Denim

DON’T I LOOK LIKE MONEY?

Moving sucks because it makes finding your stuff even more difficult, that includes some of my most cherished clothing pieces, like my high waisted jeans.

It’s funny how those pieces become much more important when you can’t find them anymore, as if every outfit doesn’t work without them. So I went on the search for a pair and decided that this time, they’ll be even more special. I went over to Carte Blanche on Queen Street West again and tried on the high waisted raw jeans from Pink Cobra (the in house brand). I wanted to avoid getting Cheap Mondays or April 77’s because I want to expand my denim collection with various brands (obsession you all know). Unfortunately, the 27 had too much room in the crotch area and could manage to fit another human inside while the 25 wouldn’t button up. And they ran out of 26. Damn.

But, because they are nice to their customers and love when people wear items specifically from their in house brand, they offered to custom make me a pair, fitted to my body. Yay! They even went out and picked some swatches for me to choose from. The result? A measurement session on Thursday and a pick-up on Tuesday. That’s what I call service. Did I mention how the bill came to less than $200 tax in?

The staff is great to chat with, I recommend you pay them a visit if you’re ever a) in need of jeans, b) are in the area, or c) need to satisfy your expensive habit, like me! So stop hyperventilating, and go there…immediately!

Carte Blanche 758 Queen St West
www.shopcarteblanche.ca
www.pinkcobra.ca

THE BOOK OF DENIM

While in Toronto earlier this week, I stopped by Book City on Queen Street West and picked up a magazine I’ve been longing for.

Wad magazine, a publication that’s already beyond cool, did something even cooler, they released a denim issue. Various magazines like Nylon for example do this, however, after purchasing the $13 “book” and reading through it, it’s officially a collector’s issue that puts all those “denim issues” to shame. I will never ever purchase another denim issue again. This is it. It is definitely something that should be owned by all denim lovers.

The issue contains details on various brands, tons of spreads, a history of denim, a denim map (so cool), and much more. Wad also included praise denim quotes by designers and famous pop culture icons. Jeans were not the only items featured in the issue, the issue had all types of denim apparel like bags, shoes, custom denim, coloured, sporty, collaborations, types (warm, raw, light, stonewashed). The marketing department at Wad even went as far as to make sure all the advertisements within the issue are denim related. Tres cool. And for all the French people out there, the issue is billingual.

BEASTMASTER – CHEAP MONDAY AUTUMN/WINTER 2008

AW 08 Beastmaster CREDITS
Art Direction: Var
Photography: Gustav Karlsson Frost
Styling: Sanna Atldax & Karin Granstrand
Make-up: Karin Granstrand
Thanks: Matteus Skola, Viktor

It was was shot in the woods outside of Rimbo, a small town outside of Stockholm known for inbreeding and religious fanatics.

Photos and information: www.cheapmonday.com

SURRENDER

My fascination for denim must come to an end! It’s a costly addiction, worst than alcohol, cigarettes or drug dependency. I am a recovering denimhead, trying only to look but not buy, and I slip once in awhile, especially when a beautiful person, whether male or female, is selling me these jeans. It makes it that much more interesting, just like the way a less attractive person becomes attractive when you’re intoxicated. On my recent trip to Toronto, I stopped by Carte Blanche on Queen Street West where I laid my eyes on a pair of beautiful raw April 77 Joey jeans. After chatting with the sales lady for over twenty minutes, who just so happens to be one of the most stunning women I have ever seen in my life, she swiped my credit card and I walked out of the store with a fresh pair of April’s, one of the rarest brands to find in Canada, which, surprisingly, can be found in Ottawa. The denim is thick and soft. These jeans are amazing, I love them dearly.

The coolest part? The small fifth pocket we are accustomed to is transformed into a shield like shape in order to fit a guitar pick. Better yet, not only do you get a fine pair of jeans, but once you explore the neat pocked you will find an April 77 guitar pick inside. Whether or not you play guitar, that’s pretty damn cool!

“Shield” like pocket with the guitar pick

So What Happens when you wash Cheap Mondays?

Alright, so it’s with great regret that I inform the readers of this blog that I officially, after ONE YEAR OF OWNERSHIP EXACTLY, washed my Italien Unwash Cheap Mondays. They still look good since all the marks I have made throughout the past year and the whiskers have come out of their shell, however, the jeans have turned darker with the shine completely gone, which saddens me more than anything.

My Nudie’s are losing colour as they were thrown into the wash as well. But unlike Nudie’s, Cheap Mondays do not smell as bad as Nudie’s after a few months!

I need a new pair, maybe I’ll cover Iron Army’s new brand since they discontinued Iron Army for some reason….oh denim, why do I love you so??

H&M buys Cheap Monday jeans maker

By MALIN RISING

STOCKHOLM, Sweden

Fashion retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB said Thursday it has signed a deal to buy privately owned Swedish fashion company Fabric Scandinavien AB, maker of Cheap Monday jeans.

H&M said it has bought a 60 percent stake in Fabric Scandinavien for 564 million kronor ($92 million) from the founders of the company, Adam Friberg, Lars Karlsson, Orjan Andersson and Linda Friberg. It also has the possibility to acquire the remaining stake within three to five years.

Apart from designing Cheap Monday jeans, Fabric Scandinavien also runs the store chains Weekday and Monki in Sweden.

Weekday is an urban unisex concept with a total of six stores, while Monki’s 12 stores are aimed at young women.

With their punk-rock style, trendy tight fit and affordable price, Cheap Monday jeans have become a hot commodity in recent years and are now sold in more than 1,000 stores globally.

H&M said the company will be run as a stand alone subsidiary within the H&M Group.

