Hello everyone, been lurking for a bit and thought I'd type up a bit of an intro. I've always been a jeans and T-shirt guy except for a minute around 2015 that I tried to get into chinos, so anyway I was living in Los Angeles and needed a new pair of jeans for whatever reason and there was an army/navy shop in one of the trendy hipster neighborhoods, and I love me a good army/navy shop. This being California, there was an entire aisle-long rack of Levi's shrink-to-fit and I thought hmmm, what's with this? Well wearing those for a long while the cigarette pack I keep in my front pocket wore through the thigh and for the first time ever, maybe, I thought about jeans as a thing worth thinking about.

The Levi's STF phase lasted a while and I tried getting into menswear and when I moved to New Orleans bought some linen pants of all things and was just having a god awful time of an identity crisis and so finally I accepted that while, yes, menswear looks amazing and I could scroll the lookbook on Permanent Style all day, I am a person who lives in jeans and black T shirts and black Chucks, so decided kind of out of the blue that if this is my role in life then I'm going to wear the very best jeans and black T shirts (not much you can do about the chucks), but the first problem here is you have to define "best" and down the rabbit hole I went. Fit, silhouette, denim, and on and on and on. Searched r/rawdenim forever. Walked into Iron Shop Provisions in New Orleans, and the lady working there at the time fitted me in a pair of 14oz broken twill 666s, and IH has been my grail jeans ever since--heavy denim sucks in NOLA humidity and lord knows the 666 was the wrong fit for me, and I didn't have a great sense of my bodily dimensions to begin with and plus I've put on some weight over the past couple years etc. etc. etc. but no other brand has spoken to me on so deep a level as IH, just nothing else compares ya' know? That lady at Iron Shop either saved me a lot of heartache
trying other brands or cursed me with this affliction where simply nothing else will do, right from the jump.

The tucked belt loops, the lined back pockets, the poly-core cotton thread so my tactical folder doesn't completely break the threads on the coin pocket, anyway I've been on a mission to find my forever jeans and that's why I'm wearing the 888 SBG now (I hate black jeans) waiting on the indigo 888 to restock and wear those for next year's indigo invitational, which is to say I should mention the pair of 21oz indigo 888 are waaaay too small for me or I'd be in those at the moment. I also have the 634 in 21oz and 14oz, but a lil' too tight in the thighs. Like I said, basically looking for the one fit and silhouette for me, and just about found it thank god lol.

Glad to be here. Cheers! Oh yeah, I go by Terry.

Greetings y'all,

Terry here, I tried a couple years ago to register on the forum but through a combination of technical difficulties and I'm sure user error was never approved/registered. But I've been listening to the Iron Cast pod lately, and thought I'd give the forum another go and this time: great success. Anyway, I'm in the US, and spend summers in the Chicago area (about 30 miles west of the city) and the rest of the year in New Orleans.

Looking forward to poking around the forum threads and such. Cheers.

@Oaktavia Very late to this party but yes, I too ADHD & OCD the f**k out of my jeans, for maybe 3 years now. There's such a tension between the minimalist, own fewer but better things mentality that's so deeply ingrained in much of the heritagewear community, and the fact we live within capitalism. I don't mean that as a throwaway, old commie yells at clouds statement but the brands that produce the clothes we love have to sell more to survive. And they make really cool stuff, and I want that stuff, and on and on it goes. I'm so glad I'm not really into the crazy fabrics like SDA or Samurai--though they're both absolutely gorgeous--'cause if I were I'd have a real problem lol.

I just want one all-around, wear with everything pair of jeans. I don't want to wear any other style of pant, or shorts, or multiple pairs of jeans to rotate through. Just one denim in one cut that works, and that's the quest I've been on. For better or worse, Levi's won the global fashion game and jeans go literally with everything in every context now, and I want basically what everyone's wearing just better than what everyone's wearing, or at least that's how I think about it most of the time.

But then there's so much out there and how do you know if you like something unless you try it? I was listening to Derek Guy (menswearguy) on some podcast and he told a story of someone who'd never thought about jeans until he went into a slightly higher-end store and had help finding that "perfect" pair and he walked out so happy with what was undoubtedly the best pair of jeans he'd ever had in his life, with all sorts of little details that were miles above anything he'd ever had and he'd never even thought of before.

