I’m entering for the first time!
I was going to try the Samurai 19oz boot cut which I thought would be a bold move but after trying them on, well they are a bit tight up top!
Probably good for a spin around town here and there but not nearly every single day of the year
So I sent them back and opted to go with the Mister Freedom Speedway in the NOS black painted denim. These are interesting, a 12oz indigo/white non selvedge denim painted black on the front side only so not an all the way overdye. They should turn towards dark blue pretty quick and we will see from there. I know the heavier weights tend to have more pronounced fades but these should be fun to wear all year and plan my wardrobe around. I might get some steve mcqueen esque snuff suede chukka boots when they are a little lighter, who knows.

My speedways are coming along- they haven’t faded too much but then again they started off as black!

I took the excess fabric after I had my Speedways hemmed and used them to make patches for my old denim chore coat from Scout Seattle. I washed the fabric at 40 degrees to get any shrink out for the patches but I only gave my pants a cold soak and rinse in the tub. The patch felt softer and already has a more matte appearance with some blue peaking through. It will be fun to see how they fade differently over the next year.

@AdamJ and Morrissey shops at Mister Freedom- its really too bad they can’t get along!

Here is what this looks like overdyed grey in the washing machine in case that is something you’ve been curious about
Not sure if the color difference comes across that much in the photos so I tried a couple different lighting conditions here in my living room. The yellow is a bit muted to more of a gold and it has a more worn-in thrift store find feel (its also had some considerable wear since I dyed it)

The irony with Vidalia Mills is it seemed like a big competitor for them in the boutique denim space was just all the deadstock made in USA Cone Mill still lingering around rag houses (which really shows to Giles point the vast disrepency in size orders from Levis v the smaller companies)
Vidalia needed some of the big boys to buy their product to make their business sustainable. Now the small brands utilizing made in USA denim will have the last of the cone mill, and last of vidalia mills to pick from before deciding to take a chance on Vernon.

What I am getting at, I think, is it would be great if Levis and Lee etc replaced some of their Japanese selvedge inventory with the forthcoming Made in USA stock (they spend a lot on marketing, maybe they can make it cool again). Maybe a pipe dream but this would help to prop up and keep that American industry viable and sustainable and help preserve the smaller Japanese brands like IH by freeing up and returning the Japanese capacity to them.

I’m wearing the Samurai snakeskin jaquard work shirt! Should look pretty crazy in a few months once the snake skin pattern is more pronounced. I bought it from Rivet and Hide months ago so I am excited to finally get to wear the thing

I’ll be there ️

Yeah to add on to what others have said, don’t think of the weights like the tog number on a duvet. They are used as short hand but often secondary to the more interesting features of the denim

The irony with Vidalia Mills is it seemed like a big competitor for them in the boutique denim space was just all the deadstock made in USA Cone Mill still lingering around rag houses (which really shows to Giles point the vast disrepency in size orders from Levis v the smaller companies)
Vidalia needed some of the big boys to buy their product to make their business sustainable. Now the small brands utilizing made in USA denim will have the last of the cone mill, and last of vidalia mills to pick from before deciding to take a chance on Vernon.

What I am getting at, I think, is it would be great if Levis and Lee etc replaced some of their Japanese selvedge inventory with the forthcoming Made in USA stock (they spend a lot on marketing, maybe they can make it cool again). Maybe a pipe dream but this would help to prop up and keep that American industry viable and sustainable and help preserve the smaller Japanese brands like IH by freeing up and returning the Japanese capacity to them.

I’m wearing the Samurai snakeskin jaquard work shirt! Should look pretty crazy in a few months once the snake skin pattern is more pronounced. I bought it from Rivet and Hide months ago so I am excited to finally get to wear the thing

My speedways are coming along- they haven’t faded too much but then again they started off as black!

I’ll be there ️

@AdamC ooooooh good shout thank you

Has anyone been to the hovercraft museum? I missed out on the golden age of cross Channel hovercraft transport but I want to see one for myself! I’m sure the locals will say its not worth going

@Daiquirigranola ah that’s awesome I’ll definitely have to check it out when I’m next in Portland

@northsouthdenimguy I do wonder what’s actually on stock at the shop in Portland

@northsouthdenimguy it sounds to me like you are describing a model that is more resilient against a big slowdown vs a company over leveraged with inventory