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Sugar Cane Denim


allacedout

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^ Those look like just the ticket—full leg, cinch back, and everything! How's the quality of Edwin's repros? I'm less interested in strictness of the reproduction than overall build, aging of the fabric, etc.

I have to admit that I'm a little skeptical of the riveted rear pockets and cinch…I'd hate to find myself leaving a nice pair of jeans on my shelf just for the sake of my car seats and / or wood floors. Any experience with whether this sort of rivet tends to scratch?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Of course, in the aftermath of my coming to ask about stricter 1930s Lee repros, I've ended up with a not-so-strict-at-all 1890s Levi's repro: just won the auction for a seemingly brand new pair of Edo Ai! Honestly, I'm beyond excited about this. I think I would've preferred a size 33 for these, but given how rarely these show up, I'm happy to settle for a slimmer fit.

Would it be sacrilege to cut them into shorts?

edit: When I try to revisit the page, it shows a completely different listing, with the message "The listing you're looking for is no longer available. Check out this similar item we found for you". There's a link that takes me to the original listing, but opening the link without cookies takes me right back to the recommended "similar item". Anyone know how to robustly link to closed eBay auctions?

Edited by julian-wolf
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check the inside of the front pocket for the model number on the label.

not sure if this is using any of their AI denims - the patch-on pockets are made of the rainbow/Begin denim...it certainly is one nice pair.

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15 hours ago, julian-wolf said:

Would it be sacrilege to cut them into shorts?

If they don't fit then sell them on, there's plenty of nice shorts available in shops which look and fit better than jorts.

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16 hours ago, bod said:

If they don't fit then sell them on, there's plenty of nice shorts available in shops which look and fit better than jorts.

That's a fair point. They'll fit fine—I wear a 32 in the lot 200s, which should be just a bit slimmer than these from what I gather—but, even so, you're right that true shorts are always gonna be a better fit than cutoffs, so I guess it'd be a bit of a waste.

@Foxy2, I think you may be looking at the listing that my link's been confusingly redirecting to: no patch pockets on these. Boy, though, the things I'd do for a pair of those Begin collabs…

edit: seller's images rehosted to imgur, for anyone unable to find the listing: https://imgur.com/a/Xgp31jz

Edited by julian-wolf
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The jeans have landed! To my great surprise (and pleasure!), they came unwashed, with no puckering or roping and a whopping 36.5" inseam. Tag says SC40501, without any following letter to indicate year or wash; I'm not sure what to make of this. The only signs of 10+ years' ownership were light lines of fading down the sides of the legs, where they'd been folded for the last who-knows-how-long.

Snapped some pre-soak fit pics yesterday morning:

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fnBumme.jpg

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…and then it was into the tub with them for a quickish soak. Decided to go for a less rigorous shrinking routine than I usually would, as the cut seems like it'll lend itself well to a little starchiness. Quite a bit of dye was lost to the water, anyhow:

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With the help of a sunny, windy afternoon, they were dry in just a few hours:

XEEgzksg.jpg

The leg twist, here, is actually only slightly exaggerated.

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they should be SC40501 in 14oz mixed Edo AI and synthetic indigo - hence the original retail price of 16,800/17,640 (way back).

also, they came in at least 2 versions: SC40501-420N and -421A - non wash & one wash.
(a hard-wash version was SC40501-011.)

Edited by Foxy2
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Thanks, all!

@Foxy2, I'm glad for your insight. I'm late to the game, and am more used to the "N", "A", "H", etc. showing up on the tag, rather than the color code. I guess that would make these the SC40501-420N. You mention that they'll resist fading—do you happen to know more about the dyeing process used for these? There's plenty of info floating around on the lot 500 natural version, but I guess I've just been assuming these are rope dyed with some synthetic mixture concocted to look like the Edo Ai. (For what it's worth, plucking a yarn from the extra allowance in the rear pocket confirms that the cores are totally white, which isn't the case for my lot 200.) Any info's greatly appreciated, as usual.

Edited by julian-wolf
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I would expect the indigo-mix denim to fade easier - marginally!

it's difficult to positively identify pictures of worn-in and fade examples, as it already came in a hard-wash version - which appeared to have been quite popular with the Japanese retailers (as in: left over and still floating around on yahoo.jp).

this seems to be a slightly faded pair: http://denim-gallery.heavy.jp/sugarcane/sugarcane-mrfreedom.html

I have not come across any info on the indigo-mix dyeing as the AI pairs got most of the attention and discussions way back then - but I would think it might be a pretty straight forward mix of 2 types of indigo in a regular dyeing process as the price is fairly low. the FH indigo-mix for example has a higher price point...

http://www.mil-mil.net/docs/sugarcane/jeans/sc40501/sc40501.html

Edited by Foxy2
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v jealous of those. I had a friend bring me a pair of the 40501 back from Japan, but annoyingly, they're a much slimmer fit than the Nevada on which they're based, so I had to eBay them. If those are a 31 tagged waist maybe they're mine.

I remember from the time there is some natural indigo in the mix. It's a Nihon Menpu fabric. I'm guessing that it's simply a mix of yarns, most synthetic but with a few hank dyed natural indigo in there, which will almost certainly be Indian cake indigo.

Here's the natural dye vat there:

http://loomstate.blogspot.com/2014/05/naturally-beautiful-trip-to-nihon-menpu.html
 

Edited by Paul T
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Great info as usual, both of you.

@Paul T, I'm also surprised at how slim they are—overall, the cut is similar to their '40s and '50s models through the leg, with the main difference being a good bit more room in the top block. Leg opening's sub-9" and everything. These are tagged 32, so probably not the same pair.

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On 6/22/2018 at 6:31 AM, Akruk33 said:

recently picked these up but the fit just really doesnt work for me. will let them go for a decent price

 

20180621_170752.thumb.jpg.02e783bfb8db8c606d0159940d95f0b8.jpg

 
 

 

 

Edited by VDC
Found the info I was looking for.
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On 6/18/2018 at 9:48 PM, Foxy2 said:

I would expect the indigo-mix denim to fade easier - marginally!

it's difficult to positively identify pictures of worn-in and fade examples, as it already came in a hard-wash version - which appeared to have been quite popular with the Japanese retailers (as in: left over and still floating around on yahoo.jp).

this seems to be a slightly faded pair: http://denim-gallery.heavy.jp/sugarcane/sugarcane-mrfreedom.html

I have not come across any info on the indigo-mix dyeing as the AI pairs got most of the attention and discussions way back then - but I would think it might be a pretty straight forward mix of 2 types of indigo in a regular dyeing process as the price is fairly low. the FH indigo-mix for example has a higher price point...

http://www.mil-mil.net/docs/sugarcane/jeans/sc40501/sc40501.html

I have the sugar cane Hawaii's and they basically look like the pictures on that site (you can see the picture of the turtle on the back patch with the hair still on the hide). The Okinawas have the snakeskin patch and don't appear to be quite as streaky for some reason and are a little darker.

Hawaii's are my favorite pair and the streaking and overall vintage effect is pretty striking, and the crotch never busted due to the vintage fit, I don't know if the natural fiber adds durability but I think it does, if you've felt sugar cane plants before you will know what I mean. My pair of PBRs just really looked like only normal jeans after 10 years and don't really stand out (My ex-girlfriend threw them away cause I hadn't washed them for 4 months or something, annoying).

I haven't bought sugar cane again but now I only buy really rugged uneven looking denim weaves, I think it produces a really interesting fade.

 

Edited by brainmonster
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