The Denim Debate

[kiya]

This is about to go down in a big way.

http://denimdebate.com/

Discuss.

[rnrswitch]

Sounds cool and all, but for the most part they left out quite a bit of denim brands. No SC (or MFSC), Samurai, or even LVC. It will be interesting to see how some of these jeans will hold up to some wear and tear.

Those are my first impressions. I will check out the site a bit further when I am not on the bosses dime.

[rnrswitch]

Ooh but I do see that Rising Sun is on the list. Will like to see how those work out.

[Hendodo]

interesting.. they dont have iron heart either..

[aho]

^Agreed...would've been nice to see some more brands (Warehouse, Fullcount, LVC, Eternal, etc) but glad to see some more obscure ones on the list (Ooe, etc) as well that don't get as much attention here on sufu...

All's I want to know is, can I get in on this as a "nobody"??? kiya, can you pull some strings for me?

[rnrswitch]

Yeah, I would like to represent warehouse or even samurai if possible or even Real McCoys.

[Alex3000]

I would love to put my Black Knights in this.

[Stacks]

eh... who needs that when you have this forum.

To think that you can judge denim by 1 person's wear on them is laughable, really. Coupled with the fact that they are missing so many heavy hitters it strikes me as little more than creative marketing.

While in the market for new denim, I found that there wasn’t a way to easily compare and contrast different brands. Sure you can find photos of new denim, and photos of destroyed denim nearing the end of their functional life, but nothing documenting the process in between. Frustrated by the lack of clear information, I reached out to a network of stylish colleagues to partake in a debate of sorts. Being highly involved in branding and marketing, I understand the value that these “tastemakers” bring to the debate. I‘m ten times more likely to buy a product or patronize a store if I have personal experience with them or know someone who does. These individuals will bridge the gap between brand and buyer, giving an honest look at denim to help everyone from the denim snob to a first time purchaser.

so much bullshit in this paragraph...don't really know where to begin.

e2: was gonna make a joke about how they typo'd "the sartorialist" in the featured section but I guess they changed it just now.

[morse9443]

^co-sign. Who's wearing these, desk jockeys or extreme athletes? At least on sufu you 'know' the person behind the pair.

[mpcec]

I think it's a cool idea and they would probably represent all brands currently absent if the right guy was looking to get involved and would wear a pair.

I love how someone chose OOE but Warehouse and many other bigger brands are absent. I bet most of these dudes browse this forum. Also I can't wait to see the fades on those SDAs, absolutely love the pair that was selected.

e: Morse a lot of them are bloggers, retailers, etc. foreign names but not representing foreign sites. For example James Wilson (Secret Forts), Ryan Huber (Context Clothing), Emil Corsillo (Owner of the Hillside)

e2: It would be funny to set up a competing site, with more brands represented by Sufu users....

[Eels]

Think it will turn out really cool. Can't wait.

[iamstarwars]

eh... who needs that when you have this forum.

To think that you can judge denim by 1 person's wear on them is laughable, really. Coupled with the fact that they are missing so many heavy hitters it strikes me as little more than creative marketing.

so much bullshit in this paragraph...don't really know where to begin.

e2: was gonna make a joke about how they typo'd "the sartorialist" in the featured section but I guess they changed it just now.

My thoughts exactly. I could be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I feel that half of them are in it to market jeans that they/their friends sell. I don't care for 2/3 of the brands they picked and already know enough about the other third that I don't need any blogger's help to know why I like them. This project could be really interesting, but I don't like the way it is being presented.

(On a side note, the Kapitals someone posted in the comments look really good. Now that's a brand that I would want to see more people wearing.)

[geneticdrifter]

eh... who needs that when you have this forum.

To think that you can judge denim by 1 person's wear on them is laughable, really. Coupled with the fact that they are missing so many heavy hitters it strikes me as little more than creative marketing.

+rep

e2: It would be funny to set up a competing site, with more brands represented by Sufu users....

i'm in.

My thoughts exactly. I could be wrong, I hope I'm wrong, but I feel that half of them are in it to market jeans that they/their friends sell. I don't care for 2/3 of the brands they picked and already know enough about the other third that I don't need any blogger's help to know why I like them. This project could be really interesting, but I don't like the way it is being presented.

must spread.

[Stacks]

Ben Feb 23, 2010 at 12:03 pm #

super excited about not have to dig through sufu threads to find out about this shit. However I am love my APC NS, best most comfy jeans I’ve ever owned.

Bob Feb 23, 2010 at 1:36 pm #

Fantastic idea! As much as I love sifting through endless pages on SuFu, this seems much more organized and has much more diversity. I’ll also second the notion to include APC. Many people scoff at the brand as entry level, but I love my New Standards.

fuck sufu ns ns ns ns ns ns ns

[almostnice]

thanks to sufu i dont have to brows endless blogs,here we have it all in one.as much as i like diversity on the subject,i just dont have the time to manage/post/read others.

