Watchlords

Is anyone here into the raw denim, Japanese denim?
I’m considering a couple of pairs, but am curious as to how they look after time and are they really as comfortable as people say?
How often do you go without washing them? I don’t think I can go wearing them a week without washing them and there are people claiming to not have washed theirs for five or more years. That is nasty as F to me.
How much do they shrink? Length, waist, etc..?
Should I get a bigger size or my true size?
Any ideas on best budget and best overall?

I have a lot of questions to be answered before I drop $300.00 for a pair of jeans.

Never heard of that, had to google it. Best I found is from "highsnobiety", that name alone is fun...
https://www.highsnobiety.com/p/japanese ... est-denim/

I had heard the brand name Edwin before, but not associated it with Japan. Can't help You with it. But I would suggest to apply the same rules as for Levi's raw denim.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/arti ... -raw-denim

I do tend to war jeans for a good week before they get a wash - depending on how careful I have been. I tend to get stains on them pretty damn quick.

Thanks Gerdy. That suggestion of washing them three times a year is bothersome to me, perhaps these aren’t the jeans for me. Not that I wear my clothes and come home filthy, but the fact that I am out and about, active and sitting in chairs, booths and other places in public…..it just seems nasty to not want to clean my clothes after I wear them.

I like the look of them though.

I never went in for the not washing stuff. Are people still doing that? I thought it was an objectionable and inexplicable but over fad like mullets

Get Studio D’Artisan jeans. I don’t know if they are the “best” but venerable and super well respected and likely more than good enough for anything one would wish for from a pair of jeans. I’ve been impressed.

I’ve been to their shop in Osaka, it’s in an area of artisanal clothing shops, really great shopping area

Had several pairs of their jeans. The heavy duty stuff lasts forever so much so that my son ended up appropriating all of them.

I’d really advise against the no washing stuff. It actually makes fabric wear out quicker, a lot of the dirt particles are abrasives.

That’s why people doing this have problems with the crotch blowing out on their jeans. Not to mention having to put in freezer periodically when the odor gets too much.

Okayama Denim carries a lot of Japanese artisanal clothing brands so good place to start. You’re not going to be able to go too wrong with stuff from these guys.

https://www.okayamadenim.com/

Studio D’Artisan is premium respected brand and for good reasons. They were the first to use legacy looms to remake selvedge jeans in Japan among other things.

They don’t have English website but here’s the Japanese

http://www.dartisan.co.jp/

I’d note that Studio D’Artisan makes the best chinos/khakis I’ve ever encountered and I’ve managed to save a few pairs from my sons depredations

I do. It still stuns me that Cone denim’s White Oak mill is no longer. Imagine if someone told you, in the 60s or 70s that one day American denim wouldn’t exist. I’m given to understand that someone (who wasn’t Japanese) got some looms and set up shop somewhere but I’m not interested in spending hundreds of dollars on blue jeans because that would make me feel like a hipster doofus.
As would not washing my clothes. Or hair. It’s true. The hipster doofus wears pomade, like Arthur Fonzarelli, and eschews hair washing. And, presumably, sweating.
Japanese denim is now the best in the world. Selvedge denim is night and day different from today’s tissue thin and soft jeans. They do form fit to your shape, just as they used to do, after they shrink and eventually soften from their board hard start. I’ve seen pre broken in selvedge, but that makes as much sense as a man bun (faux apologies to any Lord with a man bun).

Even Levi recommends not washing jeans often.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/arti ... e-to-denim

ocean wrote: ↑

January 2nd 2023, 12:42pm

Even Levi recommends not washing jeans often.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/arti ... e-to-denim

Some places say to put them in the freezer to get the smell out and kill germs….. WTF. My freezer?
These are high maintenance jeans. I really would like to try them, but I’m not sure if I can take the little to no washing and placing them in the freezer next to my lobster tails and shrimp. Let’s just reassign the smell and bacteria to food,

[youtube]https://youtu.be/2G-eqoxcfTU[/youtube]

svaglic wrote: ↑

January 2nd 2023, 12:53pm

ocean wrote: ↑

January 2nd 2023, 12:42pm

Even Levi recommends not washing jeans often.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/blog/arti ... e-to-denim

Some places say to put them in the freezer to get the smell out and kill germs….. WTF. My freezer?
These are high maintenance jeans. I really would like to try them, but I’m not sure if I can take the little to no washing and placing them in the freezer next to my lobster tails and shrimp. Let’s just reassign the smell and bacteria to food,

You don’t have to do any of that stuff. It isn’t nearly as much of a thing in Japan

Just use them like any other clothing

They were making this stuff long before westetn hipsters even existed

Maybe this trend caught on a bit in Japan but for the most part Japanese are rather fastidious about hygiene.

