Nudie Spring/Summer 2010

A short preview of Nudie's Lab and Dry Selvage collections for the coming spring of 2010.

Many of you are probably familiar with Nudie's Lab line. Up until this coming spring it's been the home of Nudie's premium models. This changes from Spring, when the Dry Selvage line debuts. The 'Dry Selvage' has been around since the early days of Nudie but it will from then on be where all the.. dry.. selvage jeans will be placed.

Notice the denim and denim/suede jackets too?

This includes the regular dry selvages, like the all-time favourite Regular Alf Dry Selvage, but also the premium editions that are premiered next season.

Coming is a cashmeredenim*, a hemp-denim and a 100% natural indigo-denim.

Natural indigo, hemp, silk.

These specials will come in hand-made wooden boxes and together with a denim themed photobook.

The Lab line will house the more worked and distressed models and the selvage jeans that aren't dry or raw. It also offers experimental garments like a leather/denim baseball jacket.

Just a small part of the line. There's also distressed denim shirts and jackets.

My favourite wash is this one:

It's not perfect(no wash can ever be) but some parts of the distressing has been done very well; the holes and repairs on the knees and the tears and repairs at the heal. I hope the pairs that come out of production have as much attention to detail.

The final new change is that Nudie will offer more types of leather wallets from Spring on. There's even the denim/leather hybrid thing, like the one Japanese Samurai has made before.

And while on the subject of Nudie: They have (finally) started their own denim contest. Check it and the results so far out here.

*I made a mistake and told you there would be a silk-mix pair, but it's actually a cashmere-mix instead.

LVC.JP 506

A few days ago the many boxes of books and clothes I couldn't fit in my luggage when returning home arrived and among the things were a 506 denim jacket from Levi's Vintage Clothing Japan. I looked long and hard for a denim jacket and this one is exactly what I wanted; a simplified Type 1 jacket from the WWII era, a very small size so that I can wear it almost like a shirt and look almost like a cowboy, a great dark and tightly woven denim and stitching that looks like it was done with a vintage machine.



That's not to say it's perfect for it isn't--the red tab has LEVI'S written on both sides when it shouldn't(the tab was single-sided until 1951) and the leather tab is probably not made from the correct type of leather, but it's still the best jacket I've found.
At first I thought that the buttons were off too; I thought they should be of the donut type which was commonly used during this time and that there should be one more of them. That was until I saw an original at Fake Alpha in Harajuku, which is one of the best stores for vintage denim in Tokyo and Japan.
The type and number of buttons is spot on, as is the denim, which is perhaps the most important thing. I'm guessing the reproduced jacket is made with a jacket from the early years of the war, before they hadn't gotten as far as using another type of button, just reduce the number of them and remove the pocket flap.
I'm also guessing this is the reason why the tag only says '506' without the 'S' for Simplified. I do however believe that it should say 'XX' and that it's a mistake that it doesn't.



Another thing that I've been pondering is the relationship between Levi's EU/US and Levi's Japan. It seems to me that there isn't any at all, that the Japanese branch is in fact another company producing clothes under a license from Levi's EU/US.
A funny anecdote I heard, which might just be an untrue rumor, is that when Levi's Japan has first been established, they only had the rights to use the "Levi's" trademark but not the '501' trademark so they called their jeans something else, like 5-01.


Tag shrinkage after three washes

Anyway, the licensing part would help explain why the LVC collection in Japan looks quite different from the collection here. The years and models produced are largely the same, but with a few more odd ones issued as limited editions, but they are certainly based on different originals as the '37, '47, '55 etc. all look different then they do in the EU collection.
They also use a different denim. Except for small percentage of the limited editions that are Cone denim, it's all denim made in Japan. It's funny that they have decided to use Cone denim, because I find that the Japanese denim is usually more true to the original in texture and color. In fact, I avoid the models from 1927 and on, which are made with Cone denim, nowdays and prefer the earlier years that are made with denim from Japan.
I hate to hype Japan because it's not The Promised Land and not everything is better there, but they DO put more effort into many things, including denim, which is why they have the best restaurants, designers, make the best reproductions etc. in the world.
However, it cannot be said to often that while the best denim is from Japan, not all denim from Japan is good.

Cotton Duck

Samuel wears only denim.

While I'm slacking off.

BACK

So, I'm back in Stockholm after a little less than a year in Tokyo. How does it feel? It feels great actually. I am almost completely free of withdrawal, much to my own surprise. It doesn't mean that I don't miss Tokyo a lot, but the reason is that I now feel that Tokyo is my second home, that we're just spending some time apart and that I could go back any time. That's not exactly true, but I try not to think too much about the facts.

It's also because I'm now in another place that I like very much too. And, for such a small country, Sweden has a very good denim scene. Just these two weeks there are events held by Nudie, Blue Bell Wrangler and the new brand Clash Jeans, the latter two both at SOLO.







After party at 118 Second Leather.


Lukas in excellent '70s Levi's on the right.

I do know that I have been very lacking in updating. I have material from Tokyo to last another year(25 at the current pace) so you'll see more of our favourite city soon. I'm also working on another project so I won't promise anything regarding the frequency of updates though.