[kiya]

You guys are really over thinking this, stop with the group think crap and take it for what it is.

[mpcec]

(On a side note, the Kapitals someone posted in the comments look really good. Now that's a brand that I would want to see more people wearing.)

Yeah those Kapitals look awesome, only pair I'd seen before had back pocket flaps and some funky stitching/ design details.

I think those of you interested in representing a brand should definitely email the guys. It would be cool to have some (more) familiar faces on there.

[almostnice]

reading that Nick Horween is in it the opportunist in me comes to life,so i will give it a try.

if i find the time,that is.

[coupon]

I like their choice of brands and contributors. I'm guessing that most of them arn't part of the sufu culture so it will be nice to see opinions and how people view the same type of jeans from an outside perspective.

[beatle]

You guys are really over thinking this, stop with the group think crap and take it for what it is.

so true..thanks for posting in the first place - will be nice to see updates ..hope they can organize the page in a way that you can navigate quickly between individual posts...

[rnrswitch]

I still like the idea. I also like the idea of the wikipedia that amardeep setup but for some reason people are not keeping that up very well.

I think people have setup sites similar on sufu, like for the original samurai contest and that really wasn't kept up too well and I think it was done for subsequent contests as well. Maybe this will be a bit more organized and some of these dudes know their shit about denim so it would be nice to get an informed opinion on the jeans. Nevertheless SUFU satisfies most if not all of my denim knowledge needs.

[Stacks]

Oh ok, I get it, if your opinions are positive you can post in here because that qualifies as discussion, but if your opinion is negative it's group think crap and you're overthinking it.

I need to say my piece on this. I buy from kiya/selfedge; I don't have an ax to grind, but it's pretty frustrating to have your opinion immediately dismissed as "group think crap" by someone who has some sort of business connection (advertising space) to the site up for "discussion." It's especially ironic when that groupthink dismissal gets quote echoed by one of that person's biggest fans on this board.

I don't mind having an unpopular opinion; I don't mind when that opinion is attacked but I do mind when it's dismissed with a tired kneejerk one line response. So in an effort to have an actual discussion here, let me pose some questions:

What unique value do you think "tastemakers" bring to the denim "debate?" Do you think their status as "tastemakers" makes their opinion more honest, or more useful to denim consumers, than the opinions of other consumers?

Do you think there is a real "gap" between denim brands and denim consumers? What constitutes this gap? Is it simply technical information on the production process and materials or is there something more?

Is it admirable to make a connection with a brand rather than with an individual product?

I have my opinions but I think I'll wait until I get some responses so I don't promote more groupthink.

[grmanny]

even though this site is great, i just like seeing the progression of jeans in general. this should be great

[kiya]

I think there were some missteps with my wording...

Many times on forums a person posts something and the snowball effect of negativity ruins it for future readers, this takes place in ANY niche hobby. I've seen this first hand ruin scenes from music to yoyo culture, eventually nobody except for kids frequent the online communities.

Ok, that was a tangent.. what i'm saying is that it's just a site where some bloggers are showing off some jeans and writing about what they think about the product, these people are not paid for any of this.

As always, criticism is welcomed and encouraged.

[runormal]

I like the idea that some people wearing the jeans might not be really into denim (initially) and therefor are just wearing them to see what happens without a clear objective of super intense fades and combs, etc - kind of a litmus test for what the general jean wearing public would treat the jeans like - and how they evolve and discover their own likes and/or dislikes for raw denim. I guess I'd like to see what someone like my dad, co-worker, dude at 7-11, etc would end up with if he wore raw denim for the next year type of thing....

It looks like they chose a variety of brands, made in USA, made in Japan, small companies, larger companies, sanforized and unsanforized, and hopefully they will chose a variety of fits as well and not just super slim fits. LVC would have been nice to include.

Stoked to see what happens!

[beautiful_FrEaK]

reminds me of a thing, some japanese (I think) guys did some years ago.

they all wore Samurai jeans but different models IIRC.

can't find the link to their page ATM

[akka225]

You guys are really over thinking this, stop with the group think crap and take it for what it is.

As always, criticism is welcomed and encouraged.

lol at this

[kiya]

akka225, you didn't actually read my post, did you?

[TN_]

the website is a good idea. the self promo on the first post / about section isn't needed thought. that'll turn people off the idea. give good content and a community will form itself.

[Hendodo]

i agree with stacks, that opinions shouldnt be thrown out ( which i believe they are sometimes, depending on the poster)

I also think that they did not do a good job representing more brands , which should be in there. I do think that its a good marketing project, and it will be exciting to see documenting of all these diff jeans