Learning moments in my denim journey
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Echoing @T4920, my biggest learning moment involved a brand new pair of XHS and a small child showing first symptoms of the Rota virus. That is to say violent projectile vomitting.
Having been drenched in puke I paniced and washed them without flipping, soaking or checking spin. The result was marbling and abrasion lines galore. I was distraught.
I put the jeans to work re-landscaping the garden (documented somewhere on here, I think at the start of the «Working in your workwear thread).
As a testament to their current glory about seven years later, that very pair were recently used on the IH Instagram as to promote the XHS restock.
@AdamJ maybe you have photo’s you could post? I’m off IG at the moment, otherwise I’d link.
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What about these bad boys? 50 wears last summer/fall while working on art. Plus lots of loads in the washer and dryer with these. I like where they are going and plan to keep up the process. What do you all think? Wild looking I think.
IG: electricindigowizard
"Possibly splitting hairs, but I consider @Oaktavia to be the beardy, dank High Magus of this denim game…" @neph93
WTB: IHJ-72- XL/XXL
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Looks cool to me. I think it’s really hard for heads to break away from achieving the balanced, symmetrical fades that come with consistent, but reserved wear. But to truly just treat em like a low budget pair of mall jeans…then you’re really stamping them with your individual personality. Dig it, Stevie.
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@Mizmazzle right on man thanks for that response, I'm diggin it too. I will also say what helps support this experiment is the brand new pair I have on ice till this fall.
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I learned that I don't like cell phone fades in my front pockets. So I stopped carrying my phone in that pocket and have found other ways to carry it. Not the most exciting lesson learned, but it's something. Other than that, I just wear my stuff a lot.
“Good design is actually a lot harder to notice than poor design, in part because good designs fit our needs so well that the design is invisible” - Don Norman
@zeebeeleather
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@Oaktavia can’t believe that’s only 50 wears. My pair must have 200 and is way less faded. The paint color splotches are great and since there is so much marbling, it barely even reads as marbling. I like them.
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My biggest learnings are around fit and wear.
- 777 not for me. Where do my thighs go?
- 888 not for me. Where does all this rise go?
(and btw ^those 2 I couldn’t have figured out from charts or even trying on in the store really, bc they do go on my body fine and they don’t necessarily look bad, it’s just a comfort thing, had to live in em for a couple months and compare to life in 633/634 to truly understand) - Even though I like the snaps, westerns don’t fit me as well as work. If I “have” to have it, size up and fold the sleeves back.
- Sizing chart > “well I usually wear X” …and don’t overthink it ….“well they designed this one to fit X bc that’s the style of this piece” no just get the one that fits you best
- To me, the best times in any jeans life is A) newish, when they give you a polished look fit for dates/business, or
very worn, when they give you a 
radlook. Since I bought 5 pair (not counting other brands or ones I’ve sold or non-denim pairs 
) in a 3 year span and rotated, all my pair are in in-between land. Don’t get me wrong I still love them and think they look great. But if I had it to do over I’d buy more strategically and aim to minimize the awkward stage. IH is partially to blame for releasing so much good shit. But as I write this I’m remembering how much less I enjoyed focusing on 1 pair for the indigo invitational vs being able to wear whichever pair strikes my fancy that morning so maybe I’ll just shut up now - Oh wait one more, why do my friends and family not want to buy this stuff and discuss it with me? I’ve tried…
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Good to know it happens to everybody :-).
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@Oaktavia I like em! The marbling would bother me personally though. Not sure why that triggers me in my jeans but it could go back to a learning moment: a pair of raws I washed, tumbled, and pulled to outside-out while still wet and they came away really marbled to the extent that I never wore them again. In this case with the paint I think it works pretty well though.
I was really concerned about this risk upon reversing the inside out after doing my initial soapless wash of my 777 XHS since they are so stiff and narrow but was able to “pull it out.”
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@seawolf one thing that could help with unwanted pocket fades is having a hanky or bandanna. I think lined pockets probably helps too. But I carry a bandanna in my back pocket and sometimes stash my phone behind that, which seems like it could soften any edges that could produce unwanted fades. That’s not why I carey a bandanna but the thought occurs to me.
Think it, be it.
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@goosehd was this in Arthur at the Toronto School of Parachuting?
My buddy and I did the same back in the late 80’s. The first fella to jump landed and broke his leg. The very next day, sadly, someone died. I believe the chute was packed incorrectly…
There was a half day of “training” and they basically let anyone who had a pulse jump. Looking back it was a stupid thing to do, but when you’re much younger ….
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As far as my denim in journey goes.
I’m very new to the world of selvedge denim and the like. I’d say for me, my mistake (if you can call it that) was to buy too much all at once instead of going a bit more slowly and enjoying each piece for what it is.
I have a bunch, and I mean a bunch of stuff I’ve barely even worn (some still have the tags on). I’m not sure why this is….
I think I need to learn how to find that happy medium between want and need. Inevitably, my right brain tells me I “need” everything lol.
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@pechelman I have a fresh, unworn pair of the same denim ready to fade for high contrast fades this fall. Had I not purchased a new pair, no way would I have done this lol.
@68degreesorless much of the color loss was from relentless and deliberate washing and drying. They looked different every time I pulled them out like a shriveled old banana peel.