Yoyogi Fleamarket: All Vintage

They're both wearing all original vintage. The fleamarket at Yoyogi is the best; you can find all types of vintage clothing and at the lowest prices in Tokyo. 1950s Levi's (worn out) start at $300 or a little less.

Harajuku Streets: †

Visiting Ooe Yofukuten & Co.

Two weeks ago I visited Ryo and Hiro of Ooe Yofukuten in their atelier in Nagoya. It was an interesting experience, meeting two very dedicated individuals and see how they make their jeans and how much effort they put into it.

Their atelier is located in a small warehouse on the outskirts of Ichinomya. The house is shared with the family's box making business but once you step inside, there's no doubt that this is a house of denim.
Greeting you inside is a stack of samples of jeans they've made and various other things like an old shuttle from a wide loom and inspirational photographies.

Can you spot my gift?


There's also the custom built display frame that will be given to the winner of Ooe Yofukuten's first fading contest.

Walk a little further and you'll see the small brand's collection of vintage sewing machines. All of the machinery, except for the one used for riveting, they use for making jeans is vintage.
Most notable is a German Union Special chainstitching machine and a 1920's belt loop machine.
The latter is one hundred percent vintage, down to the spare parts and even the oil used to lubricate it!
With this equipment Ryo and Hiro makes the jeans all by themselves from start to finish, cranking out just one pair a day.


1920s belt loop machine.


Union Special on the right.


Attaching rivets and buttons.

There's also the rolls of denim and other fabrics. Ooe buys only deadstock fabric from a mill in Okayama which is why once one of their choices of fabric is gone, it's gone. The quantities they buy of each fabric is very limited and is enough for as few as three to twenty pairs of jeans.


I looked through most of their denim and have a few favourites. Unfortunately I can't disclose which they are as they might run out then, and I'm waiting to order one of the new models which are made available when Ooe has received their new machines.
The denims are fairly similar though, almost all of them are going for authenticity rather than innovation. It's hard to determine which fabric is 'best' by just looking at raw samples and since their not that different from eachother, I would suggest you make you decision based on something like weight or color(dark or light etc.)

The opportunity here to make you own custom jean is unique. Not only can you choose your own denim but you can also decide on which rivets and buttons to use. It's also possible to design your own backpockets and, I believe, get a customized patch.
It doesn't stop there. If you're not happy with what history has to offer you can even mix and match the decades--if you like tighter cuts but want the detailing of mid-century Levi's, it's possible to get a '70s cut with '50s detailing.

For inspiration when making more original products like the Double Knee overalls or the 1850s Logger overalls, Ooe has a large amount of magazines like Lightning, Free & Easy and old Boon.
They also have rare books like "Denim", My Freedamn! and old American catalogs from as early as 1900 and 1902.





The 01XX, 1947-1951 501 model, cut is made with an early '50s 501 as a base. The cut up original was used to get the pattern for this model.



The backpockets are shaped slightly differently.

I compared my pair of 1101XXs to the once again sewn together original of roughly the same size and the result was pleasing. There are a few millimetres of difference here and there between the two, but all in all this is a very good replica, especially considering that there were large variations between individual 501s at the time.
As for the denim, it's very close too. It's very toned down and not trying to be innovative as some other Japanese brands. If innovation is good or bad is for everyone to decide by themselves but right now I'm personally more interested in a vintage type denim that will work together with my real vintage garments(I can't afford to buy real vintage jeans just yet, so I opt for reproductions).
The No. 11 denim has more slightly more vertical unevenness or striation than the original, which in my mind makes it look a little more like a mid-to-late fifties pair, but it does not bother me.


All in all, I'm very happy with my pair. Ryo even showed me details I had no knowledge of before, like how the fabric for the backpockets is cut and folded before attaching the hidden rivets. This is different between WW2 501s and the '47-'51 era 501s and is replicated correctly on the 01 model. The correct type of UFO rivet is also used here.


I find that the backpockets even wear 'realistically' thanks to this. See the comparison below of the area around the hidden rivet:

'

Here's my pair of AG1101XX compared to a new pair. I've worn my pair for about 4.5 months and washed twice by hand, twice in machine.



As you can see there's not much in the ways of honeycombs, and I have no hopes of them developing either. Defined honeycombs require infrequent washing and stiff denim. You pretty much need to wear your jeans for 4-6 months between each wash to get sharp honeycombs and I'm washing more and more frequently. This denim is also not very starchy and 'just' 13.5 ounce.
I've barely seen any vintage Levi's with pronounced honeycombing though and I attribute this to how they were treated, basically washed a lot.

The all-yellow stitching brings my thoughts to Levi's jeans during the WW2 era. It will be interesting to compare these jeans to the ones Inoue was wearing.


Ryo and Hiro have worn their jeans a bit longer than I have. Ryo on the right is wearing the 402XX and Hiro is wearing a pair made from the #11 denim. She's worn them for about 6 months and washed them once every or every other week. The denim certainly doesn't get ruined by washing, it actually just gets better with wear and washing. Washing fairly frequently is also necessary if you want to get a fade that looks authentic.

Old Ooe samples. The right-most picture is of a sample in unknown denim next to the original Levi's. The denim is very close to the original.