Learning moments in my denim journey
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Another one that I’ll share that should have killed me…
I was 20 at the time and my buddy convinced me to go skydiving. We opted to do a solo jump from 4000 feet where we had spent the entire morning in class learning what to do and what not to do. After lunch we put on our parachutes and boarded the plane for our slow ascent to 4000 feet to make our jump. As soon as I got on the plane, my nerves started to get to me and I was having second thoughts.
We reached altitude and the first jumper made their exit with me being in second position and my buddy being in third. Not wanting to look the coward that I was, I entered the door way and stood on the tiny ledge ready to make my jump…this is where everything starts to go sideways.
As soon as I looked down,I realized what the fuck was about to happen and my brain started screaming to get back in the plane. The problem was that I had already stepped off the ledge and was in free fall. Imagine the looney toons cartoon where Wile E Coyote realizes and tries to run to get back on the cliff…that was me.
The issue is that I was out of position, slightly spinning, and when my parachute opened twisting my lines up causing a partial opening of the parachute. This is bad, really bad, and we’re taught to kick and twist in the opposite direction to try and get the lines untangled. If that doesn’t work, then release the primary parachute and try and open the auxiliary chute.
I’m scared shitless at this point and doing my best from not dying. I manage to kick, twist, and squirm and get my lines untangled what allowed my primary chute to open fully. By this time, all I want to do is get down on the ground but still have about 2500 feet to go.
We were wearing a communication system where we could hear our teachers giving us commands to turn left, right, etc., but after my experience I wasn’t paying that close of attention.
Now as you approach the ground, the training and logic is that you turn into the wind so that it slows your ascent and gives you a gentle landing…not me, I approach with the wind which means that I hit the ground hard and get drug by my parachute until I can get the thing to collapse.
I stand up dazed, confused, covered in dirt to the shock of everyone who thought that I should have broken a few of everything or be dead…
Everyone comes over to see if I’m alright which my stupid young brain says that I’m fine. My buddy asks if I want to do it again and what do I do…jump again on the same day with everything going the way it should have the first time.
As I said, everyone makes mistakes, learns, and moves on.
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A friend of mine was in hospital, in the bed next to him was a guy with 2 broken legs. They got talking and he said he had bust them parachuting.
Friend - So what happened, parachute not open?
Victim - No I was the instructor and I jumped first, then my pupil jumped after me. He got into problems with his chute, so I was watching him and giving him instructions over the walk-in talkie. He got it sorted. I breathed a sigh of relief looked down and I was 500 feet from the ground and had forgotten to open my own chute….(I made the 500 feet bit up because I can’t remember how high he was - suffice to say, his chute did not slow him down enough)
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@Oaktavia i'm interested, lets see em!
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I gave a nearly new pair of Unbranded jeans to my son as an experiment. Not sure if he caught the bug, but he likes them and wears them almost daily, without convincing. Fades coming along nicely. He got mud on them fishing with his uncle, who tried to 'help' by throwing them directly in the laundry right-side out, followed by the dryer. They shrunk and got some of the strongest vertical fade lines I've ever seen. So my dumb ass gave him a pair of 888-142s that were a bit too slim on me....lets see what happens this time.
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Love it @WhiskeySandwich Now make sure you hide the credit card…
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@neph93 LOL ...i used it as an excuse to get myself another pair
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That’s a pro move @WhiskeySandwich 🫡
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@neph93 said in I messed up (A place for Denim Mistakes and Failures):
Alternative thread name: “Learning moments in my denim journey”
The educator in you has spoken. Turning a negative statement into a positive one.
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One big learning of mine: with denim lore, if it sounds stupid, it’s probably bullshit. Soak em when you get em, wash em when they stink, no need to writhe around in the surf at the beach or wear them in the tub to break them in.
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Bought a XHS last year that did not fit me and thought I'll lose some weight and wear them this year... Now I'm 8 kg up since last year
(But already lost a little and keep working on that)
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@WhiskeySandwich like one of your little fade minions. Or Sim City fades edition. Dress your characters and watch them go about creating their fades. Good family fun!!
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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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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.
