indigo - dare i ask about dips?

[jdavis]

i just gave a cone 'educational brochure' a skim through..

"Two dips of indigo equals a four percent indigo concentration on weight of yarn ... the 32 percent indigo [16 dip] is the darkest."

so my question is .. if 16 dips is as dark as any 501 xx ever was, why would prps/45rpm need to use 25-30? i know they look cool but come on... personally i think i'd rather spend my $ on some real vintage.

[Geowu]

There are many dyeing methods.. modern, old.. good, bad.. mass-produced, artisanal.

I don't think 16 dips is the darkest. Maybe it is for some certain production method, but

for that Chinese company, (forgot the name), they use good quality and natural indigo, and

they say 30 dips is the darkest, but instead they use less dips (maybe 20) to make it lighter.

In a similar way, many Japanese top quality brands use up to 30 dips, I'm sure it's for a good reason.

Also, the mass-produced dyeing method is totally different, if that's the case it can't be compared.

Probably real vintage, depending on the age, are ok, although many Japanese denim surpass them in quality.

[jdavis]

hmmmm I suppose I was thinking what the 'reason' for the 20+ dips could be other than a luxury selling point?

As for 16 being the darkest shade from Cone - it definately says it in front of me, but then again it wouldn't be the first time that wrong information had been printed.

One thing is for sure - my LVC 47s looked mighty dark when I picked them up last year, and after a fairly presigious place in my jean rotation they're still very dark and fading beautifully!

[Geowu]

yeah, maybe 30 dips is just a lot... because cheap denim gets like 4 dips.