One of my NYRs is to try and buy British wherever possible / practical for the whole of 2014.
It's not been going well so far, but today I bought a pair of jeans from Huit Denim; a small company in Cardigan that turn out only a few hundred pairs a week. In fact they produce so few that each pair is individually signed by the maker and has a unique code inside that you can use to register on a website and upload photos (gimmick, much ?) to a website via twitter etc.
Anyway, they come with a little booklet that tells you all about the company, and instructions for use. Apparently they are going to give their best if not washed for at least 6 months
Smells can be removed by hanging on a washing line (if it ever stops raining in Dorset !), or bunging in the freezer.
Question is - could you manage to regularly wear the same pair of jeans for 6 months without washing them ? Would you feel like a tramp ?
The jeans are a fantasic fit for me too; especially as I've "made do" with the same Loose Fit efforts from Next for the last Godknowshowlong.
Well worth a look if you're after something a bit different - http://hiutdenim.co.uk/
Daniel.
The guys who set up biut founded howies and last month I went for their cone mills soda pop jeans which come with similar instructions. So far so good but innevitably I will spill my dinner down them and have to wash them, can't imaging I will make it more than another month before they have to go in the machine.
The PRPS jeans booklet says something along those lines too. I opt to wash mine regurarly, though I realise that they will wear out sooner.
You'll find people quite fanatical about breaking in their denim to get natural contrasting wear and strong creases formed in the jeans, and will certainly wear them daily for 6 months or longer to achieve the desired effect.
I've done a couple of 6 months or so stints and ended up with some great denim so maybe give it a go!
Originally Posted by StuS
Oooh I like them !
http://www.howies.co.uk/mens/clothin...le-indigo.html
Nice jeans; here's a good interview with the founders. Definitely give them as long as you can; some seem to swear by Mr Black Denim Refresh, other selvedge-heads use more esoteric methods. There's a sub-forum on Superfuture that you might find interesting...
Thanks for the links - very impressive/inspirational chap.
I was tempted by these late last year and invested some time in researching them (and others). Hiut have a potentially interesting idea - broken-in jeans that have been worn in by other people...
This is Veblen at it's best.
The marketing is a bit too 'innocent smoothie' for my taste.
I have a pair of Evisu selvedge jeans that I wore for a year before the first wash.
I wasn't wearing them all day, every day naturally. I washed them twice in the next 12 months following the first wash.
They do look the part now, well in my eyes anyway
My good lady's son could manage not washing anything (ever) so 6 months would be a walk in the park.
When you look long into an abyss, the abyss looks long into you.........
LOL I've got one of those, too !
Gross.
they look great OP thanks for the link, any chance of some real life pics, a before then after 6 months would be good.
Haven't washed my nudie jeans since I bought them last June.
£130 for a pair of jeans, wow
Nice to see they come in 30" length (my length) leg as most are 29 or 31" and I hate having them taken up.
Diesel provide similar instructions your call really freezer kills the bacteria apparently!
For something similar, also UK made, you should also check out Albam. I have a pair of their jeans and they're breaking in nicely. They also mention avoiding washing them at first and so far I have resisted. It is only a way to get a particular look of course - and the fashion police won't (or at least may not) shoot you if you choose to be clean.
Yeh this is standard among raw denim, but does make for an interesting discussion when someone who is used to regular pretreated denim hears it.
For anyone who would want to wash more often then it is daft to be buying any raw denim in the first place as every wash will take far more indigo out of the jeans than a normal pretreated pair. So just stick to those if you are going to wash regularly.
Anyone seen any decent raw denim in the sales? I'm looking for a new pair but the APC New Standards I was after haven't been on sale anywhere (found a few pairs of new cure's but the fit is far too tight). Since I'll be paying full retail I have put it off for a bit in the hope something else pops up, so any ideas welcome.
I waited a year before washing my first pair of hiut selvedge jeans :)
Not washing jeans for six months?.............. the dirty b******s <-(NSFW)
F.T.F.A.
Lol.
In fact i literally lived in mine. Wore them through - they've just been for FREE repair (inc free postage). Amazing service
Last edited by Tomw2000; 7th January 2014 at 20:25.
I bought some New Cure in the Mr Porter sale but will probably send them back (though undecided as it was a good price for APC and I know they'll stretch out loads and I didn't size down).
I always look out for discount codes from the online shops that sell APC. This is usually the best way to get them less than retail, but is more speculative so not great for instant gratification. Most I've ever had was 30% off but 20% is achievable if patient.
Only one I know at the moment is Kafka (code is Kafka10) and that's only 10% off and they only have Petit New Standards.
For me the biggest problem with buying raw denim online is uncertainty over the sizing and fit. The jeans will often stretch a lot and also shrink after washing.
If anyone knows how Alban fit compared to APC I'd be interested to know as I want to try some out but not going to London for a while.
