Gross but Safe

This is relevant. And reassuring. The Star reports that an Alberta student's science experiment indicates our strange habit of not washing our jeans is not a health hazard.



From thestar.com:

John Cotter
The Canadian Press

EDMONTON—A University of Alberta student has discovered through science that a current fashion trend is safe, but can be a little stinky.

Josh Le donned the same pair of skin-tight jeans for 15 months without washing them. The idea was to break in the raw denim so the fabric would hug the contours of his body, leaving distinct wear lines and creases.

Curious about the health risks of wearing such a grubby garment, Le asked his textile professor to test the jeans for bacteria before he washed them for the first time.

The results showed high counts of five different kinds of bacteria in the denim, but nothing that posed a health hazard.

“I was blown away. I thought there would be a lot more bacteria than was present,” Le said Wednesday. “It sort of shows that it is okay to not wash jeans.”

Raw or dry denim is not washed or treated with chemicals when it is manufactured. The dark indigo pants are as stiff as cardboard. It’s trendy to wear the tight jeans without washing them in the hope the indigo will wear away at stress points in the fabric. When the jeans are finally washed, they leave wear patterns that are as personal as a fingerprint.

Human Ecology professor Rachel McQueen said the highest recordings of bacteria were found in the crotch of the jeans at 10,000 units per square centimetre, with lower readings in the back and front of the pants.

But the colonies were normal skin bacteria and did not include dangerous E. coli.

“I didn’t see any evidence of those, but that could be very unique to Josh. I mean, he wore underwear, which can be helpful,” she said.

Le said some of his friends were disgusted by his jeans experiment, but others were very understanding.

He said his dingy denim even became a good way of meeting new people.

“Some people really liked it, but some people were completely grossed out by it,” he said. “I was able to meet a lot more people and have a lot of good conversations. It was like, ‘hey, nice jeans.’ ”

Despite his best efforts to keep his jeans clean, Le said he still managed to spill food on them. He also wore them on hot days. He figures he wore them well over 200 times during the experiment.

He acknowledged the denim did get pretty ripe. His solution was to toss them in his freezer whenever they got too smelly.

“There were times when it had a bad odour, like in the seventh month,” Le said. “That’s when I threw it in the freezer and magically when it came out it was odourless.”

McQueen said what was most surprising was a second test she did on the jeans after they were washed and Le wore them again for another 13 days. The results were about the same.

She said while the bacteria didn’t pose a risk for a healthy, strong young person, she recommends that people wash their jeans more often — at least once a month.

“I would suggest washing your jeans more frequently. But that is more for control over the odour,” she said.

“If people are just being lazy, perhaps odour could become a problem and they may lose friends rather than gain friends.”

Thestar.com Article

ROY at Self Edge





Friend and fellow (denim nut) Roy Slaper is now selling his self-made ROY jeans at Self Edge stores and online shop. Self-made is the term I am using to describe not the fact that the jeans make themselves but Roy himself makes every pair from fabric cutting, sewing, to pressing. It requires quite a bit of ingenuity to figure out how to set up his production process to be efficient enough for such an endeavor (producing enough jeans to support 3 stores, Self Edge online sales, and the upcoming ROY store in Oakland to be opened by appointment in 2011). It would be an understatement to say Roy knows what he is doing and has not sacrified quality. In fact from what I can see the quality has gone up as he puts more jeans under his belt.

Here is a quick look at the specifications:

-Fabric is White Oak Cone denim, pure indigo, no leg twist, high shrinkage
-RS01 model is slightly fuller cut, same the one he offered for a limited time through his website
-RN01 is a new model with a narrower leg and a lower rise
-New 11 oz twill pocketing cut on cross grain for balanced shrinkage effect resulting in bettering fit and comfort
-Shell stitched inside fly edge
-Price: $275














Big thanks to Roy for the bare-all pictures.

For anyone wondering if the product is worth the price I will put my name on the line here to say it is worth every penny.

ROY Website

Denim Made by Tender

One of the most honest and heartfelt jean I have seen this year is made by Tender Co. It is made from heavy unsanforized and unskewed Japanese selvage denim. It is sewn in England to respectable specifications and then dip dyed in plant indigo at a woad farm in Norfolk, England. Here it is.





