IH-634S-BLK - Black 21oz Selvedge Denim Straight Cut Jean
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Ended up grabbing a pair of these when I visited Hachioji back in February but only recently started wearing them to work. From the (limited) history in this forum in seems like they will be a stubborn denim to fade (rope-dyed sulphur black warp?) but excited to see how they will eventually evolve. In certain lights they look almost like a deeper indigo dyed pair of jeans but given I picked up a classic 634S too I can see the contrast between them. @northsouthdenimguy your photos above with the two pairs folded captures this really well! It's not as stark as something like the SBG, though I didn't see any of those at any IH stores in visited in Japan, so I'm guessing that is an IHUK fabric?
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@phoenixinflight. I don't think IHUK ever ever had this fabric. A while back was a 666bk. The reason they dont look as black as the BB or SBG or Superblack is because the weft is white or beige on those and not black. At list that is hiw they appear to me looking at the pictures. I haven't seen this fabric in person.
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@Giles I don't remember if that preticular black on this thread has ever been a core fabric. At list I haven't seen it since I became a member. Maybe in the past it was offered. But I see your point. Its a typical 21oz with a black warp and white (maybe?) weft.
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It's a long story (of course), but here's the short version.
We do a 21oz non-selvedge black/white denim. We also did a tiny run of IH-634S-BLK in early 2014 (the jeans in this thread) and the limited number we made sold very well. I wanted to do a version with a more beige weft, so I asked Haraki to make enough for about 500 pairs jeans. This was back in 2018. The first jeans we made out it were the IH-634S-21BLK. For some unknown reason (I probably did the opposite of one of my abiding principles - "do not do what the cool-dudes tell you will sell like Crack"), we did them with tonal stitching. The looked crap, and I have no idea why we did not change that when we saw the sample.
Yeah, you guessed it, they sold like crap, not crack. Alex and I were a little scarred by this, but did keep on trying to come up with ideas of how to use up the rest of the fabric. We never came up with an idea that we thought was good enough. We did sample a Type I or II (I've probably forgotten on purpose) in it, but we had not learned from the jeans tonal stitching debacle and specced it with tonal stitching. You guessed it again, it looked like crap, so we never took it to production. The IH-634S-BK that Haraki made for Japan, is using that denim.
And boy, do they look good with contrast stitching.
I really never should have got into this gig......
"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
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@Giles thank you for clarifying the origins of this fabric. An interesting journey and I'm glad I picked something up at Hachioji that I couldn't get anywhere else. So I was correct these have a rope dyed sulphur black warp?They do indeed look beautiful with the contrast stitching and it would be great to see if this denim could make its way into the West in a CPO or jacket. Given what I've read elsewhere on this forum however, it's a struggle to make enough 21oz denim as it is.
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@phoenixinflight said in IH-634S-BLK - Black 21oz Selvedge Denim Straight Cut Jean:
So I was correct these have a rope dyed sulphur black warp?
Yes.
We had enough denim for 400 pairs hanging around for 8 years. I apologised to Haraki virtually every time I met him.
I don't think asking to make more of it would be taken very seriously.....
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@northsouthdenimguy @hagerman8
Do you guys know that the 's' in the product code 634-S BK stands for?
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@stitchdown.shell s = selvedge
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@goosehd Thanks, G. That makes sense.
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@northsouthdenimguy said in IH-634S-BLK - Black 21oz Selvedge Denim Straight Cut Jean:
Just noticed my Japan-bought 634S-BK doesn’t have the lined rear pockets like my other IH pairs. Curious if this was a Japan-market thing or just an older production spec before the BLK releases.
634S-21 and 634S Overdyed black have not lined rear pockets too
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