The Strike Gold

[swiss-jeansfreak]

Looking great Marcus

[marcusV2]

Looking great Marcus

Thank you, Ruedi!

[hungryalien]

does anyone know any store in tokyo, osaka, or kyoto that sell's The Strike Gold? thanks

 

sorry for the late reply. but if you are looking for The Strike Gold in Asia (aside from Japan), we do have a few models in stock. please pm for details  

[deadendpro]

thought I would share some interesting sights from today's trip to SESF...

 

I'm sure much more info will be coming soon...

[nizzel55]

Some belt evo.

[FeloniousMonk]

Hey people, so I fell for the hype and picked up a pair of the new Strike Gold collaboration today at SENY. Since I've had time to soak and dry them, then wear them for a couple hours to start the break-in, I thought I would share some helpful details and early impressions.

 

First, the fit. Make sure you size up enough, I need to emphasize this. I wear a 31 in most jeans, and the ones I have that are closest to this fit are the Stevenson 714s (in which I wear a size 30). In these jeans, I needed a 33 waist. The waist pretty much starts at tag size when raw and shrinks from there.

 

Only did a cold soak, but as you can see in the fit pics below, there's not does not seem to be much shrink. I would be surprised if anything short of a super-hot wash causes these to lose more than a quarter-inch or so in the hips and thighs. The length (i.e. along the warp) seemed to shrink a typical amount from raw, but I barely noticed any shrinkage in the width of the fabric (i.e. across the weft).

 

As for the cut, the straight tapered fit has a very modern shape, with sufficient room in the upper thigh to move freely but still a very streamlined and close-fitting look. The rise feels lower than most of my jeans, probably technically a mid-to-low rise but a big difference from the higher rise 60s cuts I've been wearing lately. Your butt will fit, but the back definitely slides a bit low when sitting or bending over. But at least there's room to sit down, unlike a good number of slim tapered fits out there.

 

Continuing on the practical issues, the front pockets are nice. Not amazing or especially deep, but a good material and cut deep enough that I can kneel down to tie my shoes with an iphone in my front pocket without the phone digging into my hip like cotton's merciless tool of vengeance from beyond the boll. Bit tight to get your hands in there at first, but overall very usable for pants that fit this trim.

 

Here is the raw fit in the store (size 33 straight tapered)

 

 

 

And the post-soak, post-dry photos with a couple hours of wear walking around the city.

 

 

[FeloniousMonk]

And just a quick part 2, because I want to be helpful and pretty comprehensive...

 

Hardware and craftmenship are the Strike Gold standard: Solid stitching throughout though not the amazing precision and cleanliness you get with some of the super-crafty brands (e.g. Roy, SOC, Ande Whall). Chain-stitching where you would expect it, single-needle where you would expect it. Hardware is a nerd's delight with the touches like iron rivets on the pockets to make them rust and patina faster. Prior entries in this thread will all have more details on these aspects.

 

The fabric is insane. Best way to describe it is as a crazier version of the 51XX fabric from Strike Gold, with massive variation in the widths of the weft fibers from narrow little threads to big fat yarns. This is also beyond PBJ fabric and the bumpy feel of Oni's secret denim, which more people have probably tried out.

 

However, that's the main limit of the craziness. There's not too much hair on this denim, not much nep fibers. And the indigo warp is somewhat slubby, but you don't notice it much. The fat, super-slubby weft along with quite a lot of loom chatter are what drive the uniqueness of the fabric. Hence extreme texture to the outside, like rubbing a sheet of braille. While the fat slub fibers on the inside feel almost like rollers against your skin. They're definitely palpable, rather than fading into a fairly uniform fabric feel. The restrained warp and crazy-fat weft also create a nice cross-hatched appearance on the exterior of the denim, without the leopard-spot patchiness of jeans with super-slubby warp threads.

 

Let's be honest: These are not August jeans. They are loosely-woven, but there's only so loose that the weave on a 17 oz (pre-soak) denim can get. Wind can get through, but breezes won't, if you know what I mean. The fabric starts out STIFF, despite little starch coming out in the initial soak, and with the sheer weight of these jeans I doubt it's going to settle down soon. I think you're just in for a rough break-in the first few weeks, no way around it. At least you can think of all those fat little yarns giving your legs a little roller massage as you walk along.

 

All in all, pretty psyched to have these as an option. It's a nice-looking fit, and the fabric is going to fade so wonderfully. Plus with my other jeans now all being sensible mid-weight repro-style denim, it's nice to throw in something crazy and a bit tough to tame. This winter, I'll definitely be happy I have these lovable leg blankets.

 

So here is a shot of the exterior, post-soak, showing the considerable texture but relative lack of hair and slub.

 

 

And a shot of the interior, with that sparkle sparkle selvedge and the insane variation of the weft threads:

 

 

Do they stand up on their own post-soak with the haunting gauntness of a Giacometti? You bet your sweet tail they do!

[Maynard Friedman]

Wonderful write-up and photos FM, now put them away, don your shorts and you can start wearing them again in October.

[mikecch]

Many thanks for the speedy impressions and photos.

