What is your Denim/ Clothing Life Story?
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I've always worn jeans. When I was a kid, the brand was pretty unimportant to me. As I grew, and grew, and grew some more (I'm 6'1"), I couldn't wear girl's or women's jeans any more. I remember when I was in like the 8th grade in the early 90s, I "borrowed" a pair of my Dad's old Levi's 501s, and I wore the snot out of them almost every day pretty much all the way through high school. I also had a pair of Lee jeans, that I'm pretty sure were 101s, that I got in a thrift store. They were already worn and ripped all to shit, and I sewed a peace-sign patch over a hole in the back pocket. (Whaddya want, it was the 90s!?) Anyhoo, eventually I was lured into more designer denim. I went through a regrettable Diesel phase that was encouraged by my older sister, and again by my Dad's hand-me-downs.
I'm not sure how it actually happened, but I was living in San Francisco, circa 2009. I'm pretty sure I must have seen something related to Self Edge or Japanese denim on the internet, because I remember distinctly feeling excited about the idea of heavier, longer-lasting jeans, and discovering that Iron Heart was the heaviest. Then, I ended up doing a bunch of research and learning a bit about this whole world of denim culture that I had no clue even existed. This all culminated with a trip to Self Edge where I tried on a bunch of jeans, and finally settled on a pair of 9301s. They were so crunchy and heavy, they felt like armor! I felt invincible. I still sometimes feel that way when I put on that pair. Also, the inseam was so long, I had to cuff it! It was like Christmas.
Since then, I've dabbled a bit with other brands, but I keep coming back to Iron Heart.