What is your Denim/ Clothing Life Story?
-
Late 70s/early 80s - Skinhead stylee
Mid 80s Next, Fosters & Burton! (aka high street crap)
Late 80s - Well known brands (e.g. Levi's) from catalogues (aka popular crap)
90s - 'Designer labels' (aka expensive crap)
Early 00s - 'Fair Trade' brands (aka ethical crap)
Late 00s - Outdoor brands
Now - Mainly (but not exclusively) products made in England, Japan, USA, Western Europe - brands including Albam, Buzz Rickson's, Yuketen, Grenson, Heritage Research, Red Wing -
I got into this game by seeing an article about raw denim a few years ago. It piqued my interest and I started looking around. 300+ dollar jeans were out of the question at the time so I got some $35 STF Levi 501's. Eventually I worked my way up to the good stuff. Now I find myself trying to convince myself to not buy another pair of $300 jeans and just wear what I've got.
-
It was back in high school when a close buddy of mine introduced me to raw denim.
He purchased a pair of black Imperials and the huge arcurate caught my eye. I asked him what it was purely out of curiosity and he spilled what he knew on the raw denim world. My first reaction: No way in hell would I spend that much cash on a single pair of jeans.
A year later, another close buddy of mine purchased his first pair(APC's) and I began criticizing his jeans. Ignorant as I was, I had no idea the intricate history the denim culture had. Curiosity got to me again and I began researching on raw denim. What is was, why it was so sought after and how people can spend so much for a pair of jeans that'll fade and get dirty.
After many hours of researching, I realized how personal a pair of raw denim jeans can be. The fades one had were like a storyline. No one else would have the exact jeans as you. Since then, I was hooked on the culture. But because I didn't have much money to spend, I was more of spectator to the various denim pictures on the forums. It was all eyecandy and I swore one day I'll cop my first pair of raw denim. Time passed and I eventually saved up to by my first pair(APC). But just like every denim fanatic, you want a new pair to beat up and carry the memories you had with it. So after two years or so, I finally saved up enough money to buy a pair of IH(301sOD). I've been hooked on this brand since.
Although I don't discriminate on what brands I wear, I do prefer IH's (or rather Works Inc.). Their history and persistence to give you what they believe is top quality really stood out to me. Especially how style is in no utter priority. And here I am now…
Shout out to SelfEdge and IHUKHQ for introducing us to this culture. Life changers.
-
Everybody at school had jeans except me…Mum finally capitulated when I was 11 for the school disco!!!
As a teenager I raided the now defunct Soldier Blue in Kings Road for bleached Levi's - especially slim fit silver tab Levi's.
Then in 2000 I moved to Paris where I joined 3 movements-
The "Diesel heads" - every season the latest pair
Japanese jeans made with real indigo
Real genuine vintage Levi's- of which I had 2 pairsThen I developed ulcerative colitis and lost so much weight I ended up age 35 wearing Diesel age 6 and finally 4 months in intensive care.
After 2 years in hospital I moved back to the UK but am unable to live alone and apart from paying for my and my 2 Siamese cats keep, spend my sick money feeding my clothing passion.its hard to track down incredible jeans and they're all too big- ive had one fantastic pair made and am designing the next pair but that won't be soon as I'd like to fill out a bit and get great fades on what I do have without going through the knees as I usually do.
Heavyweight (above 14oz) has been so far impossible to find but I wear my jeans skinny and have been warned that I might not be able to bend my knees.
Reading the Forum and surfing is a great journey and I'm sure one day I'll find my dream jeans but as I'll never work again it's hard to imagine when.I take inspiration from the great brands and from my life in Paris and just hope I live long enough to realise my ultimate work in progress and create my ultimate jeans.
IQ
-
Hmmm, ok, let's see…......
Being that Pete (Peterock) has been my close homie for about a good 15 years+, through the years, I've seen him rockin Denim that I never heard of before (I was wearing just regular Gap/Old Navy jeans at the time), at that time he had Nudies, APC, and Edwins I believe. This is sometime in 2005-2006.