[Babyson]

I ordered a pair from self edge. I sized up because I want a looser pair and the 34s will fit almost exactly like both my 710s. We will see how it works out.

[swiss-jeansfreak]

Great update FeloniousMonk !!!!!!

Rock them the hardcore way for ever and keep us updated on them

Edited August 7, 2016 by swiss-jeansfreak

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Very nice review, thanks!

[ShootThePier]

I'm curious as to how these will wear in the long run. Something about changing the "feel" has me cautious. I like the feel the way it has been for decades. If it ain't broke...

I've been wearing my 16oz Samurai daily in the SoCal heat(100+), it's hard to imagine 17oz being to hot. Then again, SoCal is more dry, less humid.

Excellent review. Might have to take a trip to SELA today to get first hand experience. Just afraid I'll buy too much other stuff.

[emgee420]

hoping theres still some of these at sela when im there in 2 weeks

[elmcitizen]

Any big guys searching for some 5109 goodness I'm looking to pass on my size 36 pair:

http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php/topic/160476-fs-strike-gold-5109-stevenson-overall-714-valencia-size-36/

[Babyson]

SEXSG24 size 36

Preliminary crappie phone pics of the new jeans fresh after a soak. I'll upload some more pictures later after I get some time but I just want to go over some initial thoughts.

The denim. Holy shit. These things are slubby and stiff. In the picture they might look painted on my thighs but they have actually formed a tube around my leg. They feel heavier than my 19oz samurais after a wash. The warp is similar to the 51xx but the weft is something you have to experience in person. Someone described them as little foam rollers and I can't definitely see that. The denim is also super dark. I don't think my hands have ever been this blue.

The fit. The fit is similar to the oni 517 but has the rise of PBJs. The rise was supposed to be longer on these compared to other cuts but it's still pretty short. Lucky for me I like low rise jeans. But I'm also hoping the rise stretches a bit. The taper on these is perfect. The proportions are just right;having a fuller thigh while not being too tapered. If the rise was a little higher these would be my absolute favorite. The inseam on these are also perfect for me. These are not hemmed.

Post soak. I did a warm soak then hot soaked the top block and knee down. The thighs and lower leg didn't shrink much but the rise and the length shrunk a ton. Probably and inch and a half on the inseam.

If anyone has any other questions I'm more than happy to ask. Overall I love these so far and can't wait to see how they fit and feel once broken in.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

The fit looks very nice and the denim nearly black!

 

1.5" shrinkage in the inseam isn't really that much but maybe you get 1" more when you machine wash them

[CatKillah]

Great reviews and photos @Babyson and @FeloniousMonk. I also sized up from my usual 34 to 36 whose top block is a little bigger than my likings. So I hot washed them, and even though the waist is still slightly loose, the thigh shrank quite a bit (half an inch) and is now perfect.

[Niro]

ah man those jeans are tempting, look really nice! Thankfully potential custom charges and brexit effect on currency conversion saves my bank account

 

Nice t-shirt by the way babyson

[ShootThePier]

@Babyson what is thigh in that post soak fit pic?

[mikecch]

This pair is super hard to photograph...took me ages to get the colours to come out right on the monitor.

The Wavy Standard sexsg24:

 

More photos and some words on my blog.

tl:dr Cool fabric, well made, one of the most interesting pairs in recent memory.

[Babyson]

This pair is super hard to photograph...took me ages to get the colours to come out right on the monitor.

The Wavy Standard sexsg24:

More photos and some words on my blog.

tl:dr Cool fabric, well made, one of the most interesting pairs in recent memory.

Pretty much exactly how I feel. These jeans would have been perfect with a slightly higher rise. They are still amazing and I plan on wearing them hard.

[mikecch]

^ Yeah, so close to perfection...except the arcs though, been staring at it all day, still not feeling it.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I'm curious how durable the denim is. Being short staple cotton for the weft and also a looser weave.

[mikecch]

^ Yeah, I guess we'll find out.

It'll be funny if in 6 months time we get a cluster of ripped pants 

[FeloniousMonk]

Really nice review, and those photos beautifully capture the amount of weft show-through and visual texture of the denim.

 

I'm a little surprised at how positive you are on the patch. When I soaked my pair, a somewhat plastic-y top layer that has the gold foil print separated from the true leather patch underneath, and it still feels a bit bubbly and uneven on the surface. Might have to take a picture of it to see if anyone here can identify what precisely happened.

[mikecch]

Mmm,the deerskin has a very heavy finish on the grain side, which I assumed was to facilitate the foiling process. I can't seem to remove this layer manually.

Yes, please show us a photo!

What temperature did you soak it at btw?

[Babyson]

Here is a pic of my patch after an hour warm soak and 15 min hot soak bother with agitation.

And here is a picture after about a day of wear. They have already stretched to at least raw measurements but it might be past raw. The rise has also stretched some and is much more comfortable.

[ShootThePier]

Are these tight in the thigh and crotch for everybody?

[Babyson]

Are these tight in the thigh and crotch for everybody?

Definitely not on the crotch they have lots of room. They aren't tight in the thigh but they don't have much room.