Ask Giles and/or Alex Anything
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@Giles nice! Thanks for sharing all that. In my imagination I always conjure up images of old, Japanese men and women dressed in hand woven robes laboring over old, wooden looms, tirelessly pulling the bar back and forth, weaving them denim. While I know this is unrealistic fantasy in this day and age, I love the idea nonetheless.
I did a bunch of reading on Kurabo Mills and learned what a gigantic and diversified corporation they are. With ventures in biotech, pharmaceutical, biomass power plants, and so much more. It sort of completely dashed my old world “mom and pop” handmade textile imagery.
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Maybe this is common knowledge and I just missed it, but do you/Haraki have any ownership or investment in the mills that produce your fabrics? Or are they all independent partners?
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Didn't know Levi was in the high-end Japanese denim.
Looking at their offer, I fail to understand the appeal for 12oz denim priced at 295$...
Monopolizing the mills for that is a scandal
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That’s what I thought. As a small business owner, my gut says owning a mill would be one of the last things I’d want to sink millions of dollars into. Seems like you’d have to keep it running at a massive scale and probably make products for a lot more than just the Iron Heart community to make the numbers work.
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@Slash A "non demim" person was talking to me about Levis Blue Tab. They are advertising is as Japan made and the Japan made is expensive but the collection is probably 10-15% Japan made, similar Japan made denim made up china, rest china / cheap location. I guess they are taking a lot of capacity but there isn't enough for the whole collection.
TLDR - Blue label looked to me that they are marking up on the perception of a premium product from premium locations but mostly it isn't.
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The ones I looked up were the "vintage" ones where it's stated its "12oz red line selvedge denim".
For the "Blue tab" ones (priced 250$) nothing is mentioned at all, which is probably like you say because its not that noteworthy, to say the least
405$ for a trucker jacket with non provided denim weight, provenance, or nice details, except the global "made in Japan" !
Please M. Levi, make some room for the real deal
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@Slash Just like every other fad before (Rolex’s and other higher end watches, Custom Knives (or production knives pretending to be custom), Sneakers, etc.) the denim thing will fade with time and everything will return to normal. Blame the flippers or what not, but I hate the game and wish people only bought what they truly wanted instead of trying to make a quick buck.
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Levis also has terrible sizing info. Not good enough for me to want to try their better quality stuff
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Giles/Alex, with your long standing relationship with Haraki-san and Iron Heart both personal and professional, what Japanese cultural attitudes or behaviors would you say have changed or been implemented into your way of thinking and life? Do you think your British behaviors or mannerisms have changed Haraki as well?
