The Evolution of Jeans: Pictures, Scones and Tea

[chicote]

@oomslokop Definitely tender denim is my all time favourite, and now that you mention it it is pretty similar to the sda 103s i used to have, which even had a blue selvedge ID just like the tenders. I used to get jeans specifically for the denim which is how I ended up w these three pairs in particular, plus the twisted-weft hemp fabric on the red clouds, but now fit and durability have become my main priorities and sadly the options aren’t always quite as interesting. tender denim or any of the 50% sugarcane denims, for example, those are the kind of fabrics that put you in a trance. but the sugarcane fabric got so thin that it’s started shredding at the thighs, and the real weak point of the tenders is the stitching… which although its part of the philosophy of the brand n i wouldn’t want william to change it, it’s started feeling incongruous having this monstrous 17oz denim with all cotton stitching, n trying to force the split yoke thru my sewing machine for the 3rd time when the fabric itself is hardly worn at all made me realize sadly they might not be the best-constructed jeans for my application. but u asked about the fabric and I def agree with u that tender stands alone in that regard.

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

Just a plus one for Tender denim. My favorite ever fabric as well for reasons mentioned. I've found my (1) pair of jeans pretty easy to repair thus far, but in my experience they've also been more durable in the stitching than my sugar canes, mister freedoms, or warehouse jeans - all while being a relatively slim fit. They're not poly stitching durable but as stated that's not the point. Right now I guess I'm favoring more repro styled jeans, but I picked up a 900 jacket not all that long ago so I could keep wearing that wonderful denim with some consistency. I do see another pair of Tenders down the line for me sometime - until then my 129's have good life still. 

[oomslokop]

@chicote ah yes they also share the exact same blue selvedge! i wear my tenders loose to avoid repairs and so far i haven't had to do many but i also live a very sedentary life unlike you it seems.

here are some pics of my sda denim on the double volante champloo collab. had some spray paint accident on the weekend. 

[chicote]

@oomslokop woww those look amazing! i really see the similarities between the two fabrics. sdas seem under appreciated nowadays but that denim fades beautifully and seems to be holding up really well too. what were u painting? 

[oomslokop]

haha wasn't anything as productive as that, happened during a spoken word performance, the can exploded.

 

[Geeman]

4 hours ago, chicote said:

@oomslokop woww those look amazing! i really see the similarities between the two fabrics. sdas seem under appreciated nowadays but that denim fades beautifully and seems to be holding up really well too. what were u painting? 

I agree and have said many times that SDA denim is one of my favourite. They age so well and the construction has never been an issue 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I always wanted a SD-103 in the early days. I had the SD-108 for a short time and while the SDA 10x-denim is really great, I wasn't too fond of the 108 cut. Maybe these days I would prefer the 101 model  

[alpharikk]

 been a long since I never post everything on SuFu 
 

here's my personal collections after wash:

1. Buzz Ricksonz WWII Pullover Denim Shirt

2. Sugarcane WWII Type 1 Jacket

3. Boncoura 66 Jeans

[Spiraltoy]

On 5/3/2023 at 12:28 AM, chicote said:

The mend on that 40’s knee is just *chefs kiss*.

[Cold Summer]

My favorite denim hasn't changed much in a long time:
 

• Flat Head 14.5 oz Pioneer denim from 3000 series jeans
• Samurai 15 oz Otogi denim from S0510xx, S0500xx, etc.
• Pure Blue Japan XX-011 left hand twill gray weft denim
• Eternal 14.5 oz denim

However in recent times the Warehouse Banner Denim has become one of my favorites, certainly my favorite "traditional" style denim. Generally speaking, I like the "third wave" Japanese fabrics like those examples above, that tend toward pronounced contrast, but aren't nearly as wild as the over-engineered Redditor fabrics constantly cranked out by Oni, N&F, and so on. I tend to like denim that's a middle ground between Redditor hype denim and traditional vintage Levis fabrics.

[indigoeagle]

14 hours ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

I always wanted a SD-103 in the early days. I had the SD-108 for a short time and while the SDA 10x-denim is really great, I wasn't too fond of the 108 cut. Maybe these days I would prefer the 101 model  

But the SD-101 are somehow difficult to find.
Do they always sell out this quickly? I think, the latest supplies came beginning of March with the new prices.

[oomslokop]

@Maynard Friedman has a mint one for sale i think?

[indigoeagle]

14 hours ago, oomslokop said:

@Maynard Friedman has a mint one for sale i think?

Not sure, if he is still offering it. But I think, it's a 32.
I normally wear a 34. But I sized up in these to 36 due to the lower rise and I'm somehow much happier these days to wear wider jeans.
Most of my old ones are slim/straight and I also gained about 4 kilos making them a bit tight.

If anyone is interested. This is the only store I found, where they still had some. But I'm sure, there will come a restock some time.
https://item.rakuten.co.jp/neatstyle/10017798/

[beautiful_FrEaK]

16 hours ago, indigoeagle said:

But the SD-101 are somehow difficult to find.
Do they always sell out this quickly? I think, the latest supplies came beginning of March with the new prices.

They were out of stock for a long time and recently had a restock, right. Probably a lot of people were eagerly waiting for these or SDA didn't produce many as their main cuts these days are relaxed/tapered ones.

