Ande Whall Denim

[IRONHORSE]

I just got my Cougar and cant wait to put it own, the wait was killing me, the custom hold and the postal service. But I'm a happy camper now.

I will post pics once I get home..

[aleopold]

+Rep Poly. Those are wonderful.

[Vanquish Gold]

Make us hidden wings and I promise you that I will get another raker from you Ande.... (Size up of course, a TTS raker made my fingers bleed while retreiving coins in the pocket...)

[andewhall]

Haha. I like to call them Rackers, as this nice Thai chap once sent me an e-mail saying Rackers all the way through....it was funny gold.

Writing some form of design/philosophy thing about the branding. It's fairly crap so far.

[dawei69]

hey, ande, just wondering here, why did you stop doign those chambary selvage pockets?? I thought they were quite nice! maybe too pricey?

[andewhall]

Hi Guys. Have had a lot of e-mails about the new 13.5oz and 15.5oz models. Since moving the operation to the new place, although I found the cheapest, coolest place I could find in the old garment district...It sort of wiped me out a bit. So decided to put the new models up for pre-sale to get the denim in from Japan. The plan behind the new models is to offer some amazing denim alternatives at a lower price with less details than the original model. Not everyone cares about crazy details like selvage flys, hidden rivets etc, so thought it would be a good option.

Have also been planning on doing a "Pic's of making a pair of jeans" Vol.2! for years now, haha. Anyway, it was going to include walking to the new studio, making the jeans and sending them out. So far I have got the walking to the studio bit and some shots of what the plans are for it. Will def get around to the 'making jeans' bit, once I get the workshop all sorted out, it's a bit all over the place at the moment.

[andewhall]

Alright. Check the internetz...mainly Sufu and see what sweet faded jeans are going down. Have to many cups of coffee until the shakes set in. Check what the day is up to in old Christchurch.

Head off to the studio....I live in the bit at the bottom right. It kind of looks like the Adam's family house. Would be cool if it was black. This area is called the Arts Centre. Back in the day it was the old University, now it's all restaurants and arts kind stuff, small craft stores, carving, art galleries, kind of touristy as well. Christchurch is often called the most English city outside of England....just the buildings are much younger.

Some of the old University.

The pub across the road is known as the best in town, The Dux Deluxe. Has been around for ages, they brew their own beer which is mighty fine, quite partial to their Ginger Tom..great in the winter as it gives you a good kick.

[andewhall]

Head off down the road. On the corner is this sweet art deco apartment building. It's just had a re-paint and is looking better than ever. A friend lived there years ago, it's got the grand stairwell with those deco steel hand rails. Not to up to speed on the deco era, some of you guys might be.

Past the cop shop. There could be bad guys in the back of that paddy wagon?

Past the Avon river. This friend of mine, I call him the urban archaeologist digs in the old areas of town for turn of the century antiques..he also puts on a wetsuit and goes into the river with a glass bottom bucket and shovel! In winter too...crazy dude. It's really interesting though, the stuff he finds is quite amazing, old bottles, pipes, tins, bear grease ceramic containers?! He knows all the history of the pieces, or finds out. There was no rubbish collection back in those days, so everyone had a big hole in the back yard to throw all the rubbish in, then covered over when full.

[andewhall]

Past the bridge of Rememberance which is for the NZ soldiers that fought in WWI and WWII.

Then down the city mall...which is very quiet due to terrible suburb malls. All the main fashion stores where down here until recently. Will go into more about that later. They decided to bring the tram back, which is more of a tourist thing. Trams were all over the city until the 50's.

Past Ballantynes, which is the oldest department store. It's actually really good. Unfortunately a terrible fire hit in 1947, New Zealand's worst known fire. Had to take a pic of the denim window display...there was an old Brother plain sewer in there.

[andewhall]

Continuing though the lanes. This area which was the old garment district and industrial businesses etc. They have mostly moved out of town to the bigger suburb subdivisions and this other industrial area just out of the city. On the other side was mainly the red light, whore house street. Now it's all bars, cafe's and all the fashion stores have moved in. When I was a youngster I had a job at this dodgy coleslaw factory down this lane.

[beatle]

thanks for sharing - lovely pics

[andewhall]

Just took a beer break on this fairly warm winter saturday. A bar that we often visit down this lane called, Good bye Blue Monday. They have some good country, rockabilly type band playing there all the time. Also referred to as Dereleek, from Zoolander as they have 44 gallon drum, gas fire heaters outside and shitty old couches. Can't see the drum's in the pic unfortunately.

[andewhall]

Nearly at the workshop. This red art thingy moves around in the wind...we seem to have loads of these around town.

And this once fairly dodgy street now houses the fashion boutiques etc.