And then he was instantly miserable because it occurred to him, thinking about all these new things, that if this pair of jeans was so good, maybe there was a more perfect pair out there somewhere for him. And that's the paradox of choice and freedom that I feel trapped in most of the time. Like, these 888s are sooooooo good, but what if the 1955 is better, for me?

How did I get "into" denim? I saw a post on r/rawdenim of a beautifully faded pair of 888s-142, worn by a woman who's name I don't know for one of the indigo invitational years, and her post said she'd done the invitational in an effort to cut down on decision fatigue because she'd been spending too much energy thinking about what to wear in the morning. And I thought: yes, I too spend too much time thinking about clothes and what to wear, and I want my jeans to look like that! I'll do what she did!

And I've spent infinitely more time thinking about clothes since that decision than I ever had before lol.

Last quick story: My dissertation advisor, an established tenured professor, wore black jeans and a black T and an indigo Levi's trucker jacket. Every. Single. Day. I was chatting with him in his office one time and somehow we started talking about student evals and he said the funniest one he ever got was a student saying he was dirty because he wore the same thing every day. He then said, completely serious: I have a closet at home with 20 of these jackets. So I guess at the end of the day ya' just gotta do what works for you and I'm not trying to end this sentence as advice but more like the broader "you" that includes me.

Oh man how are these sooooo soft omg. (That's semi-rhetorical, I assume it's something to do with the weft being dyed and with the dye itself). I was on the fence and mostly trying to convince myself not to pick these up, as I'm really not a black jeans guy since like 30 years ago when I was goth in high school, but I love the 21oz denim and I love the 888 cut and I knew I'd have a nagging regret for like the next 5 years if I didn't pick up a pair.

Wow, these are amazing. So glad I pulled the trigger.

@Kurbrubador mine just came today too, and I'm rockin' the same Chucks and the same huge double cuff lol. Haven't quite figured out what I want to do with the hem here yet but these look great with the double cuff don't they? Nice fit, man!

@Jord ooooof.

Make these again pleeeeeaase lol

@Oaktavia Very late to this party but yes, I too ADHD & OCD the f**k out of my jeans, for maybe 3 years now. There's such a tension between the minimalist, own fewer but better things mentality that's so deeply ingrained in much of the heritagewear community, and the fact we live within capitalism. I don't mean that as a throwaway, old commie yells at clouds statement but the brands that produce the clothes we love have to sell more to survive. And they make really cool stuff, and I want that stuff, and on and on it goes. I'm so glad I'm not really into the crazy fabrics like SDA or Samurai--though they're both absolutely gorgeous--'cause if I were I'd have a real problem lol.

I just want one all-around, wear with everything pair of jeans. I don't want to wear any other style of pant, or shorts, or multiple pairs of jeans to rotate through. Just one denim in one cut that works, and that's the quest I've been on. For better or worse, Levi's won the global fashion game and jeans go literally with everything in every context now, and I want basically what everyone's wearing just better than what everyone's wearing, or at least that's how I think about it most of the time.

But then there's so much out there and how do you know if you like something unless you try it? I was listening to Derek Guy (menswearguy) on some podcast and he told a story of someone who'd never thought about jeans until he went into a slightly higher-end store and had help finding that "perfect" pair and he walked out so happy with what was undoubtedly the best pair of jeans he'd ever had in his life, with all sorts of little details that were miles above anything he'd ever had and he'd never even thought of before.

And then he was instantly miserable because it occurred to him, thinking about all these new things, that if this pair of jeans was so good, maybe there was a more perfect pair out there somewhere for him. And that's the paradox of choice and freedom that I feel trapped in most of the time. Like, these 888s are sooooooo good, but what if the 1955 is better, for me?

How did I get "into" denim? I saw a post on r/rawdenim of a beautifully faded pair of 888s-142, worn by a woman who's name I don't know for one of the indigo invitational years, and her post said she'd done the invitational in an effort to cut down on decision fatigue because she'd been spending too much energy thinking about what to wear in the morning. And I thought: yes, I too spend too much time thinking about clothes and what to wear, and I want my jeans to look like that! I'll do what she did!

And I've spent infinitely more time thinking about clothes since that decision than I ever had before lol.

Last quick story: My dissertation advisor, an established tenured professor, wore black jeans and a black T and an indigo Levi's trucker jacket. Every. Single. Day. I was chatting with him in his office one time and somehow we started talking about student evals and he said the funniest one he ever got was a student saying he was dirty because he wore the same thing every day. He then said, completely serious: I have a closet at home with 20 of these jackets. So I guess at the end of the day ya' just gotta do what works for you and I'm not trying to end this sentence as advice but more like the broader "you" that includes me.