I couldn't believe the prices he was paying for them, so it led me to buy my first "rigid" denim, which was Levis STF's at about $30-$40. Fast forward a little, I then bought my first "Selvedge" denim at Gap, which were the Gap "Gough" Japanese Selvedge (excuse the tagged paper, i just sold them not too long ago) :
Then I started to venture off and searched for other clothing companies, me and Pete were into this brand called, "FiberOps" they had cool tees and such, and when they came out with their own Denim line, I purchased:
Alrighty, fast forward to around 2007, I met Kiya through Pete at a shoe/streetwear store called "Turf", yadda-yadda-yadda, Kiya had opened Self Edge, which led me to buy first "expensive" piece of Denim, Sugarcane SC40601:
I started to catch on and loved the quality of the denim that after a year or so (2008), I purchased my first piece of Iron Heart, 634S:
These actually sat in my closet with minimal to no wear since I always wore my Sugarcanes, so blah-blah-blah, fast forward to 2010, I got my second piece of IH, SEXIH07BK's:
Then from there, everything snowballed and I now buy all the Iron Heart I can get and/or FITS ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So there you have it folks, my "Denim Life Story" pretty much, the pics made it fun, haha.
And thanks Pete…....and my wallet thanks you too for puttin us on IH, haha
-
nice cris.
-
H&M
v
Uniqlo
v
Supreme
v
Neighborhood
v
LVC
v
Oni Blue
v
Oni Red
v
PBJ 005
v
PBJ 007
v
Sugar Cane Hawaii
v
Samurai S710
v
Samurai S0510
v
Samurai S5000VX
v
Samurai S5000BK
v
Iron Heart Beatle Buster RawI now only own the last three on the list. Looking for a number of models next SEXI07BK, Samurai Jin 010, or IH666OD…....choices, choices.
-
Always been a jeans and t-shirt guy. Last year for my bday I wanted to buy my 1st pair of real denim (always wore Lucky Brand). I walked into SENY tried on one pair of jeans 634S best fitting jeans I have ever owned. Purchased, walked out w/ a shit eating grin and never looked back. My name is Jeff and I am an Iron Heartaholic.
-
My mum believed that the only clothes worth wearing had to come from Marks & Spencer. I therefore spent my formative years in nylon slacks & flannel shorts (school)
Bought my first jeans at 9 yrs old from a local store , I think they were Wranglers, I know they were raw.
Grew up wearing whatever jeans were supposedly "cool", Lee, Levis, Lois, C17, Replay.
I remember an Italian jeans manufacturer called "Ball" that were the business for a while. They had a funny little square pocket thing on the thigh for some reason.
I remember reading an article about big E Levi's and Selvage in The Guardian around 1984 and spent the next few years hunting through Affleck's Palace for the odd treasure find of Redline, or even Big E. Though Morrissey and Johnny Marr seemed to have an arrangement that all the best stuff was reserved for them.
1996 Bought first pair of Japanese jeans, Edwin from Richard Creme in Manchester. I had actually gone in to get a pair of Evisu. He explained how Evisu Europe had gone shit, showing me the difference between the last MIJ pair he had (not my size) and the Italian pair over the road at Aspecto.
1997 For Christmas, my girlfriend got me a pair of Japanese Silverstone Groundalls R501XX from Richard. Company now gone. Still have the jeans.
1999 Bought first pair of LVC 1873 1st Blue Jean from Geese, Manchester.
2000 Flirted with G-Star for about a month.
2001 - 2004 Bought tons of LVC from TK Maxx, which inexplicably was selling Valencia St. made stuff for £19.99.
2004 Started buying stuff on ebay, selling it when I got bored or wanted something else.
2009 Discovered Superdenim on Sufu and started learning about other denim brands from Japan.
2010 Bought 2 IH shirts & IH jacket from Sufu after joining as a member.
After spending a fortune on clothes, now settled on wearing my best stuff as much as possible.
