Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything
-
@Giles what a beaut. Thanks for clearing that up!
-
@Giles said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
"Just the Tip", propped up in sand
Reminds me of a time in France when I stumbled upon a nudist beach
-
-
This is not really a question, but a guy posted it on the Face Book group 'Iron Heart Denim Underground". I spent a bit of time answering him, so thought I would copy it here, for those of you not on FB, and may be interested in my ramblings....
FB User
We all know IH has a very very slow restocking, but I've been making some considerations recently.
I've been waiting for a restock since 13 Months now, which is just an insane amount of time, but that's not all. Let me make an example: Yesterday I got an email that told that the 666 25 Oz Indigo Black were back in stock and in just one day Sizes 28, 32, 34, 36, 38 are sold out.
Imagine someone waiting for more than a year for a restock, coming back from work and seeing your model is sold out before you can even imagine.
Now don't get me wrong, as denim heads we all know quality fabric needs time to produce and there's multiple factors contributing to this. But going sold out on half of your restock (6 sizes out of 13) in one day when you have such a long waiting line is just a problem. I am wondering if everything has been designed as it should. Maybe it's time to rethink about production efficiency.
Update-
I am seeing in the comments suggestions like: setting alerts, buying from selfedge and things like that. IH is already expensive enough, adding another 150$ duties just for the sake of owning an IH to me is just nuts. Same goes for the alerts, you can set all the alerts you want, but if you’re out working you can’t just stop to buy jeans. When I say improving efficiency I mean IMPROVING. Sacrificing quality as —someone said— is a compromise, not an improvement.Me...
We feel your pain. It is a situation we have been trying to fix for years. There are massive structural issues in the denim and jeans manufacturing facilities in Japan, and there is simply no quick fix. This is not an issue that is unique to Iron Heart, it is something that is affecting all Japanese Amekaji brands. I was at Union in Berlin earlier this week, it is no fun to be told by every Iron Heart retailer that we spoke to, that they have virtually no Iron Heart product in their shops, at the same time they told us that the delivery schedules of all the Japanese brands they stock was painfully slow. We have made some drastic changes to our retailer network over the last few weeks, that was not fun for Alex who had to wield the axe, and it was awful for me. I spent 20 years growing this brand, adding retailers and expanding our product offerings, to say goodbye to retailers I recruited a long time ago is devastating. But, we are doing this so that we can reduce demand on our production facilities, take the strain off them and hopefully put them in a position where they can build from a more stable base. If Alex, Haraki or I had a magic wand, we would have used it.......Me...
There are many reasons for over demand and under supply. One of the major causes is that the big US jeans brands have suddenly realised that they chucked the baby out with the bathwater years ago and are now crawling all over the Japanese mills and creating massive over-demand for Japanese selvedge denim. It's a a tad ironic that they sold their souls to the temple of cheap shit, we picked up the baton and created a real market and associated demand for high quality (but expensive)Japanese denim, but the large US companies are now tangentially squeezing all the Japanese denim brands hard.....Not bitching, because without them we would not have a business at all, but just trying to articulate one of the issues we face.FB User
Without them inventing jeans trousers we would not have business at all, true, but that time has long gone. Also true the some American brands are more aware that quality is a plus and not a minus ( Levi’s has a made in Japan line, so does Lee), but there are a lot —and they are a lot— of other brands that utilize Japanese fabrics. Fortela, Benzak, Imjit35020, Dondup, I can go on and on… So when the excuse is we cannot produce more quality fabric than this, I sincerely have my doubts about it. I think something can be done.Me...
When Levis come in to a mill and place an order, no disrespect to the other smaller brands you mention, it is on a scale that is hard to imagine......
How do we produce more quality fabric, when the population of Toyoda looms is limited and the people who know how to keep them running decreases every year (because the younger generation are not entering the business)? Same with the workshops that make the garments, it (to Japanese) is a seriously non hip career. The number of empty and abandoned houses in and around Kojima is testament (and extremely depressing) to the flight of young people to the bright lights.
