Johnson Leather Jacket

[Marc mndt]

I'll keep that in mind. I know about brace star because if the denim truckers they make. I do have tellason here in the Bay Area to keep it local. I have 2 selvedge denim jackets from them so I might give them a shot too.

Iron Hearts are something a lot of members here like so they are at the top of my list. I'm not sure if I'm ready to fork out that kind of money for jeans yet lol for boots and jackets I wouldn't even think about it

You could also consider RRL denim.

Most of their stuff is heavily overpriced (especially their jackets) but their denim offering is great imo. They look great and are indestructible. I exclusively wear USA made Japanese selvedge RRL denim.

This is what their raw denim looks like after a couple of years of regular wear.

 

[Mich486]

Orslow 105 and Warehouse lot 800 imho are great jeans in a timeless cut and at around 14oz are comfortable to wear. I think both are available through S&S.

 

[red devil]

That is an interesting conversation to follow. How long do your jeans last? Mine about a year before a ripping in the crotch area. How many times can you repair this?
I repaired mine once, but then I lost weight and had to change anyway. I personally find that as long as you have a trusty pair or two, you would be fine.

 

[Carlos840]

That is an interesting conversation to follow. How long do your jeans last? Mine about a year before a ripping in the crotch area. How many times can you repair this?
I repaired mine once, but then I lost weight and had to change anyway. I personally find that as long as you have a trusty pair or two, you would be fine.

All i have are 5 pairs of Iron Heart of various thickness, the oldest pair was bought in 2013, the youngest in 2017.
I wear jeans everyday, and will pick which thickness depending on current warmth, in summer i wear 17oz, in winter i wear 25oz, in spring and fall i wear 21 or 23oz.

All that to say that these 5 pairs have been rotating for 3 to 7 years depending on which pair and all of them are still completely wearable. I have had one small hole appear in the crotch of one pair, had it fixed. I have had the top of the pockets fixed on pretty much all of them, but i am confident i can keep them going at least another 5 years with my system. None have been "retired" i still wear the pair from 2013, they still look great.

Getting more or less 10 years daily wear from 5 pairs of jeans is pretty good IMO.
Back when i used to wear Levis 514 they usually lasted one year or so.

I treat all of them like regular jeans, machine wash them when needed.

 

[Monitor]

@Carlos840, how do you avoid those lines that from machine washing raw denim? It's the reason why I've started washing all my jeans by hand and it's not something I'm terribly fond of doing, tbh.

That is an interesting conversation to follow. How long do your jeans last? Mine about a year before a ripping in the crotch area. How many times can you repair this?
I repaired mine once, but then I lost weight and had to change anyway. I personally find that as long as you have a trusty pair or two, you would be fine.

I ruin mine the same way, too. Anything over a year worth of wear out of any of my jeans and I consider myself very lucky. I never take 'em off during the day or replace them with something else when I get home. They're on me until I go to sleep.

 

[Carlos840]

@Carlos840, how do you avoid those lines that from machine washing raw denim? It's the reason why I've started washing all my jeans by hand and it's not something I'm terribly fond of doing, tbh.



I ruin mine the same way, too. Anything over a year worth of wear out of any of my jeans and I consider myself very lucky. I never take 'em off during the day or replace them with something else when I get home. They're on me until I go to sleep.

I just wash them inside out, on a gentle cycle, and low speed spin, never had any sort of lines appear.
(front loader washing machine)

 

[Jin431]

Don't do it, lol. I briefly went down that path, it doesn't end well.

I've gone down this rabbit hole a while ago, started with the department store stuff, eventually working my way through the selvedge stuff, stopped short of the 300+ pairs. For a while I was brave star guy, their prices can't be beat and their stock is pretty consistent. Gustin is great, quality I think it's superior, but waiting 3 months for a pair is just dumb unless you're getting something really cool. Oh and brave star does chain stitch hemming, so it's nice to get a ready to wear pair.

My jeans now are almost all raw selvedge, and this pandemic made me realize how much I hate wearing them lol. Like sand paper. Especially with covid I can't fathom not washing my pants after months and months of regular use. And jeans aren't heirloom quality stuff, if you use them like your supposed to you will consume them. Otherwise it's like having a detailed shiny lifted jeep, sorta defeats the purpose.

Sure, every once in a while I'm tempted to pickup a pair with an unusual color id, or underside color (keep forgetting the name of that), but I also like to man the grill and then be able to throw them into the washing machine so I don't smell like bbq. Something about treating jeans like they're cashmere dress pants just sits wrong in my head. Oh and getting them to get imprints of your phone and wallet, I mean talk about a bullseye. And I don't think my body will create flattering whiskers lol.

