Full Count Denim Thread

[yung_flynn]

22 minutes ago, Alec Leamas said:

Another perfect example would be TCB, they’ve got it 100% nailed. From my somewhat basic research (and hours of obsession), I believe it to be a combination of the size of the folder on the machine, and how well the machine is actually maintained and run. I think with Inoue san having worked on the machines for so many years, TCB’s are very well “tuned” (please excuse the non expert terminology!!)

Again veering off topic but I’m super curious to see how the TCB 1890s roping develops since the hems are not chainstitched but rather super tightly lock stitched. From my single wash post-factory, they seem like they will still develop nice roping. 
 

It’s a slight bummer that FC moved away from the L34 and L36 inseams because it means that newer releases will be far too short. I’m perfectly happy with the available options that are long enough for me though

Edited November 1, 2024 by yung_flynn

[willi]

1 minute ago, yung_flynn said:

Again veering off topic but I’m super curious to see how the TCB 1890s roping develops since the hems are not chainstitched but rather super tightly lock stitched

Mine worn daily are just starting to show. Pretty evenly spaced parallel ridges orthogonal to the hem. I thought it would look boring but it's fun to have something a little different than the tight roping they are good at. TCB excels at that 'perfect' tight rolling chaintstich everyone is looking for, but I also appreciate that they do it a little differently on each of their models.

[space_cowboy]

@tooth Very insightful, thank you!! Echoing what others have said, I love TCB's factory hems too. I've had jeans hemmed at Mildblend in Chicago several times and the results haven't been great. I've also had Rain from Indigo Proof hem a couple of pairs for me and she does solid work, especially with color matching the thread, but they're still not as tight as what I've seen with TCB and now FC.

Edited November 1, 2024 by space_cowboy

[aho]

5 hours ago, space_cowboy said:

@tooth Very insightful, thank you!! Echoing what others have said, I love TCB's factory hems too. I've had jeans hemmed at Mildblend in Chicago several times and the results haven't been great. I've also had Rain from Indigo Proof hem a couple of pairs for me and she does solid work, especially with color matching the thread, but they're still not as tight as what I've seen with TCB and now FC.

Not to rag on Mildblend as I'm sure they're fine for most non-sufu types, but I remember taking a pair of Warehouse there years back and was soooo confused when I realized they used a non-matching poly thread 🤣 Never took my jeans there again needless to say 😅

[reallypeacedoff]

[MJF9]

Sharpened scissors at the ready mate?

[reallypeacedoff]

3 minutes ago, MJF9 said:

Sharpened scissors at the ready mate?

Definitely, it's pretty impressive how many strands there are!

I am going to leave all the ones on the inside as is. The buttonholes are the true thic bois, lopping them off for sure. I am probably going to leave a few more than the SoaS pictures, though; I kinda dug it when I put it on. Thinking I will shorten a fair few but keep more on the non-pocket side to balance it out a bit.

Fit-wise, I think I could have gone for the 44, but it would have been perfect as is, with a tee. I wanted something I could fit a hoody under (but look good in a tee too), so these fit the bill. I'm doing a warm wash and a dry right now. Will post a fit pit when I'm back stateside.

[Thicolas Rage]

For those without sharp scissors available - it looks like Bears just posted the 0105 WW2 model and jacket with the threads pre-cut! https://bears-tokyo.myshopify.com/products/full-count-s0105w-24-threads-already-cut-ww2-model-brown-cotton-denim-pants

 

[julian-wolf]

On 10/31/2024 at 10:49 AM, space_cowboy said:

Why aren't all union special hems created equal?

Sewing machines are pretty complicated, and small changes can have strong effects on how stitching turns out. The tensioning (and, correspondingly, the thread gauge) plays a big role. The whole reason we see the particular style of roping that we’re used to is an imbalance in how the top and bottom feeds pull the fabric—and the operator has quite a bit of control over how strong of an effect this is. Paying enough attention, it’s not too difficult to get a fairly even stitch out of a 43200G, or to get good roping with the straight stitch on a modern home machine. The folder also plays a big role; standard folders came in at least a few sizes, and I’m sure bigger factories had plenty more machined in-house, some of which resulted in very different hems than others.

