Samurai Jeans

[Stacks]

Samurai S510XX-24oz

History: Pre-ordered these through BiG, so I guess I started them in August 2009. Wore for about 2 months then did the smartest thing ever and had them knee-down tapered to match 710s. Worn 90% of days since then. Didn't keep track of soaks/washes... maybe 3 soaks total 2 handwashes (just washed).

Pictures: Taken indoors; window light on a cloudy day. Full disclaimer I tweaked contrast because the weather is making everything look stupid grey.

Comments/Impressions: 24oz is definitely interesting stuff; I'd say there are a number of pros and cons that aren't necessarily apparent until you wear em down a bit. These were super stiff for the first 6 months and kept ALL creases even after being taken off, leading to more abrasion and some cool high contrast fades. On the flip side, the jeans formed a weird crease on either side that came from the factory flatness and simply lying the jeans flat often, and a weird factory wrinkle/crease on the back left leg never came out and actually faded...

You'll notice that the creases that come from bending your knees (connecting knee fade to honeycombs) are pretty exaggerated. As I said before, the denim held all the creases pretty much perfectly so once I stopped bending my knee there would still be a ridiculous sharp crease from the bend that would rub against whatever.

Here you can make out the "lying flat" crease that I was talking about below the knee.

[Stacks]

Tab is surprisingly intact, I think because as pocket denim thickness increases it creates more space in which the tab is protected from sitting abrasion.

I'll probably keep on with these until the 24oz LHTs come out.

[SLAB]

great stuff stacks

[commodorewheeler]

Those 24 oz. look great, man! I'm gonna have to get a pair of the 24 oz. LHT too.

[Pi-tol]

Stacks great story, I also did a taper on my 23 oz SDA after you first reported you did a taper on your 24 oz Samurai's and it definitely a major improvement. Keep up the good work.

[khoiphan92]

I disagree. I think they look great. Samurais are capable of getting such high contrast fades very quickly that it looks fake...so whats the point?

as seen here :

those are s5000vx's. it appears like he did pinch them. i remember a few years ago when he posted these.

[morse9443]

Dying 0500 arcs

[Jeff76]

stacks, great looking 24ozs

[rh3522]

i think you guys have convinced me to taper my own 510's.. 3.5 years later but not too late.. they are so ugly when you stack them

[vitasoy]

Dying 0500 arcs

I noticed that 0500 arcs tend to die off faster than other samurai arcs, morse, how many wears do you have on those?

[edmond]

new samurai arcs..

bad...anyways im done with samurai's

[beatle]

why's that ?

[edmond]

i think samurai is going into a more POP commercialism shit.. like having those expensive necklace .. and more inclined now on the motorsport scene... dunno ... too hype for me unlike before

[beatle]

Really ? I think they're still one of Japans finest - and the've always had their Motorcycle and Club editions..

the Earth Model for instance is insanely beautiful - one more example of Samurais creativity when it come to trying new dyes and stuff.

I will always have a special place in my heart for Mr. Nogami **

[geneticdrifter]

i think samurai is going into a more POP commercialism shit.. like having those expensive necklace .. and more inclined now on the motorsport scene... dunno ... too hype for me unlike before

so you're saying:

they sold out. or are on the way to selling out.

or

they are just too hype for you.

?

[LFC4ever]

Really ? I think they're still one of Japans finest - and the've always had their Motorcycle and Club editions..

the Earth Model for instance is insanely beautiful - one more example of Samurais creativity when it come to trying new dyes and stuff.

I will always have a special place in my heart for Mr. Nogami **

Totally agree.

[commodorewheeler]

Really ? I think they're still one of Japans finest - and the've always had their Motorcycle and Club editions..

the Earth Model for instance is insanely beautiful - one more example of Samurais creativity when it come to trying new dyes and stuff.

I agree with Beatle. When it comes to quality of construction and attention to detail, Samurai is among the best, if not the best, of all the major Japanese denim manufacturers that I've owned pieces from.

Samurai jeans are also among the most varied out there when it comes to trying different things with their denim (ranges of weight, dyeing variety, textures of denim).

Sure there's hype, but aren't they among the most popular brands of Japanese denim out there? With popularity, you can't avoid hype.

[landstander]

i just stopped by americaya the other day..they had 2 of the element sams i believe..i know they had the ones with the purplish/brown overdye (earth element?)

i wish they had arcs though..and im a little curious to see how the fading on them turn out.