Jeans in my closet : 1 x Groundalls, 1 x 1873 Duck, 1 x Joe McCoy's Duck, 2 x Tender, 1 x Full Count
Working on the theory that I spend almost 1/3 of my life at work, I have begun investing in stuff to wear in the office which I can take as much pride in as my jeans.
1 pr Sugar Cane Covert Engineer Pants, 1 x SC Oxford Pants, 1 x Dickies MIJ Selvage Work Pants.
-
my history:
1 APC NS - sized down too much due to the kids at SF's advice. The thighs fit but I actually lift weighs so the thighs never stretched out enough
2 Ande Whall - amazing jeans. I wore an indiglo one to have pretty decent fades and retired them to my gf's little bro.
3 Samurai & Iron Heart - I don't think anything will ever top these two. -
My story started when I was in my early 20's and I would see the most amazing pair of jeans. I'd say where did that guy find those Levi's I'v never seen them. I would go and search but could never find them. eventually giving up. It took me 15 years to figure out what fits i liked and that no pre distressed denim turns out like that guy i saw in my 20's. So I just recently hit the internet typing and searching for how people get such great jeans. I stumbled on this website and so goes my journey to the perfect pair of jeans I saw in my 20's
http://denimhunters.com/az/guide-eng#more-5559 -
When I was 17 and in high school, My friend awakened my thirst for shoes. I spent countless hours looking at shoes all day from these shoe websites, to which I learned about raw denim via the people from the forums. I researched about raw denim and found it fascinating how people could show so much character through their denim.
I knew that I had to get started on wearing raw denim. My only problem was money, I had no job and no one to give me money, my dad is very frugal and does not enjoy buying expensive garments so he is always out of the option to ask for money. So I saved my lunch money sometimes, and recycled aluminum cans to get money. Since my dad was frugal, we often went to thrift stores to look for deals, I kept my hopes up and prayed that I would stumble upon a pair of vintage Levis or Wranglers but alas I was not lucky. I looked into second hand stores until I found Wasteland which is basically a higher quality version of a thrift store. In that store I was able to find ACNE's that was a 32/34 which was my size. My world was full of joy and I rushed to my house to soak it once and wear it, this was the turning point of my life, to which I swore not to buy jeans from the mall ever again. Today I have 3 pairs of exquisite denim ;D. Yes, I'm young.
-
Great story mate…Ur love for denim will only get
worseBETTER -
All right I'll bite, my first specific denim I have any memory of sentimental attachment to starts when I was about 13. My step dad having hit his 30's spread passed on a pair of Levi's 505 to me. I wore the dog out of them, boots, shoes, tight roll cuffs, you name it, I rocked it in this pair. By the time I hit 15, and my first job, this pair was toast. It was at this point I began my first foray into the denim market as a buyer. The problem with me is I have always been thin, so 501, 505, and other regular fit thighs have always just swallowed me whole, despite my love of my previous 505.
With this in mind, and the western love running rampant in the early to mid 90's, I found my first pair of Wrangler 936DEN. Rigid as hell for what I was used to, this pair would set the tone for the rest of my life. As High School progressed, I bought everything in that cut Wrangler made, however a problem emerged. As popularity grew, my favorite manufacturer started messing with where they were producing their garments. So by my senior year, I had already started reaching toward other brands. My next choice would be from a new company who was offering a new model at my favorite retailer, Cinch. Logic would tell you that a relaxed fit Green Label is even farther from my typical slim fit than was the straight legs I started with, but this is the 90's, little made sense.
I moved from these to Diamond Cut jeans, to other Cinch models, to Levi's 501's and 527's, to Lucky's but absolutely nothing was leaving me satisfied with my purchases. I remember quite vividly the conversation that would lead me to where I am today. In 2010 I had set a buddy up with a place to stay,and being of similar dimensions we would always scope out what the other had on. I remember lamenting my issues with jeans to him, as I could average six months in a pair before the back pockets started peeling and it mattered not if I spent $20 or $100. His reply would eventually change the game for me, "You could always spend $300 on a pair of raw jeans like the hipster kids do". My reply was along the lines of 'if you see me spend that much on a pair of jeans just fuckin shoot me'. Fast forward a couple years, and add a couple years of discontent with my purchases, and we get together with the same cat. Only this time he shows up in a brand new pair of 634s. After a lot of admiration, I put the thought behind me, thinking he's insane for footing such a hefty price for a pair of jeans.