[reallypeacedoff]

3 hours ago, Thicolas Rage said:

For those without sharp scissors available - it looks like Bears just posted the 0105 WW2 model and jacket with the threads pre-cut! https://bears-tokyo.myshopify.com/products/full-count-s0105w-24-threads-already-cut-ww2-model-brown-cotton-denim-pants

 

Maybe they weren’t selling as well as they hoped? In saying that, bought them for a joke to see how crazy they really were but it’s kinda fun to customize them in a way that usually you don’t with anything denim related.

[Thicolas Rage]

4 hours ago, reallypeacedoff said:

Maybe they weren’t selling as well as they hoped? In saying that, bought them for a joke to see how crazy they really were but it’s kinda fun to customize them in a way that usually you don’t with anything denim related.

Definitely think it's cool to choose which threads you want to keep longer and which you want to fully trim etc. Might as well go all in!

Edited November 3, 2024 by Thicolas Rage

[okimoto]

On 11/1/2024 at 6:29 PM, aho said:

Not to rag on Mildblend as I'm sure they're fine for most non-sufu types, but I remember taking a pair of Warehouse there years back and was soooo confused when I realized they used a non-matching poly thread 🤣 Never took my jeans there again needless to say 😅

I think the bar is kind of low for Mild Blend... They once told me to go up two sizes on a pair of one wash Samurai's to account for shrinkage

[reallypeacedoff]

Before/After/Aftermath

[Soggy]

On 10/31/2024 at 9:05 AM, space_cowboy said:

I've been wearing my 0105ss' (size 33 purchased from Bears) for the past couple of weeks and the waist has stretched out quite a lot. I was curious to see how a 32 would fit me and since Bears was sold out, I purchased a size 32 from Rodeo Bros. I figured I'd just sell whatever pair I didn't end up choosing.

 

When I first got my 33's from Bears, I noticed the leather patch was hard as a rock, truly super stiff, and crinkly. I thought, hmm they must have a pretty aggressive factory wash. They were lots of hard creases  throughout the fabric everywhere as well, like someone washed and tumble dried them on hot. Minus the patch, I figured any creases would come out with another wash, and not handling any FC denim before, I thought this was maybe the norm for jeans with their one wash treatment.

 

I got the 32's from Rodeo Bros yesterday and I was a little surprised at the difference. The patch is very supple, no visible creases anywhere, and even the hand feel is slightly different, perhaps slightly more rigid. 

 

I'm not upset or anything, I just think it's interesting. Is it possible Bears did an additional wash to try and squeeze out any further shrinkage? Or perhaps it was returned by a customer who did their own wash, but then that means they would have had to attach the pocket flasher and tags? Curious to know if anyone else has experienced this. 

I had a nearly identical experience purchasing the 0105ss from Bears in a size 32. I also wondered what kind of aggressive wash they’d received to make the patch so stiff and shriveled and to cause aggressive seam puckering and roping at the hem. The patch wasn’t a big deal to me but I was a bit disappointed in how large the waist measured on my pair. From all the retailers’ size charts I could find online and from Full Count themselves I was expecting close to 32” but my pair measured ~35” when laid flat. I Didn’t want to go through the trouble of returning or exchanging from USA to Japan and I think I’d checked and by then a size 31 or 30 had sold out. I have a fairly large butt so there’s no danger of them falling off my body but ideally I’d prefer to not have that excess fabric bunched up under my belt or have them worn very low on my hips.

Thanks for sharing your experience as I thought it was maybe just my pair that had that issue. I gave them the hottest possible machine wash and tumble dry hoping to get as much shrinkage out of the fabric as possible and the waist now measures approximately 33.5-34” and the patch surprisingly softened up quite a bit as well.

Those minor issues aside I’m quite happy with them overall, I’d been looking for a pair that wasn’t unbearable to wear working outside in the summer heat in Southern California and these are about as good as it gets in that regard and they’re about as soft and comfortable as one could hope for a pair of jeans to be.

