Denimology

Ltd Edition Levi’s x Clot UNIONRAIL 501s

The Ltd Edition Levi's x Clot UNIONRAIL 501 jeans have been made in commemoration of the contribution made by the Chinese in United States during the 19th century. The Transcontinental Railroad which connected east and western United States was was built by the Central Pacific Railroad of which 90% of the employees were Chinese. The workers wore a denim work outfit because of the durability of the fabric and these jeans have been customized to show signs of wear such a paint, grease and rips similar to those that would have been seen on the orginal railroad workers. The thread used in the stitching is red and gold which are the colours of good luck in China. I like the idea behind the jeans but I am afraid they are a little too fussy for my liking. Just as well because these jeans are only available in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

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Ironheart Extra Heavy Denim

In my opinion when it comes to men's denim the heavier the better. Most jeans (Levi's, Diesel, etc) are made of 8-12oz (ounce per square yard) denim. If you want to find something heavier you have to look to Japan - where the heaviest range of jeans (21oz) are made by Ironheart. Whilst the idea of wearing a pair of jeans made of material twice as thick as you are used to might sound daunting, they are actually extremely comfortable and although they are warmer than the average jeans you could still wear them on a sunny day without overheating. The 21oz straight selvage are similar in style to 1966 Levi's 501s and the attention to detail - stitching, pockets, rivets is second to none.

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The Evolution Of Denim

One of the best things about wearing in a pair of raw indigo denim jeans is seeing how they fade over time. The above photos of a pair of Sugarcane 1947 selvage jeans shows how they have worn after a year of washing and wearing. The owner of these jeans has photographed them each month to create a unique document the way in which the fading has evolved.

Nudie Straight Sven Dry Selvage

After my discovery of Nudie and their Regular Ralf Dry Selvage Jeans I decided to invest in one of their other styles - the Straight Sven Dry Selvage which I bought online from Zoovillage.com. The jeans look great in the photos (see above) but when they arrived I found that I wasn't too keen on the colour of the denim which unlike the Regular Ralfs is quite streaky, also the fit which is straight leg is a little to slim fitting for my liking. So back to Sweden they went...

Denim Porn

As you may have guessed by now I am pretty partial to a nice bit of denim, but I am not the only one. IndigoFan is total denim porn. It documents beautifully one guy's collection of mostly Japanese denim including Samurai, Sugarcane, 45rpm and Evisu.

$2,000 Vintage Levi's 501 On eBay

Collecting Vintage Levis can be an expensive business these days as can be seen from this auction for a rare pair of 1950s Levi's 501s. The price has already been bid up to $1,999 with 4 days left to go. With measurements of waist 40, length 32 it's unlikely that they will even fit the person buying them. Imagine how much more they would go for if they were a more wearable size.