21oz Shinayaka Selvedge Denim
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I think the denim will be great,especially for anyone that rides and wears Iron Heart. Even though I’m 67,my favorite cut,and the one that looks best on me is the 555. Although when I ride I wear my 634s as they’re roomier and more comfortable for long days on the bike. When it starts to get colder,and I start wearing chaps,it’s hard to get them over the 634s,because of all the fabric that bunches up behind the knees when you sit down. I can wear thermals underneath the 634s,but they don’t keep me as warm. So to be able to wear 555s with a little flexibility would be great and help keep my old ass warm.
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This sounds pretty awesome. Since this is a stretch denim I hope maybe you'll make the waist an inch more snug on the 555.
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OK. So I said that the Shinayaka and the 21oz indigo selvedge denim were exacty the same when viewed side by side. I asked Sam to photograph them side by side to prove that, and in proper studio lighting there is a small difference…..
[img alt="1–2.jpg"]https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/ihf-images/14626/1/8b7f1c54-61a9-47d7-8ce8-36f3a91afaf1.jpg
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I know the answer is probably ‘we don’t know’…but any idea how the stretch denim will fade?
Traditional wisdom says stretch denim creates less of a crease so the fade may be a bit more subdue...
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@Giles A few questions.
How small of a run of denim can Haraki do when he is trying to make something new? and when one doesn't work out, what does he do with the remainder of the denim?
When he tries out the Shinyaka iterations to see if they stretch in a way that he is happy with, how does he do it? does he actually make jeans out of them or does he screen them another way?
If he makes jeans, does he sew belt loops and pocket stitching on them or does he just cut and sew minimally and throw them on to see how they feel?
In my head there's huge sample room of cool unreleased jeans and shirts in Japan (and maybe Gosport) just waiting to be included in a giant "one-off sample sale"
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When he is experimentally sampling, he runs just a few metres. That is massively costly and labour intensive, setting up a shuttle loom is a pretty big job. If it don't work, he "bins" it. Not actually throw it way but send to cotton recyclers (how this works with the Shinakaya, I do not know).
He'll initially look and feel the denim, this is enough for him to determine if it's good enough to go with or whether he needs to tweak and try again. Once he is happy with the loomstate denim, he'll order enough to make a few sample jeans, these are made in the sampling room (where the most skilled seamstresses work). He made just 2 pairs of the 555 Shinakaya jeans, he has one, and we have the other.
He never send us samples of near misses, but I bet there are a few piles in Japan…..
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Haraki has been developing this new denim for 3 years. Until he had got the amount of flex he was looking for and the look and feel of our signature 21oz indigo selvedge denim, he just kept on trying.
He has developed this denim so that it makes slim and tapered jeans more comfortable when riding of doing manual labour which involves a lot to bending and crouching…
But Haraki is an innovator, that is what makes Iron Heart what it is. Suppress that mad professor like innovation and edge-of-the-envelope surfing genius, and you rip the heart and soul out of the brand. You would not have 25oz, you would not have UHFs, you would not have had paper denim, or ridiculously heavy chambrays, or the best N1s in the world, or 7.5oz t-shirts etc etc etc...
...we have had our largest single order in the history of Iron Heart for these jeans from one retailer, and we have had to double our initial production run of the denim, so it obviously works for someone.
So please be open minded about it, we are not selling out.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m at least semi-open-minded about it. I won’t even rule out the possibility of trying it someday (I don’t really personally see the need for it for myself as I feel the 21oz already has plenty of give, but if the same treatment was given to the 25oz denim it would at least give me pause). These are all good points, it’s just that in my mind denim should be rugged and tough, and stretch denim is anything but IMHO. Granted, maybe that’s because until now there has been no stretch IH 21oz denim. But I’ve just always had a healthy bit of disdain for stretch denim for men’s jeans (totally get it for women’s jeans, if this denim had been developed to lure more women into the IH fold I never would have questioned it).
I definitely applaud H’s innovator spirit. As you indicated, IH wouldn’t be what it is without it. I’ve certainly embraced the lighter-weight denim that I once was somewhat unsure of, so maybe a couple years down the line I’ll wonder why I even questioned it. I’m just a bit of a purist when it comes to denim, at least as far as the construction and the fabric itself is concerned. As long as IH doesn’t sacrifice quality and taste in pursuit of market share I will remain open-minded.
Hell, maybe the stretch in the knees will combat knee-bagging, if so that might warm me up to the idea.
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To my mind, the 21oz is already innovative and obviously very unique to IH, this just takes it a step further…
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I feel really rather privileged to be one of the first people outside og Japan or Gosport to put my hands on the Shinayaka denim… the sample pair arrived in Bodø, Norway this evening and are currently on my legs :o Thanks so much to @Giles and @Alex for entrusting them with me…
Full review and pics coming soon. This is very exciting indeed ???
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Heck yeah Neph!! Does this mean we get to see you in 555s for the next few months [emoji7][emoji7][emoji7]
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The 20th anniversary is in 2023.
Thanks for mentioning this. I'm going to start panning a party now
Hopefully I can join the party…
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I would definitely try to come.
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