Yeh sizing and stretch is certainly the biggest factor but I've had APCs before so I'm alright with those. Like a minefield picking up pairs that dont have much discussion online about sizing.
Also could you pm me the list of APC stockists? I have been trying to do the same myself but sure I'm missing plenty of places.
Last edited by anton863; 7th January 2014 at 23:10.
Cracking thread and I was only thinking to start a jean one after my brogue starter.
Been a Replay wearer for years and have been trying some Denhams at the sales but these look a real goer.
I will have a closer look in the morning.
Excellent squire and many thanks.
Paul
I've shopped at Howies for well over a decade now. My daily wearers are their Kaizen jeans, I tried not washing them for 6 months and sticking in the freezer, my wife wasn't convinced. I then washed them and forgot the cold wash setting, anyway they're a bit snugger than they were, but fit just dandy.
Not convinced about the non-wash argument myself.
I don't personally understand the appeal.
I want jeans that don't shrink, don't fade, and I can wash once a week, and chuck in the tumble dryer if needs be.
Ideally I also want them to cost 30 quid or less.
I believe the trick is to put them on just before they're dry after washing to stop them shrinking too much. You also need to stretch the inseam whilst still damp.
I used to only buy jeans at £30 or less (usually Levis in the States), but I have always wanted to try some proper denim from Japan. I picked up two pairs of raw denim jeans in Osaka when I was in Japan last spring on my honeymoon. Great little shop run by a guy obsessed with jeans. I bought some 19 oz Samurai jeans that he had designed with them, really stiff and heavy in a rough slubby Texan cotton. He tailored them with a chain stitch machine and even did the first soak for me as I didn’t really understand how you were supposed to do it! Loads of great details like patterns on the pockets, silver selvedge and ridges on the back pockets to produce interesting fades. I’ve been wearing them since then as much as I can on evenings and weekends and haven’t washed yet – they are developing some good twists and creases, just starting to fade. I’ll leave them a bit longer until washing (as nowhere near six months wearing every day) and thinking of doing them at say 40 degrees to try to shrink them a bit to fit.
The other pair I got are smarter – Momotaro, sanforized, in a smoother Zimbabwean cotton, pink stitching and a pink selvedge (as Momotaro means peach boy, a Japanese myth) and two white painted stripes on the back pocket. Really like this but haven’t worn them as much as they are smarter. Overall these are my first raw denim jeans and I am really enjoying wearing them in.
lets see some of these jeans then!
Sure.
Here are the Samurai jeans:
Fading has started:
Here are the Momotaro jeans:
And the detail on the back pocket:
cheers, that top pic looks like they could walk away by themself LOL
Will have to get me some of these I think.
Yeah when I tried them in the shop they practically held me up! But now they're pretty much moulded to my body. They'll be softer once they're washed.
My Hiuts are the same... will try and stand them up and take a pic
Here are an old pair of APCs I had for a few years before selling them on this very forum when I put on a bit too much weight!
So what do people do about the smell after they have wore their jeans for over 6 months...? Stick them in the freezer?
Interesting and I will comment in six months... I have a pair of SlimR's on order.
Paul
You can stick them in the freezer, that will kill any bacteria but not any smell. Best thing is to leave them hanging up outside in a breeze.
When they say six months, I'm not are whether that means six months of daily wear, in which case I would need to wear them for 9 to 12 months as I only really wear them some evenings and weekends.
Anyway actually thinking about it now, it has been eight months and they don't smell at all. You should wash them when they start to develop wear marks as that means you will get some good fades apparently, plus much longer without washing could mean the fabric deteriorates. I will wash them when the weather means it is warm enough to dry them naturally outside.
6 months is easy. Hang em up & spray em with fabreeze
I've bought cars for less.
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
What's the science behind this not washing business.
I've worn 501/505 selvedge Levi's all my life. As a kid you just bought them from the High St or Market. Now I pick them up from eBay. It's interesting that they always advocated wearing them in the bath, yet now we're meant to put them in the freezer? Nonsense in my view, but I guess what others do in the comfort of their own trousers is their business!
I don't think there is any science as such. People just do it to create deeper contrasting fades and to retain the original indigo colour longer. If you have a look on the internet, you'll see people are just as obsessive about it as say, watches...
What a bunch of dirty middens, I couldn't imagine wearing jeans for 6 months without washing them!
Wearing in the bath is to make them shrink to fit right? Like wearing in the sea. The freezer is silly yes, but I suppose it works of you live in a hot country and really don't want to wash them because of the loss of dye...
£230 for selvedge jeans!
Yes, at the time it was pretty standard for jeans to be shrink-fit. For me jeans are just utility clothes. You wear them, they fade, they wear out, you buy another pair. My only insistence is that they're made in USA (as all of my clothes are).
You want Uniqlo denim, you do!
Looks like I am not the only gay in the village!
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