Anyway, end rant.

I'll try not too buy too much just the usual black/indigo colors. Jeans all look the same to me anyways.

My thinking is exactly like this lol that's why even though I agree that they look cool I still haven't forked out the money to get one. Yes, looking at brave star and Gustin as I can stomach their prices.

I had the tellason raw denim jacket and didnt like the smell at first so I washed after a few wears. I'm not sure raw denim is for me but maybe it will change if I get a good one lol

 

[Jin431]

You could also consider RRL denim.

Most of their stuff is heavily overpriced (especially their jackets) but their denim offering is great imo. They look great and are indestructible. I exclusively wear USA made Japanese selvedge RRL denim.

This is what their raw denim looks like after a couple of years of regular wear.
View attachment 297210 View attachment 297212 View attachment 297211

That's good to know. Thanks for sharing man.

This looks songood even after all that time. I'm not sure if I like the exaggerated fades I see a lot on the denim crowd.

Orslow 105 and Warehouse lot 800 imho are great jeans in a timeless cut and at around 14oz are comfortable to wear. I think both are available through S&S.

That's the 2nd orslow mention here, gotta search them up. Yes, I had a 13oz raw denim jacket and that was stiff enough for me. Could stand it actually so I washed it after a few wears

That is an interesting conversation to follow. How long do your jeans last? Mine about a year before a ripping in the crotch area. How many times can you repair this?
I repaired mine once, but then I lost weight and had to change anyway. I personally find that as long as you have a trusty pair or two, you would be fine.

I don't ride so mine lasts forever lol I heard denim jeans are disposable items but that seems to be not the case with me

All i have are 5 pairs of Iron Heart of various thickness, the oldest pair was bought in 2013, the youngest in 2017.
I wear jeans everyday, and will pick which thickness depending on current warmth, in summer i wear 17oz, in winter i wear 25oz, in spring and fall i wear 21 or 23oz.

All that to say that these 5 pairs have been rotating for 3 to 7 years depending on which pair and all of them are still completely wearable. I have had one small hole appear in the crotch of one pair, had it fixed. I have had the top of the pockets fixed on pretty much all of them, but i am confident i can keep them going at least another 5 years with my system. None have been "retired" i still wear the pair from 2013, they still look great.

Getting more or less 10 years daily wear from 5 pairs of jeans is pretty good IMO.
Back when i used to wear Levis 514 they usually lasted one year or so.

I treat all of them like regular jeans, machine wash them when needed.

This is cool to know, to only have 5 good reliable pairs.

@Carlos840, how do you avoid those lines that from machine washing raw denim? It's the reason why I've started washing all my jeans by hand and it's not something I'm terribly fond of doing, tbh.

I ruin mine the same way, too. Anything over a year worth of wear out of any of my jeans and I consider myself very lucky. I never take 'em off during the day or replace them with something else when I get home. They're on me until I go to sleep.

Yes, hand washing is a little too hard core just for a pair of denim

 

[handymike]

Man that's beautiful. Why were the specs again?

This is my Goodwear Imperial. John took his Seal brown Shinki and over dyed it to make it darker. The result was this cordovan/brown color that I’ve really grown to love.

 

[Pandemic]

Some really good advice in this thread (guess we should have moved the discus to a denim thread. Oops!)

I’ll just add that denim weight doesn’t directly correlate the stiffness or softness. The scratchiest most uncomfortable jeans I have owned were Unbranded 13oz. The softest and most comfortable were 18oz (with a looser weave and no starch). That said, I think the sweet spot in weight is around 16oz - they feel sturdy but are still wearable and versatile.

Something else I appreciate in jeans that is often overlooked: good front pocket bags and back pocket liners. For the most part, I don’t seek out the ‘sickk fadez bro’ look. I like fairly new and crisp jeans I can wear to the office on Fridays right through to the pair that is well worn. But once the knees are close to blowing out - or the pockets are not functional- I’m not doing repairs, I’m throwing them out. I’m fine with whiskers, but ratty jeans covered in repairs at my age feel more like hobo style, lol.

 

[Marc mndt]

That is an interesting conversation to follow. How long do your jeans last? Mine about a year before a ripping in the crotch area. How many times can you repair this?
I repaired mine once, but then I lost weight and had to change anyway. I personally find that as long as you have a trusty pair or two, you would be fine.