[reallypeacedoff]

First time on post-wash and thread cutting. I have a pretty thin sweat on, however, I am planning on wearing a lot heavier one during winter with this jacket.

[Josh'N'Roll]

On 11/4/2024 at 10:33 AM, okimoto said:

I think the bar is kind of low for Mild Blend... They once told me to go up two sizes on a pair of one wash Samurai's to account for shrinkage

I used to live in Chicago and frequented Mildblend. There was a shift in customer service at a point that coincided with one of their long-ish term staff (Kevin was his name IIRC) moving on to explore other opportunities. The crew that was there with Kevin mastered the basics of denim retail and gave sound advice about sizing (though they could be annoying in pushing newbies towards expensive brands like Iron Heart and PBJ when that person came in asking about Naked & Famous). 
 

The employees have been a mixed bag since Kevin left save for the owner’s daughter. She knows her stuff and is great finding/suggesting items for women. My wife had some great experiences trying on things with her help. The rest of the staff has turned over a few times and most of them seem new to heritage clothing and raw denim. 

[JohnnyD]

0105 starting to wear thin in a few places now

[Jared_Lee]

More 0105.

[blooming]

@Jared_Lee Beautiful. I also really like how the patch has relaxed and actually become nicer looking with wear. I saw a similar transition on the patch of my 1108xx after a handful of washes. The wrinkled, dried-up leather softens nicely.

[Jared_Lee]

@blooming, I don't think this patch was very shriveled to begin with. If anything, it's a little tighter at the edges now than when new. But yes, lovely leather aging on the patch.

[Gio20]

BiGxFullcount Contest Jeans

[aho]

5 hours ago, Gio20 said:

BiGxFullcount Contest Jeans

Sooooo good 🙏 I have no regrets in life, other than not getting a pair of those (and Ooe Cinchbacks lol)

[Gio20]

46 minutes ago, aho said:

Sooooo good 🙏 I have no regrets in life, other than not getting a pair of those (and Ooe Cinchbacks lol)

Thanks @aho I found them in my closet a couple of weeks ago but outgrew them by 3 sizes. 

[reallypeacedoff]

I fell like in certain areas of California, you could get shot wearing this, especially if you were riding a HD:

[CSL]

Just watching a Hells Angels documentary...^^^Apparently true!

[Thicolas Rage]

Just received my pair of Fullcount 0105 WW2 brown denim edition and as you can see in the photos, they aren’t exactly ‘wide’ on me. Funnily enough, they probably fit me closer to an actual WW2 repro then what I imagine the 0105 is supposed to fit. Sized to a 29 for my natural waist which was snug but has already stretched out nicely. Based off the measurements on Bears however, I wasn’t expecting such snug thighs and top block. In the side profile photo you can see they are borderline skin tight on the upper thigh (I can probably pinch about 1.5cm of fabric off the upper thigh).

I was really banking on being able to size for the waist given all the discussion I see online about their generous thighs and also by collating measurements across distributors so they are already hemmed — hoping the magical 13.7oz fabric stretches out in the thigh/top block. Can anyone speak to stretching in that area? 
 

 

[PrettyBoyTony]

22 hours ago, Thicolas Rage said:

Just received my pair of Fullcount 0105 WW2 brown denim edition and as you can see in the photos, they aren’t exactly ‘wide’ on me. Funnily enough, they probably fit me closer to an actual WW2 repro then what I imagine the 0105 is supposed to fit. Sized to a 29 for my natural waist which was snug but has already stretched out nicely. Based off the measurements on Bears however, I wasn’t expecting such snug thighs and top block. In the side profile photo you can see they are borderline skin tight on the upper thigh (I can probably pinch about 1.5cm of fabric off the upper thigh).

I was really banking on being able to size for the waist given all the discussion I see online about their generous thighs and also by collating measurements across distributors so they are already hemmed — hoping the magical 13.7oz fabric stretches out in the thigh/top block. Can anyone speak to stretching in that area? 
 

