Unpopular opinions
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Tennis was NOT a metaphor/euphemism
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Not clothes man, clothes got cheaper in every way, cheaper material, cheaper manufacturing, cheaper labour. The appeal of vintage is the authentic style and the better made garment, and it is why brands like Iron Heart manufacture on shuttle looms and make loop wheeled tees, the older ways were better in many instance, just not cost effective for mass production these days.
Plus, I think it's about the soul of the item, mass produced Vietnamese or Bangladeshi factory made high street crap has no soul. Hand/ vintage made clothing does.
I like vintage and second hand mostly because it decreases my footprint. IH is pretty much the only clothing I will actually buy new with the exception of new skate shoes. Plus I just think old stuff is cool, knowing that this thing has its own history.
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I don't like jeans that use 100% cotton constructional thread. Poly cotton thread is better in every conceivable way. There's no reason to use cotton except to be willfully anti progress. Cotton thread is the original planned obsolescence.
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Well then you wouldn't like my new SGs! Massive polychromatic cotton constructional stitching that will fade with the serge <–there's your reason
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Jeans which use cotton thread are designed to fail, screw that talk of authenticity.
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I'll take that as a challenge; 2/3 of my rotation are full cotton construction, I'll let you know when they suddenly disintegrate
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And yet jeans somehow lasted before the invention of polyester. A mystery…. What are y'all doing to your jeans anyway?!
A lot of things that we value is obsolescent and impractical. Such is the nature of vintage.
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There's a difference between obsolete because it's more expensive to make, like shuttle loomed denim, and obsolete because it's not good, like cotton thread. Companies like Strike Gold use cotton instead of poly because they like the look of popped stitches and disintegrated threads. Personally, I don't feel like repairing my jeans every few weeks or watching the stitching unravel.
Poly thread is stronger, both in abrasion resistance and snapping strength. It is more colorfast, doesn't shed lint and it's less expensive. By any objective measure, it's better. The aesthetic argument for cotton thread doesn't sway me in the slightest.
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It is no coincidence that Samurai Jeans use cotton thread and are probably the most famous brand for crotch blow outs.
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I do wonder if this is really an unpopular opinion here, but we shall see; I'll let you know when I start having problems with my all-cottons (this would be a first, I have a pair of beaten up all cottons that is semi-retired and pristine, has made it through farm and other hard labor, bicycling, etc).
But to your point, a bunch of the premium Japanese brands (PBJ, Oni, Joe McCoy, SG, Mister Freedom) use or sometimes use all cotton thread, and there are a bunch of filthy bastards out there who never wash their jeans. I'd think this would be worse for cotton than for polyester. And a lot of the blowouts that I've seen were the denim, not the constructional stitching…
There is a certain rich irony in organic cotton and natural indigo being stitched together with petroleum-derived fibers. This doesn't bother me one bit, just noting an irony...
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Two things I am sure of through 6 years on SuFu.
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Jeans with cotton threads suffer infinitely more crotch blow outs.
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This is due to the use of cotton threads.
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Lock stitch is also better than chainstitch (from the durability point of view), yet most prefer the chainstitch for its authenticity (Lockstitch also leads to roping…less pronounced but still)
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That's exactly what was in my brain when I mentioned that vintage and practicality aren't always hand in hand.
Ok, back on topic. Pabst Blue Ribbon is, and has always been, swill. Hipsters think they look like blue collar working stiffs when they drink it. To me they look like people who have no taste buds. There are better cheap beers if you can't afford a nicer beer as well.
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We have the same thing going on in the UK with Carling, Carlsberg, Fosters, Stella etc… Aldi sell a German beer called Steinhauser, £4 for 6 bottles, and this is the greatest cheap beer available in the UK (top tip for UK residents)
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We have a local cheap ass American style Pilsener called Grain Belt here. I love it. Then again, as far as cheap swill goes, I like High Life… So I have an adaptable palate.
The worst local beer is this shit called Hamm's. this cocktail lounge carries it ironically and I had it after one of the finest Sazeracs I've ever enjoyed thinking a change of pace would be nice. It was baaaaaad. Almost retroactively ruined the Sazerac. Almost.
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My father used to use hamms beer in some concoction he used on our lawn when I was growing up. Must have worked because our deck and yard was featured in Better Hones and Gardens when I was in high school. Forget drinking that garbage tho!