It takes 13 separate machines to make a pair of jeans, many of which (to make the quality we mandate) are from mid 20th century, to create a new production line, we need to source all of those. It takes 3 years to train a seamstress to the level we require to make garments we are happy to sell.
If you can come up with some innovative ways to solve the industries problems, I'm all ears. But you would be better off selling those unique skills into the Amekaji brands and mills, you'd make a fortune. But beware, the Japanese are not good a listening or taking advice from gaijins....FB User
I have worked in Japan, I know them quite well. No disrespect to what I am about to say, but they way you are putting it down looks like the whole denim game is about to extinct in a few years because there will be no specialists (this is actually common problem in all the fashion industry).
It’s just a bad scenario.Me...
I have worked in the Japanese denim/amekaji market for over 20 years, so I know a little about it and feel able to give an opinion. I have never worked in the fashion industry, know nothing about it, so can't pass comment. -
This is my favorite part :" It's a a tad ironic that they sold their souls to the temple of cheap shit, we picked up the baton and created a real market and associated demand for high quality (but expensive)Japanese denim, but the large US companies are now tangentially squeezing all the Japanese denim brands hard"
-
@Salted-Racer said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
This is my favorite part :" It's a a tad ironic that they sold their souls to the temple of cheap shit, we picked up the baton and created a real market and associated demand for high quality (but expensive)Japanese denim, but the large US companies are now tangentially squeezing all the Japanese denim brands hard"
It's mine
-
when the guy thinks knows how to run a business more successfully than your thriving business that has been around for 20 years... I feel like all you said went on deaf ears.
-
I felt so too. But his questioning did make me think and try and articulate the issues we face, so it did me a load of good
"OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011
-
I love this insight into the challenges you’re facing and appreciate the transparency. I have no solutions at all at a practical level (and wouldn’t presume to offer any), but is there any hope of the Amekaji tradition getting some sort of intangible cultural heritage designation (or other recognition that would raise its cultural profile), and would this make it more attractive for younger people to enter the industry? This may be a total non-starter and perhaps just highlights my ignorance. It’s certainly not a quick fix but maybe something that IH and other similar brands could work on together.
If this waffling is just me being an idiot, can someone please put me out of my misery?
-
Is there any chance of a resurgence in US denim mills to take pressure off Japan? (However, looking at the Cone Denim website seems they have mills in China). The current US Govt is supportive of US made.
Likewise, many Japanese brands have moved a lot of their manufacturing offshore (Malaysia, China, Vietnam, Korea et al) and maintained quality. Do they make any TV's in Japan anymore?
-
@Bridger said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
Is there any chance of a resurgence in US denim mills to take pressure off Japan?
I don't think so. 1) They'd need to sort out all the old shuttle looms and 2) It's the Japanese angle that the consumers are currently buying into. Japan is cool, (and sorry Donnie) US ain't. And that is an extreme cultural shift, the reason the Japanese started doing Amekaji is because US was cool.....
@Bridger said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
Do they make any TV's in Japan anymore?
Dunno
"OK face up to it - you're useless but generally pretty honest and straightforward . . . it's a rare combination of qualities that I have come to admire in you" - Geo 2011
-
@Giles
There will be a small resurgence anyhow, as the former White oak looms, then purchased by the now defunct Vidalia Mills, have been acquired by Mount Vernon Mills in Trion, GA. They targeted early 2026 to start production.world tours:
888 Fat guy chocolate WT
Mad Red x2
Wabidashery -
@Giles said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
Japan is cool, (and sorry Donnie) US ain't
I won't get into this for fear of the mods deleting my post.
However, I wonder if demand for Tellason, Freenote Cloth or Schaeffer's Garment Hotel would go down if they could source quality denim from outside of Japan.
As for Japanese TVs. This is what Gemini tells me.
Do they make TVs in Japan anymore?
The short answer is barely. While Japanese brands like Sony and Panasonic still lead the world in high-end TV design, the era of "Made in Japan" mass-market televisions is effectively over as of 2026.
-
@Giles said in Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything:
I felt so too. But his questioning did make me think and try and articulate the issues we face, so it did me a load of good
Your answer was very professional and polite... (did you at least type it with your middle fingers?)