 

29 is a pretty small waist though but you don't seem to have a skinny frame so I think in this case they have a more fitted look. I think they look great though.

[Thicolas Rage]

7 hours ago, PrettyBoyTony said:

29 is a pretty small waist though but you don't seem to have a skinny frame so I think in this case they have a more fitted look. I think they look great though.

Yeah my waist is definitely smaller compared to the rest of my proportions - also looks like I got a pair undersized in variance in the thigh (30cm at the crotch and 28-29cm below crotch  while other websites like Redcast heritage are reporting 32.5 and bears whom I bought from reported 30cm when measured BELOW the crotch so I was hoping I would get a similar amount of room to the redcast pairs) which is practically the only measurement I needed to not be undersized. Might have to part ways with them as after only a couple hours my thighs were sore from the snugness. Have them up for sale on the community sale thread if anyone is interested for a great deal! 

Edited January 2 by Thicolas Rage

[Alec Leamas]

@Thicolas Rage I think they looked great, but a bit snug. Too snug in the thigh's a dealbreaker of course. From that first photo the waist looks to have been a bit tight so it might be worthwhile you considering a couple of sizes up (at least!) to get the thigh room you need.

Hard to tell from photos but you appear to have relatively similar body shape / size to me and I go for 32 + in FC, to get a comfortable top block fit - I can reliably toss them in the drier to keep the waist held where I need it, and as there's less pressure on the waist I don't really get too much stretch there.

It's all a learning curve man, but I've certainly found that I cannot go by waist alone, it has to be thigh measurement first, then rise, then waist, that order of priority. I use that method with any brand - and there's still variation on that too - it's the sweet spot I look for where the thigh is big enough, then the rise is high enough to allow that thigh measurement to sit correctly, then is the waist okay and not going to look mad. Thankfully my 0105 hit that, as have most W34 Warehouse pairs I own.

I did actually find when ordering my 0105 from FC that they contacted me to tell me the specific measurements of the pair they were sending me, which was helpful, the only variance they noted was the waist, everything else was fine.

[Thicolas Rage]

2 hours ago, Alec Leamas said:

@Thicolas Rage I think they looked great, but a bit snug. Too snug in the thigh's a dealbreaker of course. From that first photo the waist looks to have been a bit tight so it might be worthwhile you considering a couple of sizes up (at least!) to get the thigh room you need.

Hard to tell from photos but you appear to have relatively similar body shape / size to me and I go for 32 + in FC, to get a comfortable top block fit - I can reliably toss them in the drier to keep the waist held where I need it, and as there's less pressure on the waist I don't really get too much stretch there.

It's all a learning curve man, but I've certainly found that I cannot go by waist alone, it has to be thigh measurement first, then rise, then waist, that order of priority. I use that method with any brand - and there's still variation on that too - it's the sweet spot I look for where the thigh is big enough, then the rise is high enough to allow that thigh measurement to sit correctly, then is the waist okay and not going to look mad. Thankfully my 0105 hit that, as have most W34 Warehouse pairs I own.

I did actually find when ordering my 0105 from FC that they contacted me to tell me the specific measurements of the pair they were sending me, which was helpful, the only variance they noted was the waist, everything else was fine.

Absolutely agree. Don’t mind hitting a learning curve as I’ve been relatively lucky with sizing online prior to this. Was banking on the thigh measurement being closer to some other measurements listed online for the size 29 but it looks like the pair I received was slightly undersized in its variance. Reading about FC’s tendency to stretch certainly pushed me towards a smaller waist size, but given my thighs (which aren’t crazy but are just above 24’’ at about a 30.5’’ waist) I would have gone with a 30 in hindsight and just belted up and washed them frequently as you mentioned to prevent them from stretching too much. I will always value comfort and room over the ‘perfect fit’ in the waist going forward. 
Thankfully I was already able to sell them off and recoup some of my losses, which have since (of course) been rerouted into another pair I’ve been very interested in, the TCB 30s. This time with a 34cm thigh measurement as opposed to the 30cm my 0105’s had so should be supremely roomy in comparison! Thanks for your help regardless .