We recognise this photography style!

[Steve]

Saw this email from a certain denim brand, and thought @Sam had been moonlighting!

Personally prefer ours!

[neph93]

Oh, the irony. I guess this means IH can go back to pocket tabs, and two motorcycles pulling a pair of jeans apart? Of course not, because imitation is only sincere flattery if you’re a multimillion dollar global fashion giant. For everyone else it’s breach of copyright. Bellends.

[mikebarhoot]

I call it the “whacu talkin bout Willis” shot.

[neph93]

@mikebarhoot:

I call it the “whacu talkin bout Willis” shot.

Levi’s are notoriously litigious with regards to their branding. When premium Japanese denim took off in the US around 2006/7 they went after IH, Sugar Cane and a bunch of others who deliberately referenced Levi’s branding on their jeans. Google “pre-lawsuit Iron Heart” and see what you get.

Here’s a NYT piece from back in the day that covers it and mentions IH. Kiya is interviewed too:

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/fashion/14tokyo.html

[neph93]

Actually this blog quotes Kiya’s Superfuture summary of the trouble a few days after it happened:

http://blog.andrewng.com/2007/01/17/levis-takes-on-japanese-denim-resellers-and-manufacturers/

And here’s a screenshot of Iron Hearts’s old Levi’s inspired pre-lawsuit patch, taken from the above blog:

And the old IH red tag from the same place:

[louisbosco]

my memory is a little hazy. but i believe japan is the only place that tabs and arc can happen. something to do with them failing to register a trademark or being late to register one in japan. that was the case when browsing BiG or selfedge and you couldn't find tabs or arcs on any Samurai but you could simply go to japan and pick one up.. and even their websites advertise it..

[Steffen]

@louisbosco:

my memory is a little hazy. but i believe japan is the only place that tabs and arc can happen. something to do with them failing to register a trademark or being late to register one in japan. that was the case when browsing BiG or selfedge and you couldn't find tabs or arcs on any Samurai but you could simply go to japan and pick one up.. and even their websites advertise it..

SDA does the Pigs that rip the Pants in half too.

[Farmered]

@neph93:

@mikebarhoot:

I call it the “whacu talkin bout Willis” shot.

Levi’s are notoriously litigious with regards to their branding. When premium Japanese denim took off in the US around 2006/7 they went after IH, Sugar Cane and a bunch of others who deliberately referenced Levi’s branding on their jeans. Google “pre-lawsuit Iron Heart” and see what you get.

Here’s a NYT piece from back in the day that covers it and mentions IH. Kiya is interviewed too:

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/fashion/14tokyo.html

That's made for some interesting coffee break reading. Thanks for sharing!

[organisys]

"Lightweight Denim"