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

New Kicking Mule Workshop



I capped off last week by catching up with Patrick Goodspeed who runs the re:change showroom in NYC which represents brands like Kicking Mule Workshop, Left Field, Triple Works, and Real Japan Blues. We sat down with his wine and my Nat Sherman MCD smokes to talk denim. There are better ways to spend Friday night but I cannot think of many.



He showed me the new jean of Kicking Mule Workshop, a well loved brand carried by stockists like Oak, AB Fits, Odin, Revolve, United Arrows, and many more. The new model is called the 1980 and boasts some interesting features. Note: the particular 1980 jean featured in this post has been through a quick rinse but raw will be offered.





The fabric is a Japanese, heavy weight, natural indigo, organic cotton, left hand twill, selvage denim. It can be prominently shown off with a cuff as the busted side seams measure 1.75". This will make for quite a wide traintrack, sideseam fade.



Selvage fly.







Alloy hardware.





Hand hammered rivets. The exposed selvage coin pocket.



Beltloops inserted into waistband with very prominent ridge between stitches. They will wear in very nicely.





Deer skin leather patch.



Hidden back pocket rivets. Half lined back pockets.



Selvage runs all the way up to waistband.



For the full experience we recommend checking out the new Kicking Mule Workshop jean in person when it arrives in stores later this year.

A Gift of Jeans by Roy Slaper



One of the great pleasures of working for a historic mill like Cone is being able to meet people like Roy Slaper. This post is a small introduction to Roy and the jeans he wishes were perfect.



There is a talented metalsmith in Oakland, California who has been perfecting his denim sewing skills the last few years. Although Roy Slaper is quite good already he insists on practicing until he can consider himself to be in that unique class of denim designer-tailors expert in patterns, needlework, materials, and a thousand other nuances in crafting jeans. Such is the way of a true lover of denim who will forever be fascinated by all matters indigo and so will never call oneself a master of the subject.

I too count myself in this group of life-long denim students and have been exchanging peculiar ideas with him for many months. When I decided to leave my station at Cone my wonderful colleagues there commissioned a jean for me with Roy, who knew exactly want I would want (something with all the loom chatter intact like deadstock vintage).





As I am wearing the jean and typing this post I am still perplexed by how he managed to get it to fit right in one shot.



All crucial details are on point.











Selvage belt loops. And yes it does have a raised ridge between the stitches.



Some would stop at selvage beltloops but Roy quietly sneaks in selvage back pockets via busted seam joining 2 pieces.



And then he puts in selvage busted seam pocketing using an undyed organic cotton twill. When you hold up the jeans the selvage seams of the pocket bags and the back pockets line up one in front of the other.



He incorporates the loom chatter that naturally occurs in denim woven on vintage American selvage looms.




The fabric is full of unique, uneven character that by today's quality standards would be called defects. But using the word defect to argue against the beauty of certain loom chatters is akin to using higher fabric consumption as an argument against narrow selvage denim. The arguments make sense but love is blind. Besides, a broken fill here and there is nothing compared to the yarns destruction during industrial stonewash and sandblasting. This is how unwashed workwear came back in the day.

And maybe one day, sooner rather than later hopefully, Roy will finally let the general public enjoy his denim creations. Until then he will be perfecting his craft and acquiring amazing sewing machines like the Union Special 43200G bulldog hemmer, Union Special felling machine, and Reece 101 buttonhole machines that he have already.

A very special thanks to my friends at Cone Denim.

Introducing TENDER Co.



What is this? A new indigo-centric concern to be excited about, you say? True. A gentleman by the name of William Kroll is launching TENDER Co. and its collection of English produced selvage jeans, tees and jackets dip dyed in veggie indigo and Norfolk woad.



I will post more pictures and information as I check out the line and learn more.

For now here is a picture of Mr. Kroll overdyeing a desized denim garment in South American veggie indigo in the UK.



TENDER Co. Website

LaLa Land Dispatch:
Japanese Denim Showcase – Sept 30 – Oct 2

DenimTech Laundry - Vernon, CA – For a few days last week, beneath an unassuming wrapper of industrial concrete, Japanese trading group Mitsui was invited to showcase some of the most fantastic textile goods ever to grace this indigo aficionado’s eyes. A parade of denim’s best and brightest passed through the Denim Tech offices to sample this divine product.