That is, until I finally did it. Did what you may ask, after all of this, what led me to pull the trigger on my first pair of quality denim? A calculator! I sat down and figured up what I had spent in 5 years on jeans and it scared the shit out of me. By the estimates I could see, I had spent $300 more on inferior quality goods than I would have spent buying the high end stuff to begin with, and this was based on my most conservative estimates. Setting my mind to correct such an egregious error, I found IH was absolutely the pinnacle of quality for the money. Finally after months of comparative shopping, searching the net, and asking everyone available, I purchased my first pair of 666XHS on Rakuten.
After a week in, I knew I wasn't turning back. My wife loves them, which is marker 1. The fit both in comfort and aesthetics is spot on, marker 2. The weight and quality is beyond what I could dream, marker 3.
I am saving money long run, marker 4. The companies' business model meets the ethical conundrums I kept running into with other brands, marker 5. The ethics of both the proprietor and distributor are admirable, in a way I never thought I would find. If anyone ever wonders why I am so enthusiastic about this forum, this brand, these people, remind them to read this. -
Back in the days I skated a lot, I sucked so I did a lot of faceplants and stuff like that
I always was on the hunt for quality jeans, but I looked for them in Streetwear and Skate shops, so I owned a lot of Carhartt and Levis. Then, some years ago, I bought a Selvedge 501 Levis, then a 13.5oz Norse Projects jeans and then my first 634S (Dec 2011). Thank you Google
-
I've always worn jeans, as far back as I can remember. I remember being a kid in the 1970's and wearing Levi's and Wranglers, and I pretty much stuck with them through my teens in the 80's (mostly 501's). I do remember the whole "stonewashed" craze, and I shudder to think about walking around in public in those, but hell, it was the 80's. I do know that it was about that time that I started being dissatisfied with the way jeans were fitting me– I was pretty skinny, and jeans were pretty high rise at that point.
This continued through the 90's, I think at some point I started wearing Gap jeans because they fit a lot better than all the Levi's I tried on. In the early 2000's, my roommate's girlfriend started talking about Diesel jeans, and how great they fit, and how girls loved guys in Diesel jeans.
Well, she didn't have to tell me twice. I think this is where my jeans obsession truly started.
After I bought a few pairs of Diesels off of eBay, I started hearing about Seven and True Religion, and bought a pair each of those. Luckily, I figured out pretty quickly that I didn't like "fancy" jeans. Plus, now that I was spending more money on jeans, it was pissing me off that the quality and durability weren't improving. I started trying to figure out if there were better jeans out there, that fit well but were more traditional. I discovered Earnest Sewn, and went through about a one year fling with those. But somewhere during that year (probably 2009-2010) I started hearing about raw denim, and how much better a worn-in pair of raw denim looked compared to artificially worn jeans, and that raw denim lasted longer because they weren't already beat to hell from day one. Plus I liked the whole idea of your jeans being unique to you because they would conform to your body and fade in a unique way.
This research, of course, led me to Nudies and mynudies.com. I bought one pair (Straight Sven Japanese selvage, which I still have) before discovering Superfuture, which led me to PBJ (005, 007, and 005bk, all of which I still have and love even though I never wear them), then Samurai (710 and 710 Black Shadows, still have and wear both occasionally, the regular 710's were my HWDC1 pair and are my best fitting and best faded pair), and finally IH (BB01's and SEXIHXLSXA13's). I'm happy to have finally discovered true quality jeans with PBJ, IH, and Samurai, and that these jeans will give me years of wear and will only look better as time goes by. This has led me to an overall appreciation of quality clothing in general, I love the idea of having clothes that are rugged enough and timeless enough to still be a part of my life many years down the road.