[andewhall]

Finally at the studio street. You can see a shop called WORLD to the right, they are quite a successful fashion store/brand.

Love this old 'Style Master' sign, a reminder of the areas past.

The workshop up the top. It was a back breaking job getting the sewing machines up the stairs.

Crappy chandelier.

[andewhall]

The view looking south. The best thing about winter here is the crispy clear days. So looking south is a bit more of NZ, then next stop Antarctica. That yellow looking building Albion Suites used to house a shirt making factory, luckily they haven't shut down but just moved further down the same road. I had some shirts sampled there years ago and hope to use them in the future for the shirt production.

Out the north window there used be be good jazz place, now it's a Korean BBQ joint....food smells great when the window is open in the summer. I believe these were once old stables, am trying to do a bit of research on the buildings around here.

Workshop area, picture speaks for itself, haha.

Chill area. Hope to see some of you guys here for the Rugby World Cup 2011! Alright that's about it for now, off to watch the All Blacks play Wales....we should thump them, they are good though. Next I will get around to the jeans making, or maybe jacket making for a change.

[poly800rock]

my dad had a choice when he finished his PhD, to stay in america or take a job in NZ. I yell at him when he says his reasons for staying in america.

[PandaXS]

Ande nice pics! What camera you use?

@ poly

one day if your bored i wanna see a fit pic of your old AW ive searched this whole forum and have not seen one!

[andewhall]

Haha...speak of the devil. My buddy came around today, just about to go into the river to look for antiques, crazy bugger. He's hamming it up for the camera because he didn't want his picture taken as he had an Arsenal beanie on, when he is in fact a Man U supporter. I should actually photograph some of the amazing stuff he finds as it's all around the hey days of early denim workwear etc.

Edit...he is now called Scuba Steve or Henchman James Bond extra.

[CML]

Awesome pictures and good luck in the studio!

[>++fishb0neR]

He's hamming it up for the camera because he didn't want his picture taken as he had an Arsenal beanie on, when he is in fact a Man U supporter.

It's a fact most gooners choose to dress like that.

please tell me you aren't a gooner Ande..

i will never buy your jawnz if it is so...

also, those pics have solidified my deicision to try to get to NZ next summer for the RWC. I know that's only Christchurch, but it's such a scenic place

[Rob060]

thought i might as well put up this fit pic from the waywt. finally starting to get hot around here so evolution should speed up.

[Freshdave]

One initial soak, no washes. I've worn them about 2 weeks a month, since mid-feb. Definitely happy with them, by far the slimmest jeans I've ever worn. (Grifters 33x32)

(Sorry Ande, couldn't rock the wings...)

[Deadramones]

Quick evo on some of the Rakers from way back in 2007 (pretty sure they're the Cone Mills ones), they've been lying low for 3 years.

About 3 months of pretty regular wear, no wash.

[dawei69]

holy crap... did ande use hickory pockets back then?

[Deadramones]

yeah man, they fill me with happiness every time I take off my jeans!

[dkatz]

Dude you should get those back in the rotation and wear the hell out of them - they look like they will turn out beeauuutifully once they break!

My old roommate had a pair of Grifters from the same generation - I should get in touch with him and see if he's been rocking them.

[Deadramones]

Sorry, I said that in a pretty ambiguous way, these are my full-time, everyday jeans at the moment, I got them from someone who bought them back in 2007 and didn't wear them, so this is a current update on a pair of jeans that have been unworn for 3 years and just started to get worn now.

(Although, having said that, I've got a pair of PBJs on the way so they will have to rotate with them before long...)

[aleopold]

Just pulled the trigger on a pair of 35x34 Cougars in the new 15.5 Oz denim. Can't wait for these to get here in hopefully a month or so. Any word of a shipping date?

[Raoul Duke]

I've finally got my first pair of Ande Whalls

Just got my first pair of Ande Whalls:

Ande put some thought in to potentially using some AI denim, so I basically purchased his sample pair.

The cut I chose was "Slacker" in attempt to achieve a fit similar to a "Grifter" after a soak. The "Slacker" cut has a little extra room in the rise, which will shrink during the soak.

The construction of these jeans is exceptional. You can tell that there is a lot of care that went in to making these. I decided to post detail shots (and yes, I know they are large), because I think the details are the best part about these jeans.

Full detail shot:

Tag :

Tag (Closer):

Ande Whall Tab / Contrast "Wings":

Linen Patch:

Coin Pocket:

Donut Button:

Upturned Selvedge:

Hidden Rivet (From the inside):

Selvedge (Inside)

[Raoul Duke]

Pocket Bag Detail:

Pocket Bag Detail (Closer):

Selvage Fly:

I plan to soak tomorrow night, at which point I'll post fit pictures.