In the financial year ended 2007, Fabric Scandinavien had revenue of 250 million kronor ($41 million) and an operating profit of 67 million kronor ($11 million).

H&M said it expects revenue for 2008 to reach about 400 million kronor ($65 million).

“We have been impressed by Fabric Scandinavien’s development for a long time and we see a potential to develop stores and concepts in other markets. By working together we can accelerate the growth further. We can also do it in a more efficient manner by drawing on H&M’s experience and knowledge of, for example, production, logistics and establishment,” H&M Chief Executive Rolf Eriksen said.

Article from Business Week

NAKED & FAMOUS DENIM

I always loved silk pajamas, especially the way they make you slide off the bed. I was perusing the world wide web and stumbled upon Naked & Famous Denim.

This Japanese denim maker was foreign to my raw denim knowledge. Some styles I am in love with, some are a bit too kitsch for my taste. Their website includes the entire men’s and women’s collection, separated by “type of person or body type”.

They seem to take their denim making seriously and their tagline is “rare and raw Japanese denim”, so check them out for yourself and be the judge!

Raw jeans: The great unwashed

Keep out of laundry for six months, buyers told, to personalize them
By MIKE BENZIE-The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 01/27/08

Jarad Seavers, a graphic designer at Earnest Sewn, wore this pair of jeans for more than a year before he washed them.

“Do not wash these jeans for six months.”

 

What about the washing?

There is another important question, one most people ask when I tell them I’m up to this challenge:

In six months, will there be a discernible difference between a pair of raw jeans that were washed immediately and a pair of raw jeans that were not?

Denimheads say absolutely — that coveted indigo will chip away when washed, essentially dulling the color contrast that adds character to each pair.

“It’ll just look like a navy, boring, dad-kind-of-a-jean,” said Tammy Wong, North American brand manager for the Swedish designer Nudie.

Nobody wants that.

The women at the Atlanta alteration shop where I took the jeans to be hemmed were, however, less than impressed by my fancy new purchase. We embarked on an epic standoff when the manager told me I needed to wash the jeans before she could shorten them because they would shrink. I told her I couldn’t wash them until I wore them and couldn’t wear them until she hemmed them.

The manager looked me over. She looked at the jeans. Spoke briefly in Korean and then conveyed the oh-so-universal sign of holding her nose with one hand and waving the other in front of her face. Which translates to “stinky.”

‘Fabric is more rugged’

“It’s funny how some people are so grossed out about not washing their jeans,” said DressCodes co-owner Karen Mascavage in an e-mail. Mascavage sold me the jeans at her Decatur boutique. “I have received some of the most hilarious looks from people when I tell them not to wash the raw jeans for six months.”

Mascavage said raw denim — which typically starts at about $150 — is a bigger hit with men, mostly because they’re willing to trade initial discomfort for the long-term payoff.

“With women, it’s a hard sell,” she said. “They want to put it on and look like a million bucks right away. They don’t want to work for it.”

With raw, Mascavage added, “they wear you for the first two weeks.”

Some favor the authenticity.

“The thing I like about raw jeans is they sort of represent how jeans were originally meant to be,” said Philip Teske, 49, of Midtown. “I like the fact the fabric is more rugged.”

Even folks who don’t live and breathe denim understand the satisfaction of a perfect fitting, worn-in pair of jeans. We treat jeans differently and with a little more love than, say, slacks. Jeans are personal, in the same family as a beloved T-shirt or a perfectly molded ball cap — items that tend to look better with age.

Washing instructions have always varied, from turning jeans inside out to soaking in a tub. One of designer brand A.P.C.’s suggestions: Take your dirty unwashed jeans to the ocean, where you should alternate between swimming and rubbing dry sand on the denim. Then, rinse with fresh water and dry in the sun.

Teske, who works in finance, is new to raw and said he’s probably a little more into jeans than the average person.

He’s washed some pairs after four months and waited eight months to clean others.

“I can’t say they really smell,” he said, but when they need freshening, he puts his jeans in the freezer.

Still, Teske keeps a cool perspective.

“At the end of the day, they’re just jeans,” he said. “They’re a simple product, and I sort of like simple things.”

A blank canvas

By not washing the jeans for months, raw jeans enthusiasts say you’re not just helping them take the form of your body, you’re forming them to your habits. The basic idea is the denim serves as a blank canvas and the wearer plays an active role in the way the jeans eventually look.

This is probably the point where those who are not raw jeans enthusiasts roll their eyes. Perhaps even you, right now.

Let’s hear them out.

Earnest Sewn president and founder Scott Morrison, who describes himself as a “never-wash-his-jeans-type-of-guy,” said “in six months of aggressive wearing … you’ll see interesting marks starting to form.” This can be from wallets, keys, tobacco tins, stains or smudges.

Mascavage knew someone who purposefully customized a pair of jeans by putting a calculator in the pocket so the keypad’s subtle indentations would be visible.

And then there’s this from Nudie’s small hardcover book “The Naked Truth About Denim”: “Jeans are all about passion and deep relationship. … Your everyday life gives the denim its unique character, formed by you into a second skin — personal and naked.”

Thinking too much about jeans

I’m not sure I want to be in a relationship with my bluejeans, and I am sure I don’t want to call them my second skin. But it’s not often that I’m challenged by a piece of clothing, and I’ve found the idea of molding bluejeans fascinating.

For me, owning this pair of jeans is a cross between raising a puppy and owning a pet rock. Call it a project. I’ve thought about taking them along when I do cool things and go cool places so that they will somehow reflect an awesome life I’m living. I’ve thought about what I’m putting in my pockets and how this will shape these dirty, dirty jeans six months down the road. I’ve thought about that day in May when I will throw these suckers into the wash for the very first time. And I’ve though probably way too much about a pair of bluejeans.

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