It’s a western hipster thing. They are just good jeans and need no special maintenance

You have my permission to wash them every time you wear them. If they have a thick authentic leather label you might want to keep them out of the dryer

I air dry all my clothes which by the way is very common in Japan. You’ll have a dryer but use it only incidentally.

Thanks Robatsu.
I like the way the Japanese handle them as opposed to those in England and the USA.

svaglic wrote: ↑

January 2nd 2023, 2:02pm

Thanks Robatsu.
I like the way the Japanese handle them as opposed to those in England and the USA.

Great. As to the pricing, yeah it’s high but a different league of quality of manufacture

My several pairs became family heirlooms when my son poached them and they’ve got indefinite service life remaining

So that’s something

I buy Chinese jeans. Next aisle over from Japan.

I frequent a cycling forum that also has a "wardrobe" subforum that includes this 11 year long thread on jeans with a couple of threads on watches.

https://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum/f ... 22967.html

There's an American jeans company in Tennessee called Gusset. Jeans are made here using made in America denim and/or Mexico. I've not tried them but they get good reviews. Lots of styles to choose from.
https://www.gusset.com/

Todd Shelton makes some jeans at his factory in New Jersey; even raw selvedge if that's what you want. Priced accordingly, too.

https://toddshelton.com/jeans/

here's a site with several Japanese jeans: https://www.selfedge.com/jeans


Maybe someday I'll buy a $300 pair of jeans but for now, I survive on Levis 505s (unwashed) and Carhartts. I get them at this place called "Pants Barn".

I've had a few pair of the Diamond Gusset jeans. One pair I tore, the other tore where the pocket was apparently not riveted correctly, and the third I still have. Their Bon Aqua , TN store is about 35 minutes from my house, with another in Lynchburg, home of Jack Daniels distillery. Their jeans have a diamond shaped gusset added to the crotch area, and are comfortable and they use great quality denim. But, for $60 or so, I won't be buying any more, with many good less expensive options out there.

Designer jeans?? Not me, use to wear Carhartt & Levis exclusively but they both tend to change the fit despite sold with the same model # attached.
Fuck that I sayz.

$40-$50 for a pair of jeans?? Fuck that I sayz again, not on my fixed income.

I found a relaxed/loose fitting jean that doesn't break the bank, fits well and comfortable.
Pick them up for $10 a pair when on sale, three pairs at a time for free shipping. Wear the crap outta them and will toss when/if tears.
A brother and a nephew have since started wearing them as well.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... egular-fit

Sorry for the slight cecil svaglic.

Not washing your jeans?
I suppose that you could get away with it if you wear adult diapers underneath.

bobbee wrote: ↑

January 3rd 2023, 8:56am

Not washing your jeans?
I suppose that you could get away with it if you wear adult diapers underneath.

It’s an authenticity thing and an enormous amount of people subscribe to it.

Here’s an analogy. In Japan it is very common for old watches to be polished, and with a vengeance, which is heresy in the west for the most part.

Scratched up anything is pretty much anathema for your average Japanese person.

So unwashed jeans, unpolished watches, kind of a matter of degree. Similar impulse, you see it in lots of things, seeking originality and authenticity. And nothing the matter with that, it’s a pursuit of an ideal.

On those two issues I take a pass on the unwashed jeans but am agnostic on the polishing.

As a historical note, the Mongols, the Golden Horde variety, never washed their clothes and for spiritual reasons. So this kind of thing has been around for a long time

Perth, Cashed Up Bogan capital of the world, is pretty much ground central for expensive jeans. The problem with expensive jeans is they're still jeans, they still look like jeans, and if you wear them to certain places you're a bogan. $300 (?!?!?!) will buy a pair of proper pants, maybe even two pairs.

This is like wearing denim like your great great great grandparents wore.

Interesting thread. Interesting as well there is generally a member here with in-depth knowledge of nearly anything.