It's been one month since my enlistment in the IH army. How did I do for a haul after one month of service?
7 items: 3 bottoms, 4 tops
Tried to snag an Olive BIGBUCK too, but I missed my shot and it was too late. The buck ran off before I got to it.
Just a few ideas of items I think would be cool to see, as well as some colorways I'd love in just the normal UHF Western/Work style.
For some of these I added a render that sort of represents how this looks in my head.
image (1).jpg
image (2).jpg
I want to point out something that I think has not been observed before (either here, or elsewhere).
I might only have noticed this because Takeshi Kitano is my favorite filmmaker of all time, and I've watched this movie many times over the last 20 years, but the IHSH-01 / IHSH-332 flannels are virtually identical to a shirt that the main character Shigeru wears in the 1991 surfing film 'A Scene at the Sea'
The pattern is 90% the same (minus the yoke), while the colorway is 100% identical.
So what do we think.... was Haraki-san a fan of this film, or is this just a coincidence?
On a related note, this shirt is my #1 IH wish list item (mostly because of my love for the film), so if anyone wants to sell yours, let me know!
Screenshot 2026-01-19 at 11.02.09 PM
Greetings from Florida, new member here. 44 years old. Long post incoming, as I am now down a spiral of seemingly never-ending expenditure.
I recently made a trip to Japan - my 2nd trip there, but first trip since my interest piqued in Japanese denim. I was aware of selvedge denim for at least a decade, having watched a few videos here and there on Youtube, I just never went further than that. However, prior to this trip, for whatever reason I clicked on a video or two about Japanese denim; the videos from 'Fjorde' and 'Iron Snail' in particular really caught me and sent me down a rabbit hole - I decided I had to buy some.
So about a month prior to departure, I made it my mission to visit as many denim stores during my trip as possible, and stock up on jeans while I could get them cheap (relative to import pricing, I guess). I pinned twenty four stores on our travel map, between Sapporo, Tokyo, Osaka (and Hong Kong, where we spent 3 days at the end of the trip). I was feeling strongly pulled in the direction of a few specific brands due to their reputation, style, cuts, and branding: SDA, PBJ, Momotaro, Samurai, and Iron Heart. So stops at all of these shops were in order, among others.
Prior to leaving however, I couldn't resist the urge to go ahead and order just one pair, to see if dedicating a good 10-15% of our trip was worth it, or if I was just obsessing for no reason. The brand and model that I chose to start with was Iron Heart 555 SBG. I ordered from Division Road, and it arrived in about 3 days. I put them on, and knew immediately, my obsession was totally warranted. This trip just got a bit more expensive.
During the 17 days, I dragged my [quite supportive, all things considered] wife to each of the following stores, trying on denim:
Sapporo: Flamingo, Unique & Sons, Kapital, Daimaru, Warehouse, and Sapporo BASE
Tokyo: All four Hinoya stores at Ueno station, PBJ, Momotaro, M'Arijuan, Tools Infinity, and Sun House Jinnan
Osaka: Hinoya Namba, SDA
Hong Kong: Workware, Hide & Seek, Black Riot, Take5
Ironically, since we were there during the final 7 days of the. year the 3 shops I most wanted to visit (Iron Heart Osaka, Iron Heart Hachioji, and Samurai Osaka) were all closed! So we'll get to those three next time. My wife even got the bug and snagged a cool pair of TCB's, the 'Cathartt's with the little flaps over the pockets, and heart-shaped buttons.
Attached are a few pics of my haul (I also bought a Momotaro jacket and an Evisu jacket). Upon returning to the states and wearing most of this stuff, I've realized IH is by far my favorite, and have since ordered or wish listed six more (IHSH-428, IHSH-189, IHSB-BIGBUCK, IHSB-BB-NAT, 526J-SLB, and 555S-SLB).
I suppose I'm stuck here now...
Arrived today. Might have to pull out the 666D tomorrow and try them together - The Duxedo!
Looking forward to the weather cooling off on Monday night, supposed to drop below 70 
...so I can see how well this thing absorbs (or hopefully doesn't absorb) cigar smoke
@Go-For-Chill
That is such an interesting take, I literally bought the duck pants in the 666 fit just to get that patch, even though I don’t like the fit as much as the 555 and 777.
Every time I put them on, I think “damn these would look a lot better in a 555“ but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the three 6 patch on a pair of pants.
@Jord 100%. I bought something like 12 or 13 pairs of jeans when i was in Japan in December and since I got home with them I've worn non-IH for a total of 4 days. Two days on some Oni's and two days (including today) on a pair of Samurai's
IH main store in Tokyo is a looong way from Tokyo proper, so not really worth the trip unless you have a lot of days in the city. On the other hand if you're in Osaka that location is much more convenient
Have fun on the slopes, I was just in Sapporo but didn't have time to ski. Bought some denim though!
@SKT I'll have that at $200. PM me payment info
IH main store in Tokyo is a looong way from Tokyo proper, so not really worth the trip unless you have a lot of days in the city. On the other hand if you're in Osaka that location is much more convenient
Have fun on the slopes, I was just in Sapporo but didn't have time to ski. Bought some denim though!
@TwoHearted313
This is a great call out, I just posted in the “things we should make” thread just a couple of days ago how I wish there was a version of the XHSIB that was non-fade…
I will get a pair of the non-fade black jeans once my SBG start to fade, but the XHSIB is literally the most beautiful denim in the entire world. To see it start fading would be such a disappointment.
@newtoiron
Type III SLB jacket is on my list, yep
Haven’t seen anything short sleeve from IH that I have to have so far. Really unfortunate because I live in Florida, so it’s gonna be hard to rep any of this stuff in the summer.
@Go-For-Chill
That is such an interesting take, I literally bought the duck pants in the 666 fit just to get that patch, even though I don’t like the fit as much as the 555 and 777.
Every time I put them on, I think “damn these would look a lot better in a 555“ but I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get the three 6 patch on a pair of pants.
Just a few ideas of items I think would be cool to see, as well as some colorways I'd love in just the normal UHF Western/Work style.
For some of these I added a render that sort of represents how this looks in my head.
image (1).jpg
image (2).jpg
@Jord 100%. I bought something like 12 or 13 pairs of jeans when i was in Japan in December and since I got home with them I've worn non-IH for a total of 4 days. Two days on some Oni's and two days (including today) on a pair of Samurai's
It's been one month since my enlistment in the IH army. How did I do for a haul after one month of service?
7 items: 3 bottoms, 4 tops
Tried to snag an Olive BIGBUCK too, but I missed my shot and it was too late. The buck ran off before I got to it.
@Jord I almost pulled the trigger on those too, but couldn't get over how shitty the selvedge line looks. I knew every time I picked them up to wear them I would just go to my Samurais or PBJs instead. I did just get their Indigo Sugiaya pants this week, which are great.
The texture is cool on the MIJs though!
I added the item to my wish list Tuesday. 2 days later its on restock alert. Score!
@SKT I'll have that at $200. PM me payment info