[MJF9]

@chicote that's a tremendous trio of worn-in denim up above.... agree the Tender have so much character. 

I've had a couple of pairs of 132s (one logwood, sold as they were too big... I should have kept them as they'd now be a good slightly oversized fit... I live and learn; one woad, worn a little but no appreciable evolution yet).  My guess has always been they'll take more effort to wear in properly than other jeans  - but it's just a guess. 

Hence I'm curious to get a feel for how much wearing-time it takes to get to a comparable level of fade / evolution.  How would you compare this your three beauties above?

All other views from those Tender wearers out there also appreciated...

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

@MJF9 I’ve only got a woad pair. I went a good while before the first wash - probably 4-5 months of wear -  but the thing with the blue garment dye is that it makes any fading appear a lot more gentle, almost dusty imo. I have a hunch the standard denim maybe takes a little longer (I think it’s 25 dips - that’s a lot, and it’s really dark) but it comes alive more dramatically. For me, I love the look of some regular washing after the initial wear period. The fading is a mix of wear lines and marbling. I’m still on the fence about whether or not to pick up a standard or garment dyed version for my next pair. My 129s don’t get as much regular wear atm because I love where they’re at and am in no hurry to fade them more, and bc I tend to wear a lighter denim from April - Oct or so. 

[chicote]

@MJF9 these 129s are my third pair of tenders; i started with a pair of 132s that i wore alongside my sugar canes when I lived in Ecuador. They were great for being up in the mountains, hiking, doing construction, and looked sharp in the city, especially alongside the irregular and extravagant denim styles popular in a lot of Latin America, but at the time I had closer to a 28” waist and they were just way too big. After a year of somewhat frequent wear they’d hardly faded and I ended up giving them to a friend who’s a motorcycle mechanic in eastern Oregon. Last I’d seen, they were all thrashed and patched up, he loved them. So, anecdotal point 1 was those 132s fading extremely stubbornly. The earlier comparison made to SDA denim feels apt, I’d say, given how those are known to fade very slowly.

My second pair were the 128s, those are the ones with square patch pockets on the front and back, and no yoke, hence a very short rise. I wore those about 6 months before deciding they were just too low-rise for me to wear comfortably. I ended up cannibalizing them to make a weird pair of overalls that never fully got there, lol… not sure what I was thinking really, but anyway, they live on in my scrap pile so you can see a comparison with the 129s below.

Lastly came the 129s, and I’m really not sure how much wear I’ve put into them, but probably close to or slightly over 2 years. They’ve been put through a lot; I wore them from 2018 thru the first half of 2020 while working in an auto garage and at a powder coating factory, alongside tattooing, so they got put through the ringer daily and were washed at least once every couple weeks. Despite that regimen, they have held up beautifully, besides the aforementioned stitching issues, and the fabric is just something else. Heavy washing does it a lot of good; the texture this pair achieved is hands down my favourite of any pair I’ve owned in 10+ years of being into this hobby. Anyway, here are some quick comparison pics of the 128s and 129s:

[MJF9]

@AlientoyWorkmachine @chicote thanks for the insights gents... I've been re-inspired to put my woad 132s on again today

[oomslokop]

i've been wearing a molleton 129 since 2016. same denim as all the tender jeans that has been molletoned (bill explained the process in detail somewhere in this thread). from the outset the jeans felt like sweatpants, so soft and comfy, almost velvety. i remember not expecting much contrast fadez because of the softness but ended up getting them anyway especially on the honeycombs (there are plenty of pics of the jeans in this thread already) after about a year or so. this is with regular wear, and i'm not a very active person, machine washed whenever dirty (in the tropics so maybe once every 2 weeks), line dry. my favourite fade is the extra long front pocket fade. i imagine it gets even more prominent since the pocket lining is made out of the same denim as the jeans. 

[mlwdp]

Phigvel 301 model showing some promise.  4 washes in with almost a year under my belt in June.

 

 

[shredwin_206]

runabout goods type 1 and jeans. Both look like vintage denim to me these days 

[FurnitureMaker]

Wow. The bunching pattern at the lowest closed button on that jacket. 

[shredwin_206]

35 minutes ago, FurnitureMaker said:

Wow. The bunching pattern at the lowest closed button on that jacket. 

Yea my tummy is a bit big to button it. I could pop a pleat I guess but I think it looks cool 

[tigerstrom]

Pallet Life Story Narrow

 

[mlwdp]

I can tell those been put in the dryer by those lines.  My trophys got the same thing from them.

Edited June 18, 2023 by mlwdp

[tigerstrom]

22 minutes ago, mlwdp said:

I can tell those been put in the dryer by those lines.  My trophys got the same thing from them.

You got that right 

[shredwin_206]

my beat to piss runabout goods brander jacket made with proximity denim 

[scooby]

@tigerstrom denim looks great 

[mlwdp]

Trophy 

 

[chantheman]

I picked this pair of Jormon’s on eBay and it looks like they have been put through the dryer more than their fair share and exhibit a marbling pattern m. Does this go away with wear or is this what it is? Being that they are natural indigo they are going to take forever to wear down on their own