On the miraculously hot afternoon of September 30th, I made my way over to DenimTech. Beneath a scorching smoggy greenhouse gas dome just south of Downtown Los Angeles, Denim Tech Laundry lies smack dab in the middle of the glorious city of Vernon. Close neighbors to such illustrious tenants such as “Forever XXI” and Farmer John Pork products. DenimTech is a joint venture by Mr. Shinzo Suzuki (formerly of uber-laundry Caitac) and Matsuoka, a leading Japanese apparel manufacturer that fabricates much of Uniqlo’s quality goods.

For some time Suzuki-San has presented these showcases in the interest of connecting American designers and companies with purveyors of amazing Japanese textiles. I recall one event several years back when he organized a large event of many mills and trading companies including Nisshinbo, Kuroki, and Kaihara (if memory serves). While the scope of the presentation has become smaller and more intimate, the quality and selection is no less impressive. This time around he has have chosen to focus on two of my favorite fabric mills on earth, Kaihara and Nihon Menpu.

After the lovely DenimTech receptionist mercilessly butchers my name, I take a seat and prepare myself… lazily admiring the wear patterns on my Nihon Menpu selvage denim jeans.

First up I was ushered in to visit with Nakano-San from Kaihara. Kaihara is an amazingly modern, top of the line mill with roots firmly embedded in the history of Japan’s Textile industry. Originally established to create traditional indigo textiles, especially Kasuri cloth, in the early 20th century, they began making denim in Japan sometime after WWII, when the demand for surplus and vintage American jeans became so great that enterprising Japanese businessmen realized the need for indigenous denim cloth and brands. Today they are the largest denim mill in Japan and supply many of its domestic manufacturers, like Edwin, with much of their fantastic goods. With proper research and fact checking, I may write up something a bit more extensive down the line…

Kaihara is well known for its quality, consistency, and exceptionally rich indigo shades. If you stare at enough fabric samples of denim like I do (hundreds and hundreds every season), you begin to really appreciate the subtlety of how good or bad the execution of indigo dyeing can be. Kaihara is one of those mills that has something of a magical formula and some serious gurus on their dye range that consistently turn out gorgeous indigo creations.

In the Kaihara room, two double decker rolling racks chock full of fabric headers greeted my eyes. Along the wall they had two immense patchwork fabric blankets draped from the ceiling and collecting in blue folds on the floor. The fabric blankets, one raw and one sanded and enzymed, showcased the great variety of weights, shades, constructions, and character in their denim selections.


In addition to the perpetually wonderful selection of classic rich indigo wide denims and selvages, Kaihara had some interesting new things worth mentioning. They had some really nice lighter shades of indigo achieved through fewer dips on the dye range rather than extended washing. These were developed specifically with the USA market in mind and I think could be great for the 70’s retro vibe we’ve been seeing in brands like Dittos and Current Elliot. These lighter sky blues make a nice alternative to deep dark indigos that have been so prevalent these past few years. But, of course you don’t get the intense chip off and high/low you will see on your raw 14oz pure indigo super dark goods. Nakano-San feels this lighter denim trend will be big in Japan for coming seasons.

Another really interesting product I saw was a cotton/rayocell blend denim in a very light (circa 8oz) 2x1 construction. This rayocell is a similar fiber to rayon and tencel, being made from cellulose fibers processed down into a yarn that is soft and has a great sheen to it. Further they referenced its low impact ecological process that uses a recycling system to utilize the same water over and over again during processing.

In perusing the racks I also found some really interesting hidden gems.

Colored Weft denim (Red and Green Pictured). They also had Yellow.

As with much of the industry in the past couple years, Kaihara was showing many organic fabrics and more eco-friendly products. However, they were saying that the demand for organic products has been steadily decreasing and they wonder if the trend may be on its way out. This desire for organic, eco-friendly, sustainable, and similar marketing monikers to attached to denim, seems to be relegated to America and Europe. Japanese and other Asian customers apparently aren’t willing to pay the extra money for this type of product. With the economy in freefall, I wonder how much longer Americans will buy into this trend as well?

Lastly, no surprise, business is down. The depressed dollar to yen exchange rate is also making importing Japanese goods all the more costly.

To be continued...