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I agree…. But I have always had a negative bias toward Cone denim. It's just not as interesting to me as what a number of Japanese makers are producing.
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I'm sure I'm likely to come off as a troll or whatever. But truth be told:
I wore mine around today at work and they were like drinking decaffeinated coffee when I had an iced caramel macchiato (Iron Heart 21 oz denim) waiting for me. Looks like these will end up work beaters or I'll give them to somebody because they are definitely not for me. The pocket bags are heavier than the denim is. The chambray iron heart uses in the 13 oz CPO is about the same weight. It is shame Roy is so cynical about Japanese denim because it is definitely superior to come mills. It's a shame because his craftsmanship is angelic. It's perfect. But iron heart's is pretty great too. So I guess I have no reason to ever wear another brand of jeans ever again.
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Haha Mike, you got me laughing over here. I never felt excited about the one pair of Roy's I had, and ended up passing them along, too. I think it's truly the denim. Not even the light weight, just the lack of…j'nest ce qois...murdered trying to spell in French, there.
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Damn. What a bargain!
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Still trying to figure out if this is a joke.
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I looked at Roy’s Instagram and apparently he’s giving the pair away to the highest bidder. So it worked opposite.
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@Filthy25ozJunkie:
I'm sure I'm likely to come off as a troll or whatever. But truth be told:
I wore mine around today at work and they were like drinking decaffeinated coffee when I had an iced caramel macchiato (Iron Heart 21 oz denim) waiting for me. Looks like these will end up work beaters or I'll give them to somebody because they are definitely not for me. The pocket bags are heavier than the denim is. The chambray iron heart uses in the 13 oz CPO is about the same weight. It is shame Roy is so cynical about Japanese denim because it is definitely superior to come mills. It's a shame because his craftsmanship is angelic. It's perfect. But iron heart's is pretty great too. So I guess I have no reason to ever wear another brand of jeans ever again.
What is Roy’s cynical view on Japanese denim?
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I don't think Roy is anti-Japanese denim, I just think he appreciates his jeans being made entirely in the US, and he just so happens to have a really good relationship with Cone who I believe is willing to work with him on fabrics. His most recent shirts were all made out of Japanese fabrics.
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Relevant to this conversation I think:
https://www.heddels.com/2017/10/cone-mills-close-white-oak-plant-last-american-selvedge-denim-mill/
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That’s a bummer. My first Selvedge denim jeans were made from Cone. Tellason 12.5oz Ankara. I really liked their 14.75 oz. too.
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Cone had its place, for sure. Sad end.
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That's what happens when you're a drop in the bucket, and that bucket is but a drop in a massively larger bucket.
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Interesting read Telason posted on FB.
Our Thoughts on the Closure of Cone Mills White Oak
When our friend and manager of the Cone Mills office in San Francisco called on the morning of October 18 and asked us if we were sitting down, we knew what he was going to say. The big surprise came a few months ago when we learned that we were the fourth largest customer at White Oak. We thought: "if this is the case, where are the big brands?" Of course, we all know where they are – chasing down the lowest cost production around the globe to satisfy the demands of their customers -- who care about quantity over quality, price over provenance.
If White Oak is the size of a football field, the Draper looms that make the selvedge denim take up the space of half of an end zone. The mill depends on selling a large volume of fabric produced on their modern looms -- the exact type of fabric large brands and retailers use. As these brands and private label producers moved their production out of the U.S., there was no way they would ship fabric from North Carolina to Bangladesh, China or Vietnam. Many thanks to Cone Mills for fighting the good fight and keeping White Oak afloat as long as possible.
We visited White Oak in Greensboro a couple of years ago and met the people that, in many cases, had been working at Cone Mills for decades, some right alongside their parents. We saw the beautiful antique looms humming along, producing some of the most coveted denim in the world. We saw the spun yarns taking dips in indigo baths. We witnessed the pride the workers had in being a part of something historic, something important. The faces of these people and the memories of meeting them are the first thoughts we had when we heard of White Oak's closure.
In the meantime, remember that entities like White Oak are businesses not museums and if you care about them, support them with your wallet. To that end, we have plenty of our core denim products made from our 12.5, 14.75 and 16.5 oz White Oak selvedge denim in stock, in work and rolls of fabric ready to use at our factory in San Francisco. Tellason is almost nine years old and during this time we have built up tremendous respect for makers in all categories that pursue quality and timelessness with their products. The same goes for the next mill that will produce our selvedge denim in 2018 and beyond.
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If we just call a spade a spade it's closing because the entity (Platinum Equity) that bought International Textile Group (the owner of Cone) does not see a financial benefit in keeping it open vs. ridding or moving those operations elsewhere. This is a numbers game and the move was made to increase the IRR for investors in Platinum Equity. Like Tellason wrote the draper/selvedge looms at Cone made up a fraction of the total production and were not where the money was, it was/is in the modern projectile looms….. Those same looms can make the same denim for a fraction of the labor cost somewhere else. They don't even need to sell more if they're slashing costs and sustaining revenue the returns are trending in the right direction.