@Jord ooooof.

Make these again pleeeeeaase lol

Perhaps something like the Easy Short but geared more toward exercise? The snaps on the back pockets are a no-go for gym equipment but the shorts otherwise look ideal (I don't own any so no sure but I'd assume). I spend a lot of my day in workout duds and would love quality and non-synthetic stuff.

anyone in this thread talking about ice skating?

Hello everyone, been lurking for a bit and thought I'd type up a bit of an intro. I've always been a jeans and T-shirt guy except for a minute around 2015 that I tried to get into chinos, so anyway I was living in Los Angeles and needed a new pair of jeans for whatever reason and there was an army/navy shop in one of the trendy hipster neighborhoods, and I love me a good army/navy shop. This being California, there was an entire aisle-long rack of Levi's shrink-to-fit and I thought hmmm, what's with this? Well wearing those for a long while the cigarette pack I keep in my front pocket wore through the thigh and for the first time ever, maybe, I thought about jeans as a thing worth thinking about.

The Levi's STF phase lasted a while and I tried getting into menswear and when I moved to New Orleans bought some linen pants of all things and was just having a god awful time of an identity crisis and so finally I accepted that while, yes, menswear looks amazing and I could scroll the lookbook on Permanent Style all day, I am a person who lives in jeans and black T shirts and black Chucks, so decided kind of out of the blue that if this is my role in life then I'm going to wear the very best jeans and black T shirts (not much you can do about the chucks), but the first problem here is you have to define "best" and down the rabbit hole I went. Fit, silhouette, denim, and on and on and on. Searched r/rawdenim forever. Walked into Iron Shop Provisions in New Orleans, and the lady working there at the time fitted me in a pair of 14oz broken twill 666s, and IH has been my grail jeans ever since--heavy denim sucks in NOLA humidity and lord knows the 666 was the wrong fit for me, and I didn't have a great sense of my bodily dimensions to begin with and plus I've put on some weight over the past couple years etc. etc. etc. but no other brand has spoken to me on so deep a level as IH, just nothing else compares ya' know? That lady at Iron Shop either saved me a lot of heartache
trying other brands or cursed me with this affliction where simply nothing else will do, right from the jump.

The tucked belt loops, the lined back pockets, the poly-core cotton thread so my tactical folder doesn't completely break the threads on the coin pocket, anyway I've been on a mission to find my forever jeans and that's why I'm wearing the 888 SBG now (I hate black jeans) waiting on the indigo 888 to restock and wear those for next year's indigo invitational, which is to say I should mention the pair of 21oz indigo 888 are waaaay too small for me or I'd be in those at the moment. I also have the 634 in 21oz and 14oz, but a lil' too tight in the thighs. Like I said, basically looking for the one fit and silhouette for me, and just about found it thank god lol.

Glad to be here. Cheers! Oh yeah, I go by Terry.

1. M-65
2. M-65
3. M-65

Did I mention the M-65 looks like one of the greatest jackets I've ever seen? Also really like the Recycled Cotton Western and a UHF, probably in green, probably the work shirt... And with the upcoming 888 restock I can hear my bank account crying in the background...

Brilliant, well done y'all!

Oh man how are these sooooo soft omg. (That's semi-rhetorical, I assume it's something to do with the weft being dyed and with the dye itself). I was on the fence and mostly trying to convince myself not to pick these up, as I'm really not a black jeans guy since like 30 years ago when I was goth in high school, but I love the 21oz denim and I love the 888 cut and I knew I'd have a nagging regret for like the next 5 years if I didn't pick up a pair.

Wow, these are amazing. So glad I pulled the trigger.

@Kurbrubador mine just came today too, and I'm rockin' the same Chucks and the same huge double cuff lol. Haven't quite figured out what I want to do with the hem here yet but these look great with the double cuff don't they? Nice fit, man!

Greetings y'all,

Terry here, I tried a couple years ago to register on the forum but through a combination of technical difficulties and I'm sure user error was never approved/registered. But I've been listening to the Iron Cast pod lately, and thought I'd give the forum another go and this time: great success. Anyway, I'm in the US, and spend summers in the Chicago area (about 30 miles west of the city) and the rest of the year in New Orleans.

Looking forward to poking around the forum threads and such. Cheers.