People like William Kroll of Tender Co. inspire me and fuel my belief that there will always be excitement in denim. Kroll is an English designer who cut his teeth working in the denim industry, trained with tailors, picked up indigo dyeing in Okayama, Japan, and admits to maybe enjoying product development a bit more than design. This man loves the product, loves materials and I imagine him spending more time experimenting with possibilities and research than dreaming up fancy drawings. His line of jeans, jackets, vests, and tees immediately conjure a reverie of the dyeing heydays of England. If one considers the extensive use of woad and, later, indigo in Europe in general and Britain in particular the tradition is very rich. There has not been a comprehensive denim offering which draws upon the English heritage of woad and indigo dyeing and it will be exciting to see what Kroll does in this regard.

In the next few posts I will post an exploration of some of the details that make the Tender jeans special.

Tender Website

Self Edge Los Angeles to Open

A First Look at "Jeans of the Old West: A History"



With "Jeans of the Old West: A History" author Michael Allen Harris delivers one of the most important works of literature related to jeans. The book's subject—denim garments and their manufacturers in late-1800's San Francisco—is specific at the risk of being esoteric but provides important insights in such an engaging manner that everyone from designers and collectors to fashion students and casual consumers will find much relevance. Anyone particularly interested in the lost history of workwear before the turn of the 20th century will jump for joy poring over the ample pictures and deductive reasoning Harris presents about forgotten manufacturers and their patents to innovate how jeans are made stronger and better. Given the amount of history destroyed in the fires following the major 1906 San Francisco earthquake it is a wonder Harris was able to paint these vivid portraits of the Neustadter Brothers, A.B. Elfelt & Co., Greenebaum Brothers, Heynemann & Co., and other important figures and concerns. In fact this is the primary challenge Levi Strauss & Co. will always face in building their company archive—too many records and properties were destroyed in those fires.

It is no surprise that Harris traces the long series of overalls innovations with Levi Strauss & Co.'s riveted pants patent as a starting point. After all it seems that it was Jacob Davis's 1873 patent, filed using Levi Strauss money, that sparked the subsequent patents for overalls improvements which did not infringe on the Levi's patent by other tailors and manufacturers that are so much the focus of this book. To supplement the countless hours of research are pictures (I stopped counting after 250) of antique garments that testify to the patents' practicalities. The best way to describe their condition is in Harris' own words in the book's foreward. He writes, "Considering the limited production runs for some of these jeans, and the difficult conditions under which they were used, the fact that any examples remain is a testament to the quality of their design and construction." That is these garment-remains currently in the collections of Harris and other collectors like Hitoshi Yamada, Mike Hodis, and Brit Eaton, were once the trusted, hard-worked tools of laborers in mines, mills and fields.

Through the study of these artifacts new knowledge is brought to light that will certainly tickle those interested in vintage denim. For example hidden at the end of the book is a tidbit that explains why sometimes old jeans found near mines or mills have one or two legs cut off. "I have seen tar-soaked blue jean scraps wrapped around air pipes at old mills. I surmise that this is why some of the old, discarded jeans I have seen had their legs cut off." He provides pictures of such uses and you will see how naturally-suited a pant leg is for this job. And did you know in 1879 Levi Strauss & Co. offered waistoverall workpants in brown, mode and deadgrass colors? Sprinkled throughout are evidence that may dispell long-held beliefs in the collecting world. His cinchstrap theory used to date early Levi Strauss & Co. jeans alone is a breakthrough that will certainly be heavily discussed. Yet through all the deductions Harris keeps a modest and honest tone that is perfectly suited for the topic of old jeans and by this characteristic provides an engaging and enjoyable read.

And so for a job well done Michael Harris wins the praise of this blog and surely many other denimheads for delivering a book that does not disappoint despite much anticipation. You can purchase "Jeans of the Old West: A History" directly from the publisher Schiffer or on Amazon.com.

A Shot of Inspiration

Are you feeling a bit low on creative energy? A friend just sent me this fantastic video about Raleigh Denim. Founders Sarah and Victor Lytvinenko are the sweetest and most passionate couple in the industry and their hard-working attitude and perseverance inspires all.

Their drive to minimize Raleigh Denim's carbon footprint and revitalize manufacturing in North Carolina has led them to work with the historic mill Cone Denim. Cone's White Oak mill in Greensboro, NC is prominently featured in the video with a rare glimpse at the legendary Draper X3 shuttle looms. These mid-century narrow looms are the only ones still producing selvage denim on the western hemisphere today. They are not only visually very different from Japanese Toyoda shuttle looms but are constructed differently as well.

