Short stories

Hi, I'm alive and well(well..). This time I have a few interesting tidbits to share.

Samurai wallet progress
Some of you might remember that I won a very nice wallet from Samurai a year or two ago. It was produced in a very limited number, 3 for customers of Samurai and one for the boss of Samurai(his name escapes me).
The interesting thing is that it has a denim in-lay, something which I hadn't and still haven't seen before.
Mine is still completely untouched but Mr. Samurai has given it infinitely more wear-time than I have.
Here is a photo of his wallet from Lightning Magazine no.1 2009.


Edwin Vintage Collection
Do you remember the new Edwin Vintage Collection that debuted this fall? Did anyone get a pair? How do you like them?

In the Meiji jingumae(Harajuku) station there is a poster showing off the collection. I found that to be a little amusing. If you happen to see the poster you should also visit the Edwin store since it's very close by. They also carry Lee Originals and Wrangler Blue Bell, which are both made by Edwin.


Cuff
I found an interesting post on The Fedora Lounge regarding trends and cuffs in the 1950s.
Here's what the user Warbaby said;

As someone who was in high school in the mid to late 50's, I can give you the straight skinny on what was cool in jeans style - at least for one particular region and culture. It wasn't a hip place like L.A. or N'Yawk, but a small town in Arizona (which should give it a certain cachet for jeans style authenticity).

New, dark blue jeans were definitely not cool, nor were deep turned-up cuffs (only the dorkiest of dorks wore them that way).

The usual treatment for breaking in new jeans was to wash them every time your mom did a dark wash and when they were dry, lay them on the bed and beat them soundly with a baseball bat or big stick til they softend up. Hanging them out in the Arizona sun certainly helped the fading.

As for the cuffs, some kids wore them plain and uncuffed, but the really cool guys, the ones with DA haircuts and their cigarettes rolled up in their t-shirt sleeves, reverse-rolled their cuffs like dress trousers. You bought them with legs a lot longer than your own, turned a deep cuff under, then turned the cuff up on the outside about 1" to produce a narrow cuff that matched the rest of the jeans. The first few times you had to iron them that way, but eventually they'd stay. Being unwilling to take unnecessary chances with my coolness, I sewed mine...

Don't know how it was elsewhere, but this was the style in that one place and time.

It made me think of this post at ethandesu. I may try it one day.

Reading material
One of my treasured readers, The Buzzard, was kind enough to post a link to an interesting article vintage hunter Brit Eaton. A kindred spirit.

Vintage blog
Another dear reader, Dana, has a great vintage blog herself. Check out her leather jackets.

Edwin Vintage A/W 2008

I'm a long-time fan of Edwin's Nashville model because of it's great quality, details and fit, especially in relation to its price. Apart from the Nashville though, I've felt that Edwin was always lacking something.
The other models have never made it all the way but coasted somewhere along the line. They're usually too much in-between modern and classic and while the idea to keep historic details on modern cut jeans might be nice, it never worked out in practice for Edwin.
The jeans were never designed well enough, to me, to fight it out with the more modern brands or never felt authentic enough to make them attractive for the vintage-loving kind of people.

Apparently someone at Edwin felt the same and created the Edwin Vintage collection which premieres this fall.
It consists of 3 men's models, 2 women's models and a skirt. All models come in washed and two of the men's models also come in raw.
The denim in the men's models is 13oz selvedge while the women get 12oz selvedge denim, 100% cotton, no stretch.

The washes are made by hand in Japan and limited to 150 pieces and therefore come with a hefty pricetag, but they're also some of the best washes I've seen.

Edwin has not intended to recreate old vintage pieces down to the last molecule, but instead tried to catch the spirit and general idea of the different times. If you're familiar with the old 501s you'll definitely find some interesting details in these jeans.

The real vintage pants are very valuable but it does no fit our body and are not reall comfortable. Maybe "classic" is a right word. That's why we come up with our Vintage Collection, which is a mix of real vintage taste and modern technology.
-Noritaka Imamura, Edwin Japan

The first men's model is the "Zip Tight Straight". Like late 1960's Levi's it has a zip fly, is fairly slim, has no hidden rivets on the backpockets and the seams that attach the pockets to the jean almost run in parallell.
Unlike 60's Levi's, which tapered below the knee, it's a straight cut.








The second model, "Button Fly Straight", is perhaps most like the old 501 from 1947-1951 that you can also find in Levi's Vintage Clothing collection. The tilted coinpocket, hidden copper rivets on the backpockets and the shape of them, and the top button in the fly is why. However, the donut-shaped buttons in the fly is definitely a detail taken from the wartime 501(1939-1945).

Needless to say, the rise is lower than that on either of the idols and the cut is more modern throughout.





These are the washed Button Fly Straight. Kind of speak for themselves.





So do these, but I feel compelled to talk about them anyway. The Original Straight is a mix of details from the 1800's to the 1930s. They remind me a lot of the "Nevada jeans", the oldest Levi's ever found was found in a Nevada mine, dating back to 1880-1885. I think this wash looks better than the LVC Nevada reproduction, actually.












The original Nevada jean:


So, while trying not to sound like a salesman, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this collection from Edwin. The quality seems good and the price is very good for the raw jeans, 1200 SEK. Definitely some of the best jeans in this price range.

What do you think about the Edwin Vintage Collection? You're very welcome to discuss it at ringxring.