Levi's takes on Japanese Denim Resellers and Manufacturers

[kiya]

[denimdestroyedmylife]

damn, kiya!

that rules----------any chance we can get a wallpaper-sized pic?

mad respeck

[kiya]

[LIVENUDEGIRLS]

What is he wrapped in?

[fallen angels]

strips of denim

[LIVENUDEGIRLS]

oh, i thought it was something directly related to the lawsuit.

[dry the rain]

it is, isn't it? aren't those pocket tabs on the ground?

[fndmybetterhalf]

wow welcome to last month...

[sneakeraddict]

Seems to have gone quiet.

Was this just a load of bullshit as several people predicted?

Looking at the new samurai model further down the page....

err.... they have both the arc and the red-tab.....

What the hell happened to "all existing models to be removed from shelves WORLDWIDE, no further redtabs / arcs to be made WORLDWIDE" ?

[erbs]

It's pretty hard to enforce a trademark in a country in which its not valid

[arthur]

well, the lawsuit's still going on.

gordon was telling me that it's almost "done," though.

[thinkfilm28]

It's pretty hard to enforce a trademark in a country in which its not valid

Let's hope so. Hopefully we can still get our accurates and the tab. Quite frankly, I couldn't give two shits about the damn tab -- BUT DON'T F**K with the accurates!!!! If the Levis folks stepped up their game, this issue will be moot. Japanese repro know how to capture market share. Granted, It's not huge. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

[homme.homme]

Good to have the update but I dont think we need to have the whole "if levis stepped up their game' conversation again.

[toufu]

Let's hope so. Hopefully we can still get our accurates and the tab. Quite frankly, I couldn't give two shits about the damn tab -- BUT DON'T F**K with the accurates!!!! If the Levis folks stepped up their game, this issue will be moot. Japanese repro know how to capture market share. Granted, It's not huge. QUALITY OVER QUANTITY.

lol i care more about the tab than the arcs...

the arcs will eventually come off with hard wear anyways...but the tab is there forever!!

[erbs]

lol i care more about the tab than the arcs...

the arcs will eventually come off with hard wear anyways...but the tab is there forever!!

With you all the way. It pisses me off that my Flatheads have the (painted on) arcs but no tab

[kenthenoob]

totally agree. the red tabs are awesome. i ordered a pair of (too small)skulls some weeks ago and they came with the red tab.

[ExileOnMainSt]

no way - i was planning on getting a pair of SDA 103s of zipangu treasures before they stopped selling jeans with arcs and tabs, to me SDA is not SDA if there are no piggies pullin jeans apart or that sexy japanese flag or the arcuates on the pockets

[horriblyjollyjinx]

Seems to have gone quiet.

Was this just a load of bullshit as several people predicted?

Looking at the new samurai model further down the page....

err.... they have both the arc and the red-tab.....

What the hell happened to "all existing models to be removed from shelves WORLDWIDE, no further redtabs / arcs to be made WORLDWIDE" ?

I said several times that Samurai, SDA and others wouldn't change. I was called an idiot in this thread for it.

[sneakeraddict]

I said several times that Samurai, SDA and others wouldn't change. I was called an idiot in this thread for it.

i also said that it would not effect Japan, and any that did comply would be voluntary.

I was also shouted down by certain people, and told "you dont know what I know", or "you dont know the people I know".

I would now like to hear from these people who knew so much about this, and have now been proven completely wrong....

[Egpt]

yeah, i pretty much said the same thing only for kiya to step and say that i was wrong.

guess we know who was right in the end lol.

i think that the only jeans that are going to have to drop the arcuates and tags are the ones that are sent to america.

in japan, afaik they are gonna keep the arcuates and tags as before.

this has happened with evisu. euro models cannot have red tags and i think that is the reason why the euro models sligthtly changed the gull design from the japanese versions which resemble more to the levis arcuate.

i remember back in 1999 or 2000 when a few pairs of japanese evisus hand painted by yamane(about 100 pairs with lots of different designs) had to have the red tags removed as soon as they entered the U.K. because of levi's.

all the japanese repro brands exist for many many years with the tags and arcuates, and i think the only reason levi's acted is because their "copyright" is only accepted in the UK and US. i could be wrong though, but a few years ago i read something about this somewhere.