A more special sighting still is the appearance of Ralph Tharpe, Senior Technical Design Director at Cone Denim. His knowledge of denim design and manufacturing is paralleled by few and his love and knowledge of American denim mills history should earn him a place as a living national treasure.

Raleigh Denim: Handcrafted in North Carolina from David Huppert on Vimeo.

Show Off and Tell



The most anticipated book of the year for denim lovers and vintage collectors comes from Michael Harris of Deadgrass. "Jeans of the Old West: A History" is expected to shed light on a number of legendary but little known workwear brands in the late 1800's in San Francisco. From what I have heard so far the publication is slated to become the important ever written on American overalls history given how little even seasoned vintage collectors know about the rare, non-Levi's denim pieces featured in the book.

Harris has been collecting old denim for some years now and to show off the caliber of treasures he will present in his book he sends us some awe-inspiring pictures. First up is what's left of a jean with the pronouncement of "Spring Bottom," though difficult to see, on what appears to be heavy twill pocketing.




In Harris' own words:
"The pant is most of the left side and fragments of the one back pocket. First picture is the stamped pocket bag. The pocket bag at the top says 'celebrated copper riveted.' Below the last phrase it says 'overalls spring bottom pants.'"







I have not yet had the opportunity to thoroughly study vintage Levi's Spring Bottom Pants but Harris's piece does not resemble the Spring Bottoms I have examined before. The garment pattern, construction and seams do not resemble the typically dandyish, flare-legged, and tailored trousers. Perhaps the pocketing print is simply proclaiming that Levi Strauss & Co. makes both overalls AND Spring Bottom Pants? It is difficult to tell from the pictures of this very dirty and aged garment if the denim is run of the mill Spring Bottoms fabric of which the weft yarn is twisted with a goldish brown or other colored yarn. The next time I visit Los Angeles I will be sure to request examining this fantastic piece.



Jeans of the Old West has just been made available from its publisher Schiffer Books and I can't wait to get my copy.

UPDATED 7/22/10: After some deliberation both Harris and I agree these are in fact not Spring Bottom Pants. Corroborating material is expected to come my way but given that these pants have no spring at the bottom they are definitely not SBP's. We are speculating now these are No. 2's. More on that later, perhaps.

The Man Behind Amoskeag XX

I admire gutsy creatives like Kenji Kawasaki, the man behind the brand Amoskeag XX known for fantastic creations like the jean made from seamless, shuttle-loomed denim and the new "Millworker" jean. It takes bold character to quit one's day job to pursue a dream. In the case of Kawasaki a denim-loving outsider may even say he had a dream job at Design Works where he developed and sold some of the most breathtaking denim fabrics from Japanese mills.

Years of practicing his trade has prepared him well to found Amoskeag XX whose products have such layers of beauty both apparent and underlying that will satisfy hardcore and casual denim consumers alike. Take for example the light shade seamless jean I have been praising since 2008 when Kawasaki first introduced the brand. With its seamless lower legs the jean is at once familiar and wildly imaginative. Students of American mill history will remember the now defunct Amoskeag Manufacturing Company, the namesake of Kawasaki's brand, was once a producer of seamless feed and seed sacks, along with renown denim fabrics like the 3x1 right-hand-twill sold to Levi Strauss & Co., for its first denim waist overalls, now famous as "XX."

Poking around the Amoskeag XX shop in the Lower East Side of New York City one will find many treasures. Not for sale is a quilt of various denims developed by Kawasaki. The opportunity to study this piece is reason enough to make the trip but you will not be disappointed by the many jeans for sale on display accompanied by relics from the Amoskeag mill.

In an age when anyone with a production budget, spare time and a relationship with a decent sewing factory can squeeze out a denim label it is refreshing to meet a brand owner with extensive knowledge of the material that makes up most of the garment. A lot can be said about one who learned on the job in Japan where quality fabric and garment production is still abundant. In the case of Kawasaki he is knowledgeable in many aspects needed to make a jean that can be proudly displayed in a store.

I asked about the pair of "Millworker" Kawasaki has been wearing and he graciously showed me the warp yarns meticulously displayed in a clear package to show off the yarn counts and slubs that contribute to the attractive vertical shade streaks in the 12.5oz loom-state (unfinished) fabric.

For a breath of fresh air laden with the scent of history check out Amoskeag XX. Down the road we will feature a few of the products Kawasaki calls his own.

