Raleigh Denim

[Hendodo]

I tried these on at Barneys. They felt pretty light and the color was nice. I came home and cant find to much about them. From what I found, they are light-weight, selvedged denim that come from Cone Mills. Can anyone shed some more light on these??

[erk]

I tried these on at Barneys. They felt pretty light and the color was nice. I came home and cant find to much about them. From what I found, they are light-weight, selvedged denim that come from Cone Mills. Can anyone shed some more light on these??

how bout that. theyre in Raleigh NC and 15 mins from my parents house.

a band from Raleigh called the Rosebuds who my band is friends with wrote a blog entry about them. kinda funny. they appear to be an american, more fashion oriented version of Ooe. husband and wife team. they included a video from the local raleigh news about raleigh denim.

http://therosebuds.blogspot.com/2009/03/raleigh-denim.html

[pacioli]

Just got back from throwing darts and drinking local Greensboro beer with Sarah and Victor. Their enthusiasm is inspiring.

They not only cut and sew their production orders in their workshop but they really know what they are doing. It is one thing to have factory drones do all the dirty work and quite another to execute every step from design to final product with your own hands. This way of working is extremely rare today and requires immense talent and energy.

They currently produce a fantastic fashion product, although Victor does have a purist side. I like to think of their approach to denim sewing as being similar to what Wiley Dufresne does in his WD-50 restaurant. They are master nerds of their respective subjects and are not afraid to play and experiment. If you look at their jeans with a careful eye you will see details that make you question how they were sewn. In a way they are engaging people to be curious and study an uncommon seam construction, let's say.

I look forward to seeing the "ubergeek jean" (Sarah's words) they recently designed. It is supposed to be a seemingly basic 5-pocket jean with easter egg details. You can expect great things from these two.

Oh all the chainstitched hems are done on vintage Union Specials. They also have a pretty decent button hole machine.

[Irritated Onion]

They don't happen to do one off pairs of jeans (ie MTM) do they?

I figured I'd ask since production seems to be all based out of Raleigh.... and it's only a couple of hours from me (I'm in Charlotte).

[SCDL]

They have a sulfer wash jean. After wear it turns a greenish hue.

[erk]

I went to raleigh denim's "factory" today and it was really awesome. I got to talk to Victor about all sorts of denim nerdy sorts of things.

1st of all their warehouse space is rather large, which was not what I expected.

2nd: my initial impressions of raleigh denim being a more fashion oriented denim company were completely wrong. Victor is every bit as interested in the traditional aspect of jeans making as any of us on this forum.

3rd: I got to see all sorts of interesting samples from cone denim including a pair of traditional type 1966 jeans made for a certain NYC denim store we all know and love out of a roll of cone denim used by (If i remember correctly) tailor toggs for the early 1933 501s (it was actually rather heavy and very beautiful) and this denim is apparently so rare that he called cone and told them that he has it and they put him on the phone with the president of the company. He then told him that he wanted to come see it cause he'd only heard of it and how great it was. I'll have to get more information on that. I also got to see black seed cone denim for the first time, it was quite interesting. He also has several pairs of his jeans worn by people and given back as testimates to their great aging or something, and they all looked great.

4th : they have union specials (including 3 chainstitchers for hemming) and all sorts of other vintage machinery all maintained by victor. He maintains his best union special by taking parts from less useful union special machines (ones for sewing gloves together) and using the parts to fix the working one.

5th : they have a huge roll of a really nice looking cone mills selvage chambray which he has been using on a pair of their "nerdiest" pair of jeans which come chambray pockets, hidden rivets, rivets with leather washers, and selvage cone denim (1933).

6th : I asked him if I could take some pictures of the warehouse and other such things for superfuture and he said yes and hes quite excited that raleigh denim is receiving some attention here.

7th: to answer a question above - he told me he would make me a pair of the "nerdy" ones (he considers himself to be a nerd in this aspect so dont anyone take this the wrong way) which leads me to believe he will do one of mtm pairs to your liking.

8th : only thing I dont like about some of the jeans is vertical exposed selvage on the coin pocket, which actually doesnt look that bad and if he were making a pair for me i'd tell him not to do that and he probably wouldnt do it.

so. there should be a bunch of pictures coming soon.

[aho]

Look forward to your updates...always glad to support the smaller brands like this...sounds like a stand up (EDIT:) couple!