One thing to keep in mind for those that think that these companies are going to continue producing the same product for the Japanese market is that you're wrong. Iron Heart has already settled out of court and money has exchanged hands, no more pocket stitchings and tabs for domestic OR import use. Flat Head (which wasn't even named in the lawsuit) has already dropped the tab and is shipping product to it's own stores in Japan with no stitching or the new stitching. Imperial which wasn't named in the lawsuit either, has created a new leather tab, blah blah blah..

so basically, the companies ARE changing their entire line, not just their export lines.

but i see where kiya was going,he was sure that some brands were going to do what he said, but saying that all the brands indicted on the lawsuit were going to do the same was not true at all.

[kiya]

Just as a note, the entire time i was referring to the brands which i had close contact with. The brands were Flat Head, Iron Heart, and Imperial.

Those three brands DID change their entire line worldwide.

[sneakeraddict]

sorry but a lot of what you said was inaccurate. I'm pretty sure you werent just referring to those three brands either.

you said all red tabs would be removed from the shelves, almost by force, after a certain date.

you also said levis was effectively making the red tab illegal in Japan from a certain date.

anyway, no beef, Im just happy red tabs and arcs still exist, but wanted to clarify that a lot of what certain people was saying was totally unfounded nonsense.

[Superstar]

how do i hate glee, but its nice when you are able to act that way...

[synthi]

Hindsight as ever is 20 / 20 but the signs of how this would go were there for instance Levi's Japanese LVC line has cooexisted side by side with the repro manufacturers' jeans for a number of years. The feathers only got ruffled when some Japanese denim 'scent marks' were found on a metaphorical tree in their back yard. And so these items are contraban in the US but seem largely unnafected elsewhere.

I was pleased to hear HJJ say that Samurai & SDA would continue manufacture unchanged however I am also mindful that the lawsuit arrived at a time when the various labels were busy finalising their spring / summer stock. As such perhaps one could surmise that if any of our favourite labels decide to make a change, such changes would take effect from the autumn line. This is just speculation but valid I think.

[hoodsuburbia]

heres a drunk note? i fucked up right now but i was just thinking about the supreme selvage jeans and how they have a red tab... why doesnt levis fuck with them?

[coulomb]

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=878401

it's an interesting paper that talks about how piracy in the fashion industry actually promotes innovation, quality, and business.

[Paul T]

Hindsight as ever is 20 / 20 but the signs of how this would go were there for instance Levi's Japanese LVC line has cooexisted side by side with the repro manufacturers' jeans for a number of years. The feathers only got ruffled when some Japanese denim 'scent marks' were found on a metaphorical tree in their back yard. And so these items are contraban in the US but seem largely unnafected elsewhere.

/QUOTE]

We have to remember that some Japanese companies are just as prone to marketing BS as, say, Levi's.

Firstly, it is on public record that Yamane says he bought Levi's looms. I just found a fax from him where he confirmed he had done so. IN a later fax - when I asked if the loom/s had come from Cone, and wasn't his denim made on Japanese-made looms at Kurabo - he denied he'd ever said such a thing.

I'm riled up about this just now because a major Japanese company has just ripped off a substantial section of my book and put it on their website. I have them bang to rights yet have had no response from them, and will be forced to employ a lawyer to extract payment from them (but don't worry, I will do so). THey are, quite simply, crooks. Now when I see them complain about having to remove ted tabs from their jeans, or claiming that Levi's have ripped off their designs (?) I shall look at their assertions with a far more jaundiced eye.

I am not, of course, talking about some of the wonderful Japanese companies like Samurai who have a great deal of integrity. But they're not all like that, sadly.

[akuma no uta]

which company ripped off your book if you dont mind me asking?

[goat]

2 years later, it re-surfaces.

go Paul go!

[goat]

i just figure i'll point this out

go Levi's!

http://niketalk.yuku.com/topic/146909

smh