Denim

[baboon2004]

jeans philosophy: find used ones that look pretty good and are cheap. whatever. not dropping $100s for a pair of jeans ... am I stupid?

rather put the money into shoes really.

I've never spent over £30/£35 on a pair of jeans.... not that I'm one of them, but virtually all the best-dressed people I've ever met have paid minimal £ for their clothes. Spending 100s on jeans just reminds me of twattish hipsters, tbh (no offence to anyone here who spends a lot and emphatically isn't a twattish hipster)...

 

[you]

So I spend alot on jeans from japan, mainly to please my pedantic nature for historical accuracys and interesting weaves etc etc... obviously no one else notices but hey, I do.

This is a great forum for denim snobbery and what not. $600 jeans, buying 3 or 4 sizes too small etc

http://supertalk.superfuture.com/forumdisplay.php?f=15

theres lots of interesting stuff, levi collectors, amerkaji culture ( when levi and lee et al expanded in the 70s they sold all their looms to japanese collectors, this is a crude explanation of why japanese denim is regarded as better, however "made in japan" is exploited and so this notion is not a hard and fast rule... ) soooo if your into your denim and collect vintage levi, if you want new jeans, the denim most like vintage levi or lee or wranglers would come from japan because thats where the looms have ended up.... and to be horribly generalistic I think japanese companys have a tendency to take quality and design to the nth degree.... which can make an interesting product, yknow?

Ironically Levi sue alot of japanese companys because they imitate ( in a purely romantic, homage sort of way ) levi styles like the red tab and arcuate.

Its ironic in so many ways, see even if your justification of buying from japan is for more vintage, true to history denim then the process is in opposition to this anyhow, its not like the cowboys of the 40s 50s and 60s would spend money buying jeans from japan, or compare fits, or worry about creases and whatnot...

There are the same subcultures with shoes....... churches, crockett and jones, all the italian makers, the american cordovan specialists alden.....

 

[swears]

Tight jeans with a sort of clean-cut 50s/early 60s look is nice, but not with a purple hoody, chucks and a hitler-fringe emo hair cut. And not too tight of course.

 

[swears]

I recently decided to not buy jeans anymore.

Yeah, I'm trying to get more into "proper" trousers now.

 

[zhao]

read an article about the most expensive denim on earth - japanese jeans that cost 80,000+ USD. they are hand made, hand stitched, and most importantly - the dye process takes up to 6 months - multiple layers of slightly different colors - so that each time you wash them, they turn slightly different shade as more layers are revealed...

regarding "proper trousers"... they are just not as comfortable

 

[swears]

regarding "proper trousers"... they are just not as comfortable

That's weird. As long as the material isn't itchy, I always find slacks/suit trousers more comfortable than jeans.

 

[Mr. Tea]

(midgets on stilts that took big dumps in their pants)

Ahaha, Post Of The Day so far, zhao!

The most I've ever spent on jeans was about 40 quid on some Levi's (which were in a sale, even so) but they look really good (normal cut, neither suburban-wigga-baggy nor emaciated-hipster-skinny) and you can just tell they're going to last pretty much forever.

The only item of clothing I've ever spent a lot on is a really nice long coat that I'm particularly proud of.

 

[swears]

I get straight leg Levis in dark blue for about £50-60. They do last for ages though.

 

[viktorvaughn]

You can keep the cost down by shoping around/using ebay. The Edwins i love are RRP 80 or so, but have never paid more than 45 or so I think.

And putting patches on the inside if they look like they are wearing through in the crotch or at the bottom where the legs rub together (if you have a bit of bag there.)

 

[zhao]

using ebay.

to buy jeans?!?! that is the most absurd thing i've ever heard! what if they don't FIT

 

[Mr. Tea]

to buy jeans?!?! that is the most absurd thing i've ever heard! what if they don't FIT

Go on a diet/fatten up?

 

[bruno]

can i use my favourite word in the english language - obscene - to describe a USD500 pair of jeans, or is that normal and i'm a cheapskate?

 

[viktorvaughn]

to buy jeans?!?! that is the most absurd thing i've ever heard! what if they don't FIT

It's not that absurd at all mate. As I said I stick to my favourite model, so i know exactly what size to buy.

You can also always try something on in a shop and then buy it cheaper on ebay.

Or research the jeans on somewhere like Superfuture, mentioned above.

And cos its ebay, anything ill fitting can just go back on there!

 

[Mr. Tea]

can i use my favourite word in the english language - obscene - to describe a USD500 pair of jeans, or is that normal and i'm a cheapskate?

For five hundred bucks, I'd want a pair of jeans that are made out of fairy hides stitched together.

With mithril thread.

By some dwarves.

 

[zhao]

can i use my favourite word in the english language - obscene - to describe a USD500 pair of jeans

would you use same word to describe an out of print, super rare Sun Ra LP for same price?

 

[bruno]

probably, considering he earned next to nothing from his pressings (correct me if i'm wrong!)

 

[zhao]

ok bad example. how about a USD 500 pair of high end headphones?

(my point being that it's all relative innit)

 

[bruno]

i'd say don't be cheap, give me the USD3000 model

 

[Mr. Tea]

ok bad example. how about a USD 500 pair of high end headphones?

(my point being that it's all relative innit)

Well a hi-fi enthusiast could no doubt very easily appreciate the difference between a $50 pair of headphones and a $500 pair - in fact if he* is a true audio nerd, he might even consider them ten times better.
But for $500, you can buy ten perfectly good pairs of jeans, and I fail to see how a single pair costing that much could possibly be considered 'ten times better' than a $50 pair.
Furthermore, you could buy 10 slightly different pairs, so as to have a choice of jeans to match with different outfits and shoes or whatever.

*let's not kid ourselves!

 

[zhao]

beg to differ. given the choice, i would much MUCH rather have 1 expensive and perfect piece of clothing that i will love and wear all the time for years and years rather than 10 pieces of crap that i don't want anything to do with clogging up the closet space and eventually end up giving away to charity.

to call expensive clothing obscene is pointless and arbituary. following this logic anything outside of necessity for a human being's survival is obscene. driving a car is obscene. having air-conditioning is obscene. and of course, buying art would be a fucking crime against humanity.