User Experiences
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I came to Iron Heart through a mutual friend, at the time I was a floating denim head, finding my feet between Samurai, Sugar Cane and Iron Heart. Just as I had got around to making my mind up that Samurai was the brand for me I met Giles and Paula, who plied me with beer and grilled meat products to win my affection…..it worked (I am easily swayed). Since then I have been drawn into the macabre world of heavy denim, double indigo, flannel shirts which have more in common with carpets than garments, and Dr Evil impersonators from the darkest corners Belgium.
I won’t lie, it’s a slippery slope. You start by feeling like you’re a bad ass in your 21oz denim, then you go heavier….then you want the heavy flannel shirt and the heavy jacket….before you know it normal clothing just doesn’t cut it anymore. Before you know it you find yourself in a place like this, asking stupid questions of a man with patience of a rabid dog, sharing intimate details of your life that you wouldn’t tell your closest family……until you find yourself wearing clothing that weighs the same as a small family car, praying for cold weather and viewing the , frankly mediocre, town of Gosport as one of the world’s great denim capitals.
Welcome to the club….
(This is mostly sarcasm for those still getting used to the humour here)
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I don't even know how I got on the denim band wagon… I know it was after my revelation that I can't live in Jordans and graphic tees any longer (Around my 27th birthday)... But, how it exactly started, I don't know. Through my searches, I happened upon some American brands, which lead me somehow to Gustin, just as they started taking off. Yup! I'm an OG Gustin guy, and they were my first foray in to the world of selvedge denim. Their whole business model sucked me in FAST... Seems like I was ordering something new every week. The fit worked pretty good for me, and the prices couldn't be beat (At the time)... But then, as my wardrobe was growing, I started to look around more and more, and "Iron Heart" kept coming up... I was a naysayer at first, but then, it happened....
Now, if anyone has seen the movie "The Invention of Lying", I had a moment just like that... Suddenly, I realized "I live in Japan (Okinawa), and Iron Heart is a Japanese brand...". From there, I was quickly saddened by learning that Okinawa is the Alabama of Japan, and all of the awesome brand that I searched for were nowhere to be found on island. <insert rakuten=""> From there, it was simple: $100 for a Gustin shirt, or $120 for Iron Heart? $120 for Gustin jeans, or $150 for Iron Heart pants/jeans?
I've tried some other Japanese brands, and love a couple (Namely, PBJ and Mister Freedom…), but the construction quality is what keeps me buying IH. Grant it, I buy FAR LESS now that I'm outside of Japan, but there rarely goes a day that I'm NOT wearing at least 1 IH piece (Typically, It's a full outfit though).</insert>
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I thought,"$75? for a t-shirt? These fucking people are crazy!" I still think it's crazy - but-they're really nice t shirts. I own a whole lot of them.
Aside from the build and the different weights of jeans, it's the fits. IH is in a class of it's own.
And not to name names-mega, the mad Belgian-is that redundant?- the people are a civil bunch . -
Hi all! I'm new to the forum. I brought my passion for the right jeans from the USSR. Time of total deficit and lack of everything. Jeans Levis and Wrangler were then for me happiness and good luck. Then in 1991 the damned USSR collapsed. And denim of dubious quality and origin went into the country like an avalanche. And only in the last 15 years, selvedge jeans began to appear in Russia. After Levis with selvedge, I accidentally stumbled upon Japanese denim. And away we go! Got hooked on Momotaro from Zefear. And there in the store I saw the Iron Heart. And here I am. The locals around me, twist their fingers to my temple and say that I'm crazy. And when they hear how much I spend on Japanese denim, they remember the fucking mother.
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I came to the forum like many of you, searching for denim that was a bit better made than the standard fare located in shopping malls and local retailers. Overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge here, I spent the good part of the first year reading and trying to understand the differences in denim, weights, sizing, and cuts. Not only that, there were flannels, chambrays, t-shirts, and more to whet the appetite for knowledge and future purchases.
I slowly began to accumulate some understanding of the offerings here and also began to develop something I didn’t expect to find. When I opened my eyes to the surroundings, I found friends who shared wins, losses, tears, and joy. Slowly they became more than just a user on the forum, but a brother or sister in this great corner of the internet. I made my first journey across the Atlantic to meet these people I have become so attached to and have made the journey a few times now…and plan to continue doing so.
When you put the time in and start making connections, you realize that this is a family. We agree, disagree, share love, and argue…but at the end of the day, we are there for each other in support and understanding.
I have said this many times before, but I came here for the clothes, but I stay for the people.
My $.02 on what this forum means to me. Stick around and hopefully you’ll find the same…
Love to you all
️"I don't give a shit what anyone else is doing, we will do what is best for us and our customers" - Giles P. :)
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Lovely post, @goosehd - worth more than $0.02!
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I was a samurai denim person until I wasn't.
living in singapore back then, a fellow denim head @ronaldlsh was all iron heart and I was all samurai. each of us was "come over to the other side". Sufu seemed better and was my first forum experience as there was a wide array of different denim brands to chat about.
met Giles, Paula and Haraki a few times in Singapore, had a few iron heart tees but never denim. my first iron heart was the 21/23UHR for the denim championship 2 or 3 when @Megatron1505 was hosting it. I guess you could say the rest is history. the community got the better of me
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It all started when I I was having a hard time finding a pair of boots that fit me well. I was frustrated with sizing, quality, and unethical manufacturing practices. I searched high and low, and eventually discovered Wesco boots, and my journey down the rabbit hole began. This new discovery became an obsession with quality, and discovering Iron Heart was only a natural progression at that point. I joined the forum and began lurking and reading, and compiling a wishlist. And as we all know, it's scary spending a lot of money on something we've never seen in person, but my first purchase surprised me. I was met with detailed size charts, over-the-top customer service, and a place to pour over every little detail with a like-minded community of people, who on their own, also discovered this wonderful forum. It has always been my refuge from the harshness of the world, a corner of the internet where I can count on leaving with a lighter heart than when I came.
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Says here I joined in April of 2013. I think I was lurking for many months before that as I was doing research on IH ahead of making purchases. I joined eventually and found it to be a lovely community and have been around on and off ever since.
I will say that especially in those early days this forum really lightened my wallet a lot. Obsessively looking at pictures of and posts about products always led to the inevitable purchase of things I would otherwise probably have been able to live without, or may have discovered too late to purchase. At least from my perspective, the site has offered a positive ROI for Iron Heart
That said, from my perspective, the site has offered me friends I would not have otherwise met and made and, in the end, enriched my life in other small ways.
So, thanks for the site, @Giles @Alex @Madame-Buttonfly , all the admins of the past, present, and future, and all the forum members who haven't been on here to take advantage of other forum members. As far as I'm concerned the whole thing has been a big net win/win/win.
