First submission in the books. No days missed so far.
Love these SBGs.
(Do I miss the XHS? Maybe a little bit )
First submission in the books. No days missed so far.
Love these SBGs.
(Do I miss the XHS? Maybe a little bit )
@Gammaman Entering with bibs is awesome.
@Jcaz6996 Nice, will be another amazing pair I'm sure.
@gouki74 Cool, hard to beat XHS. Not sure I could go a year without washing, but looking forward to following along.
Decided to go with the SBGs in the end. This will be the year of black jeans.
Not looking to win, but would like to reach at least 200 wears.
Just submitted Raw Proof:
I've been ruminating hard on which pair to go with A full year in the same pair is a long time.
I think I will go with these instead. Have been loving the 526L, dig how crisp, tight and hairy the 19oz lefty is. Need to get them hemmed though.
Combs are coming along ok, and some first small signs of fading at the back pockets.
The lighting makes it appear a bit more prominent than in real life I'd say.
Haven't missed a day so far. Great jeans.
A bit hard to photograph in a way that's faithful to what you see in real life, but here are a few shots.
Decided to go for a first wash. Longest I've ever gone without a wash, by far, at 115 days.
They were getting that slick/greasy feel which I can't stand. No smell though. They also have the beginnings of some crotch blowouts, which is quite unusual in my case. Worn through the back belt loop as well. Seems clear to me (and seems to be common knowledge) that wearing a pair for this long without washing takes more of a toll on the denim.
In the machine now. 40C, no spin, inside out, with some Woolite Dark. Did a fairly long, warm soak first, trying to avoid marbling if I can. The water was surprisingly clear after the soak, and no funny smells
Here are some before pictures. Will take some after pictures tomorrow.
(Right click to open bigger version)
Some after pictures.
Overall pretty happy with how they came out.
Time to put them on and keep going.
(Right click to open bigger version)
February submission in the books
Still no days missed. No washes yet, and at over 60 days this is the longest I've ever gone without washing. (Previous "record" was 50 wears). Zero need for a wash so far though. It's been a fairly cold and long winter so that helps.
And after seeing some not so good results from washing SBG early on (severe marbling etc.) I want to hold out as long as possible.
March submission in the books!
Still no days missed, and no soaks or washes yet.
Will be alternating with some 777-XHSib when they arrive.
I have som fraying going on on the upper left leg, where I must have scraped against something, leaving the fabric pinned between the phone and whatever I scraped up against. This happened in the first couple weeks and is visible in the first submission pics. May have to do some repair/darning at some point. We shall see.
(Right click "Open Image in New Tab" for bigger version. Should have dusted these off )
101 wears. Dig XHS.
Came across this today.
New IHUK guerrilla marketing?
Or perhaps just the universe mocking me for not picking this one up?
Progress seems slow when you're wearing these every day, but comparing day 1 and approximately day 90 (a couple weeks back) at least something seems to be happening.
I'll post another update/comparison in a few months.
My iPhone pics tend to exaggerate the fades on the SBG, but overcast today so not too far off.
Not really loving the phone fade, but haven't found any practical alternative to keeping the phone in the front pocket.
About 70 days worn at this point.
Other than the original soak+wash before use, one wash at around 50 wears or so.
@init616 Nice!
Breaking in XHS is one of those things that makes life a little bit better.
@Karol Chromexcel is indeed the tanning process/recipe. The vast majority is from bovine leather (typically steer), but you also find Chromexcel from horse (Aero uses a lot of this in their jackets for instance), bison etc.
There are also many different versions of Chromexcel, like the Chromexcel Cavalier, Wooly Chromexcel, M's Chromexcel, Beufort Chromexcel etc. Typically these are tweaks to the recipe for a desired use case. Adjustments in the amounts of oils/fats for instance, to allow for different (brighter) colours, or to make it more suitable for gluing, different finishes and on and on and on.
Put in a large enough order with Horween and they can do exactly what you want.
I also found it to be quite soft and "comfortable". (I love stiff feeling denim as well though, there's something comforting/secure about rigid clothing I find).
Really dig the 526J. Overall I prefer the classic shorter length. Compared to the 526L and 526Lod it feels much lighter to me. Part of it is the lack of handwarmer pockets and all that extra material, which adds to the stiffer/warmer feel of the leftys in combination with the fabric itself. The 526J feels airy and breathable in my experience. It's very much relative though, like if you've been wearing XHS for several weeks switching to the 14oz feels like wearing a pyjamas. Whereas if you're coming from lightweight stretch denim the 14oz will feel like a beast.
As for the fold creases I used a spray bottle, with more of a fine mist of water, right on the fold lines and then sort of massaged them out. Worked out great and I've done it successfully with other items as well. Sometimes a full soak is needed though.
EDIT: The 526Lod does have a very luxurious, plush, round feel to it that the 526J doesn't have, so I can definitely see where @SaddleSC is coming from. The 526J is crisper initially.
@Oaktavia Shirt is looking stellar! Good call on sending this your way.
I've actually been using an app called WearTracker the last few months. So now I know precisely how bad I am at sticking to one item. It doesn't track hours though so @Jcaz6996 may be out of luck