Rebuilt and a non-traditional option like Tender side by side for the sake of variety. Tender placed 3rd, so this would be the winner for our non-traditional option.

I understand that not everyone who voted will for sure be participating, so I want be sure to set this up in a way that generates the most community interest and engagement.

Contest length will be set at 18 months, which only won by one vote over 24 months.

Please let me know what you all think about the above, we have some time to figure this out so I'm interested to hear your feedback.
Thank you all for voting and contributing your suggestions, long live sufu! 

[PBTony]

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. So Rebuilt and Little Hand combined would seem like a great compromise though aware it's a lot more work for you! Would also be cool to see how different/ or similar they fade which might be more interesting

[julian-wolf]

1 hour ago, Broark said:

Contest length will be set at 18 months, which only won by one vote over 24 months.

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

[tigerstrom]

I’m really looking forward to participate in a contest again and with Rebuilt limited to 15 pairs the chance to be able to join is slim. So I hope for a Rebuilt/Little hand competition to run simultaneous.