I have too many in rotation (about 20 pairs) so I hardly ever get them to the point that they rip.
My oldest pair is about 12 years old and they were actually getting a bit thin in the crotch so I recently had my tailor reinforce them.

 

[handymike]

Hey @Jin431 what size waist do you have? I’ve got a few pairs of Gustin in 32 that I don’t wear. I have both straight and a pair of dark blue/black slim that you could try. Let me know.

 

[Monitor]

I have too many in rotation (about 20 pairs) so I hardly ever get them to the point that they rip.
My oldest pair is about 12 years old and they were actually getting a bit thin in the crotch so I recently had my tailor reinforce them.
View attachment 297262 View attachment 297263

I love RRL denim. One of the best trucker jackets I've had was by them and I could've just kept it then and there. Considering I've decided to call it a day with Dickies, not much exploration was needed it would appear tho I still think IH is the very best in every aspect you'll ever find when it comes to denim.

Something else I appreciate in jeans that is often overlooked: good front pocket bags and Jack pocket liners. For the most part, I don’t seek out the ‘sickk fadez bro’ look. I like fairly new and crisp jeans I can wear to the office on Fridays right through to the pair that is well worn. But once the knees are close to blowing out - or the pockets are not functional- I’m not doing repairs, I’m throwing them out. I’m fine with whiskers, but ratty jeans covered in repairs at my age feel more like hobo style, lol.

Absolutely true on good pocket bags. To me, it's a sign of sure quality, when the pocket bags aren't thin and flimsy. My Norse Projects have pocket bags that have more oz's than most of my other jeans.
I don't mind sick fadez but I also really like stonewashed color even more, for whatever reason. 80's kid, I guess...

 

[handymike]

Oh yeah!

 

[Ayeteael]

In my experience there’s no magic to getting the perfect whiskers, honeycombs, or fades. I used to avoid washing my denim but they just got gross and oily. I didn’t see any accelerated fading. I shudder when I see jeans with years of wear but a single wash or ocean soak. The only “trick” i know is to wear them and then wash when they get dirty. I also follow Carlos’ routine. I just cold wash inside out with woolite dark on gentle cycle and then dry on a towel rack.

Like Justin, I also like to keep some jeans crispy for dressing up. More excuse to have multiple pairs.

 

[Pandemic]

For more pronounced, high contrast, fading - add additional starch to your jeans.

Hit the key areas with a little spray starch. Don’t iron it in, just let it dry naturally. You can even pinch in the creases by hand. It also acts as a deodorizer. The jeans will be stiff and scratchy in the area you hit, but at least it won’t be all over. Repeat after washing.

I don’t bother with this anymore, but I did get some amazing results in the past by adding starch around the front pockets and behind the knees.

 

[Mark R]

@Carlos840, how do you avoid those lines that from machine washing raw denim? It's the reason why I've started washing all my jeans by hand and it's not something I'm terribly fond of doing, tbh.



I ruin mine the same way, too. Anything over a year worth of wear out of any of my jeans and I consider myself very lucky. I never take 'em off during the day or replace them with something else when I get home. They're on me until I go to sleep.

Sadly I get the same problem with my Dockers, I’ve tried everything. I was told don’t overload the washing machine as the jeans fold when the machine it too packed.

 

[handymike]

Mine follow a rotation-
1. Dark (I hand wash them in the tub) I wear these for work with a collared shirt. I can usually go 2-3 wears before a wash (airing them out between wearings)
2. Once they start to look a bit worn in, I switch them over to “casual” they still get tub washed at this point.
3. Grubbies, after they start to get lighter I just throw them in the machine inside out. I alternate with the dryer and hang dry. They exist in this state for a long time as I patch up / mend the ones I love. This is when they really start to fade and get lived in.

The spider webs come from the spin cycle in the first few washings. I hate them, so I tub wash for the first year or so...never had crotch blow out.

 

[Carlos840]

Sadly I get the same problem with my Dockers, I’ve tried everything. I was told don’t overload the washing machine as the jeans fold when the machine it too packed.

Might be worth mentioning that i always wash jeans solo/duo.
I put one or two pairs in the washer at a time and that's it, nothing else.

I can imagine how in a packed machine the fabric would rub on itself a lot more and marks might happen.
I use the 15 min gentle quick wash and only spin at 800rpm.

 

[handymike]

Another maker worth a mention is Freenote Cloth. They are local to me, and have some great fabrics in a variety of cuts. Standard & Strange carries some of their stuff. I’m lucky that I could try on various styles nearby.