Amoskeag XX Website

Amoskeag XX
96 Orchard Street
New York, NY 10002-3150
(646) 237-7336

King of Vintage: Heller's Cafe

If you can get your hands on it you should check out Rin Tanaka's new book, "King of Vintage. No. 1: Heller's Cafe." The star of the book is none other than Heller's Cafe, a highly-respected vintage collection, and its owner Larry McKaughan. More than 200 of the rare vintage pieces that Heller's Cafe sells or rents are featured and there is an entire section dedicated to denim from the 1880's to the 1950's. The caliber of the pieces are breathtaking (Levi Strauss overalls made with Stifel cloth, to name one) and with talks of a potential 2nd volume I hope they include more detail shots and even more denim.

When asked how the idea came about McKaughan says, "The project was a combination of Rin and me talking about a book on my company that would feature our pieces in a way that elevated them from what would normally be vintage clothing venue." There is an age-old belief that when you document something on paper (or other media) you immortalize it. I believe this is part of what McKaughan feels. After all many of these priceless pieces, in as good a condition as they are, can be rather fragile and sensitive. He notes, "We didn't really have any problems in the process of making the book. Unfortunately we did have one significant piece damaged in shipping for the exhibition [Inspiration LA]."

Their first printing of a limited 3000 copies to US and Japan has already sold out and they are almost through with the second printing. You can preview a number of pages on Rin Tanaka's website. A quick call to New York's J.Crew Men's Shop on 484 Broadway will tell you that as of today they still sell this book but are running low. Any lover of vintage would not want to miss out on owning this book even though Rin Tanaka will likely feature other vintage dealers.

A final word from McKaughan: "In general, this book turned out great. I think Rin captured the personality of my company. There are a lot of great collectors and dealers in this business and many would make great books but this book is a great representation of my passion, focus and my collection. I am very proud of it."

Roy is Ready

Friend and fellow denim nut Roy Slaper just put up a website to sell his jeans, which he personally makes in Oakland, CA using bonafide materials and machines. My pair is on the way and I will put up a full review after careful inspection. The fact that perfectionist Roy decided he is ready to sell means the product will not disappoint.

Under the Studio portion of his website you will see some higher resolution images related to Reece button hole machine, Union Special, folders (check out this beautiful folder), etc. Roy is super friendly, always game to talk denim and is never one to keep anything a secret. Check out his jeans and ask him why he makes every pair by himself. Ask him how many sewing machines he has collected. And then ask him how he can deliver such well made products at such an increadible price. If you buy his jeans you will always be connected to its maker.

ROY Denim Website

Wrangler Blue Bell Web Presentation



Give it up for Wrangler Blue Bell's fun, interactive presentation of their SS10 collection on their website. Using your mouse to control what is essentially a video you get to see how the clothes interact on the model during motion. Most of the shots show all sides of the garments so extra points for that. But the fact that they are all of the model being pulled and punched by invisible ghosts may leave the visitor feeling as silly as the model looks.

This novelty will probably keep visitors on the site longer than otherwise but it does not allow for clear viewing of details. The concept is still cool nonetheless and I think they did a great job overall.

Wrangler Blue Bell Website

Ande Whall Grifter Update

It has been more than a few months since I started wearing my custom Ande Whall jeans (Grifter model). This is a photo update of the jeans after 1 machine wash and dry to show off the Cone selvage denim and Ande Whall construction.

















Interesting right back pocket shape that became apparent after fading.







Ande Whall Website

Heller's Cafe Warehouse Homage Collage

Heller's Cafe and Warehouse have put together a new line of very convincing vintage-inspired workwear pieces. They look and feel like the real deal vintage you may find in the collection of Heller's Cafe minus the smell. Beautiful construction but the emphasis is definitely wash and trims.

The collaboration line marries the exceptional strengths of both parties. Heller's Cafe has one of the strongest vintage workwear collections in the world and owner Larry McKaughan can genuinely be called an expert. Many museum-quality vintage denim and archive-worthy Levi's have passed through his hands but he admits his love is for the beautiful denim piece from an obscure brand few have ever heard of.

That is why I have been eager to see the results of Larry’s efforts with Japan's famously vintage-obsessed Warehouse Company who makes some of the most beautifully sewn jeans in the world.

What follows is a collage of details that show what they did and by the end hopefully explains why they do what they do.


































































Heller's Cafe on Warehouse Website