[pacioli]

Don't forget his talented wife and partner Sarah. She deserves equal credit. Erk- did you meet their pattern maker? I think she may have been involved with Levi's in the 60's. I am dying to ask her if she worked on the project to switch the 501 to bartacks...the now famous '66

[aho]

good point pac, didn't read through the whole thread and missed that...In some ways, they remind me of Ooe...

[erk]

good point pac, didn't read through the whole thread and missed that...In some ways, they remind me of Ooe...

exactly.

I mentioned this earlier in the thread and its even more apparent now that i've been there.

and pacioli, I didn't mean to leave out sarah or anything, she was busy giving some family a tour of the factory and I didn't get to talk to her. I also didn't meet the pattern maker, but they did have what seemed to be about 5 people working there that werent victor and sarah. that would be a question i'd love to see answered.

I also forgot to mention that victor was very generous and let me take a few cone scraps home with me. a regular blue selvage and some black seed. both of which he just cut off of a pair of pants that were bad or something. I was gonna just grab some of the open end cone stuff out of the garbage but he offered me those instead. very nice of him.

[akuma no uta]

yo you need to give out contact info and such, i may be rolling up to raleigh soon for some sheetz (closest one to me) and id love to check this place out!

[erk]

yo you need to give out contact info and such, i may be rolling up to raleigh soon for some sheetz (closest one to me) and id love to check this place out!

call them @ 919.274.5999

email them @ [email protected]

they are there most of the week and are willing to meet you there.

1407 s. bloodworth st.

Raleigh, NC 27610

shoot me a pm when you come up, I might be in town...I just realized you said you're coming here for some sheetz...I hope you're kidding.

I don't know about any of their pricing. I didn't ask since I don't have any money or intentions to get any new jeans.

[akuma no uta]

I grew up with sheetz in pa, and they dot have them down here, I miss it badly. I need some chili cheese dogs, and a spicy chicken sandwich, and most of all I need a vanilla latte from there.

[erk]

finally got around to dropping by with my camera. I was very rushed and forgot to get pics of a lot of things that would really intrigue people around here, but there will be more to come; including a documentation of a jean from start to finish.

here you can see sarah at work (in the stripes) and many cool rolls of cone fabric.

some open end stuff and pocket fabric

heres some of the goods.

victor's personal pair raleigh denim - I don't remember how long hes been wearing them, but they look pretty good. made out of black seed denim.

denim pr0n

old shuttle looms and stuff that someone gave them

more posts to come in a few seconds...

[erk]

a pair getting ready to be shipped out

pocket bags

victor in the pattern room.

patterns cut by their pattern cutter. a very old lady who is according to Victor the 2nd pattern cutter for Levi's. she started working in the early 60s.

a very old and awesome union special. victor has 3 of these babies. this one is his favorite so its no longer in use.

more union special

this is where the jeans come together.

more to come in a few seconds...

[erk]

denim pr0n

cool denim that is sulfur dyed and fades from blue to gray, with their signature red chainstitch.

kick press

again

silk screened pocket bags

cool cone white oak tag on the pocket bag

awesomely simple leather patch - numbered by hand by victor and sarah. along with a cool humorous bamboo tag with the raleigh denim logo.

[slpplz]

Awesome thread guys. I've lived in Raleigh most of my life recently graduated from NCSU, and last week I heard about Raleigh Denim from a friend of mine. They are selling about 12 pairs at Stitch a handbag company on Hargett st. in downtown Raleigh. Kind of funny place to put a stack of nice denim.

After looking at the small selection I was really impressed. They had a some really cool denim colors and the construction was top notch. They all ran about 275 which makes it hard for me to justify the cost with some many other brands competing at the price. I did try on the straight leg in a 33 and it felt great and the cut was awesome. They still have me very interested, it's really cool to see some nice denim coming out of Raleigh we are only 2 hours away from white oak I mean come onnnnn.

[Medine]

I hate to give negative criticism on something that everyone is raving about but..

I saw a few pairs of these at barney's the other day and i wasn't that impressed.. I'm sure the denim and construction are top notch, but I didn't like the pocket shape, it's just kinda weird, and I dont like the exposed selvedge pocket bag plus the denim just was too light weight for my taste. that said, they could have a really amazing product with a few tweaks

[ringring]

I like the back pocket shape. It's hard to make a back pocket different to the classic Levi's/Lee templates.

Erk - thanks for the write up and photo story. Looks like a product made by people who know and love jeans. Good luck to them.

[Hendodo]

^^ true dat, when i first tried them on, they felt really soft and light. looks like they do a good job making these jeans though. do they have measurements anywhere??