I ended up grabbing some 510s with the new arcs:

^pre-soak fit

I know they'd fit perfect after a soak or wash but i'm holding off on the soak in case i end up selling em. I just have so many other pairs of denim right now so we'll see

[Flash]

keep them , they look great

[LeicaLad]

I need help: I have a specific question about the S710BK 2008 SE model.

I want a pair, but BIG has only a single pair left in size 40. I wear a 38, so I really need to know – preferably from someone experienced in the bigger sizes of this lot – DARE I size up?

The problem is that I’m actually a “fat 36â€, which is to say that I should be a 36, my hips are those of a 36", but I’m overweight. My FullCount contest jeans are 38, and shrank to exactly 38. These have been perfect. If they were even a 39â€, they’d be too big. I could take 'em off w/o unbuttoning. Sigh. I have a narrow margin of error here.

Gordon suggests they’ll shrink enough to be fine, but I have this suspicion that they’d stretch out closer to tag size.

SO, has anyone here had experience with a size 38 or size 40 for the S710BK 2008 SE model???

Please share.

Thanks!

[bry01]

710's

bout 7 months

only first initial soak

My bad for big pics

[edmond]

all im saying is that samurai is doing the mainstream thing and its not how i want a brand to go.. so if you guys disagree with me its no biggie but its true even the take5 staffs agree with me...next brand.. rjb,fh,evisu, momotaro , sda

[DoitsuJin]

edmond, i find your hate on 'hype' or 'mainstream' (what have you) a bit ironic considering you lay your fingers on almost every pair of j-denim in existence. isn't it a lot more hype to be collecting any and every pair that comes out? no hate, just my honest opinion.

[edmond]

no im just talking about samurai and collecting denim is not hype dont relate everything to people collecting nike sb 's that you find hype i just have the dough to collect jap jeans ya dig?

[mlyngard]

those are s5000vx's. it appears like he did pinch them. i remember a few years ago when he posted these.

If I didn't know the nature of Sam and other fast fading denim, I'd say those looked a bit extremely exaggerated the way some pre-distressed stuff can be. But then you see it close-up and know it was earned.

i think you guys have convinced me to taper my own 510's.. 3.5 years later but not too late.. they are so ugly when you stack them

Maybe a hem rather than a taper? I'm reluctant to question the wisdom of a cut these days, but often know when jeans aren't designed for stacking...

Really ? I think they're still one of Japans finest - and the've always had their Motorcycle and Club editions..

the Earth Model for instance is insanely beautiful - one more example of Samurais creativity when it come to trying new dyes and stuff.

I agree. Samurai's philosophy seems like it has always been less traditional repro and more extreme, more experimental. I'm not sure that's 'hype', but they seem to do things differently than the others. take it or leave it, I guess.

new samurai arcs..

That's refreshing to me. I really like it and it seems to fade in nicely on Flat Head's BSP.

[YoungPunch]

I understand what edmond is saying. I think he still would agree samurai makes a quality product. It's just that he already owns so many pairs of jeans from them, and seeing as how because of their popularity they are becoming more mainstream this effects his opinion of them.

Because of the collector mentality, these peeps feel its important to stay on the cutting edge of Japanese denim brands, as in buying the lesser known or not-yet-popular brands.

I personally am really into old-school Japanese nostalgic cars from the 60's and 70's more so than motorcycles. So I can appreciate the motor club line of Samurai clothes more so than brands like ironheart, westride, or Indian motorcycle.

[skiniks]

$300 jeans will never be mainstream

[nycsurfer530]

$300 jeans will never be mainstream

true religion= mainstream and they're 300$ pieces of crap

[YoungPunch]

$300 jeans will never be mainstream

True that, when compared to 7forallmankind, diesel, true religion, or regular stf levis.

All of the jeans we are into on sufu are not mainstream compared to those kinds of brands, but even within our community their are smaller-scale, lesser known brands or jeans just too expensive for the average superfuture denimhead to buy.

big john, the steam locomotive, redmoon, cushman, bootleggers reunion, stormy blue, pherrows or tedman for example: These jeans aren't as popular as sugarcane, skull, a.p.c., dior, flathead, ironheart or samurai.

Any Japanese jeans brand with a dedicated thread on sufu with almost one thousand posts could be considered mainstream within our community.

[coleslawyum]

RBozTADyBb8