[TTM]

mom & pop places are all well and good but I don't see what they are doing that's different... where's the innovation?

[erk]

mom & pop places are all well and good but I don't see what they are doing that's different... where's the innovation?

where's the innovation in companies like Samurai, Fullcount, SDA, and warehouse? extra heavy denim? quick fading indigo? leather patch designs?

I feel like Raleigh Denim's strength and uniqueness comes from being a hand made jeans company where all of their materials come from North Carolina. The fact that they are revivalists of N.C.'s legacy as the denim capital of the United States and that they make jeans the old fashioned way. the way they should be made.

For the people who say that the jeans they felt were flimsy and light weight need to be reminded of this :

Raleigh Denim makes many different models. Some of them are meant to cater to a more fashion oriented market, some are made to cater to the niche denim head market. So I'm not sure what it was that you encountered, but what I found was a very sturdy product made from high quality reasonably thick (i didn't find anything in there that was less than 12oz) cone denim.

I agree with RingRing that it is hard to get past Levi's or Lee for back pocket designs, but for those that don't like the back pockets, they also do more traditional back pockets. I myself am a traditionalist and don't really know if I like the back pockets or the exposed selvage.

they also have access to a lot of experimental limited runs of cone fabric. they have hickory stripe, chambray, the blue denim that fades to a grayish color, and other stuff I'm forgetting. They have a unique relationship with Cone Denim and I think they could do a lot of cool things with that.

victor has some plans for superfuture and its users - so hold on to your seats.

[kiya]

Victor came through with some serious help for me when i was in a pinch for some things at Self Edge NY, glad he's doing this and getting some well deserved recognition.

[Sayword]

gotta make my way there sometime

[jackandcoke]

back pockets looks terrible and the red hem is to weird for my taste

[erk]

^^ true dat, when i first tried them on, they felt really soft and light. looks like they do a good job making these jeans though. do they have measurements anywhere??

victor told me they can provide measurements if you'd like. what sizes should I ask about?

anyone else wanna know some measurements?

[hydo]

How could I go about seeing/trying on these jeans? (Conveniently, I live in Durham, NC.)

[cash]

Here is a list of stores where you will find Raleigh Denim.

[erk]

call them @ 919.274.5999

email them @ [email protected]

they are there most of the week and are willing to meet you there.

1407 s. bloodworth st.

Raleigh, NC 27610

try that. they should be willing to meet you down there to try some on.

[ghettokids]

I went to raleigh denim's "factory" today and it was really awesome. I got to talk to Victor about all sorts of denim nerdy sorts of things.

1st of all their warehouse space is rather large, which was not what I expected.

2nd: my initial impressions of raleigh denim being a more fashion oriented denim company were completely wrong. Victor is every bit as interested in the traditional aspect of jeans making as any of us on this forum.

3rd: I got to see all sorts of interesting samples from cone denim including a pair of traditional type 1966 jeans made for a certain NYC denim store we all know and love out of a roll of cone denim used by (If i remember correctly) tailor toggs for the early 1933 501s (it was actually rather heavy and very beautiful) and this denim is apparently so rare that he called cone and told them that he has it and they put him on the phone with the president of the company. He then told him that he wanted to come see it cause he'd only heard of it and how great it was. I'll have to get more information on that. I also got to see black seed cone denim for the first time, it was quite interesting. He also has several pairs of his jeans worn by people and given back as testimates to their great aging or something, and they all looked great.

4th : they have union specials (including 3 chainstitchers for hemming) and all sorts of other vintage machinery all maintained by victor. He maintains his best union special by taking parts from less useful union special machines (ones for sewing gloves together) and using the parts to fix the working one.

5th : they have a huge roll of a really nice looking cone mills selvage chambray which he has been using on a pair of their "nerdiest" pair of jeans which come chambray pockets, hidden rivets, rivets with leather washers, and selvage cone denim (1933).

6th : I asked him if I could take some pictures of the warehouse and other such things for superfuture and he said yes and hes quite excited that raleigh denim is receiving some attention here.

7th: to answer a question above - he told me he would make me a pair of the "nerdy" ones (he considers himself to be a nerd in this aspect so dont anyone take this the wrong way) which leads me to believe he will do one of mtm pairs to your liking.

8th : only thing I dont like about some of the jeans is vertical exposed selvage on the coin pocket, which actually doesnt look that bad and if he were making a pair for me i'd tell him not to do that and he probably wouldnt do it.

so. there should be a bunch of pictures coming soon.

cool. So you just waltzed up in there and you chatted ut up?