I recently discovered a small blog called “Jacky’s first Choices,” which has a couple of really good articles about the Japanese premium denim company Neighborhood.

The author tracks the history of Neighborhood’s releases going back to 2002 in a Natural History of Neighborhood Jeans, highlighting some of their most impressive drops. Neighborhood is known for their $400-$1,300 hand-distressed denim, the most high profile being a recent collabo with Supreme.

After buying his own pair of Neighborhood jeans, Jacky posted a very in depth Product Report: Neighborhood 06 Lightning Savage. This one is great, comparing minute details in the denim quality, as well as further explaining the allure of this brand.

Finally, Jacky’s article on Jean Cultivation: Creating an One-of-One pair of jeans is required reading for anyone into the raw denim / “shrink-to-fit” styles that are very popular now. Great reading over all! I hope he keeps it up.

“From the sweatshops of Asia to the runways of New York, denim is bigger than ever,” proclaims this Time Magazine online photo essay. Check it out for some great photos, especially those taken in the dungeon-like interiors of a Chinese denim factory, like the one above.

Edo Damashii is a small Thailand-based designer that sells their creations on Ebay. They are part of a growing number of fashion designers who have chosen to use Ebay as their primary storefront, going for a direct-to-customer business instead of the traditional struggle to get their clothes featured in boutiques. I’ve been watching this growing demographic for a while, ever since I bought a hand-made hat on Ebay two years ago. Since then, I’ve purchased a number of different items of clothing from Ebay designers, and now I’d like to spotlight my favorites.

Edo Damashii’s primary creation are their “Kimono Jeans” which are handmade from distressed denim and Kimono-cloth that has a wide variety of Asian-themed prints. The jeans at the right are the actual pair I purchased from Edo Damashii. The cut of the jeans is very similar to the classic Levis’ 501 jean, and at first I thought they were actually made using vintage pairs of 501’s, but when they arrived, I noticed that the rivets were all marked “Edo Damashii” and were fairly new. Therefore, I think these jeans start life as 501 copies.

The jeans have some pretty cool hand-made distressing. Three lightning-bolt-shaped holes in the front are sealed with black patches behind the holes and then stitched over with white threading. On the left leg, there is a cool silkscreen print of a dragon. Even the leather patch on the pack of the jeans is customized with Edo Damashii’s logo.

Overall, the wash of the denim leaves a bit to be desired, as it’s very regular, and I’ve never been a huge fan of the 501 cut in general as I find it a bit boxy and traditional. In some places there were loose threads, so I’d suggest Edo Damashii step up the quality a little bit. However, these jeans are unique (browse through their Ebay store and you’ll see every pair is unique!) and they only cost $29.00 plus shipping from Thailand which was actually quite reasonable. Shipping time to my NYC address was about three weeks. For the price and unique look, these jeans can’t be beat! They also have some very cool t-shirts, customized motorcycle jackets, and biker-style wallets.
More pics and details after the jump…

Continue reading →

These jeans just arrived in the mail from Japan, since I scored them from Ebay. the seller was telling the truth about only having worn them twice – they feel brand new! The 45 rpm Indigo’s have the heaviest denim I’ve worn before, but it’s a wonderfully soft and organic feeling material. As a result of their one wash, they are nice soft versus the stiff feeling of unwashed raw denim. Considering that these are now my most expensive pair of jeans, it’s kinda quaint to think that denim was ever considered the fabric of the American working man.

Especially given 45 rpm’s artisanal, indigo-dyed denim that draws on Japan’s own textile tradition. Cotton threads are hand-dipped 28 times in real indigo, then woven on shuttle looms purposely slowed so that they produce a more random textured twill reflecting human imperfections. From there, the denim is sewn into the Indigo line, which means it has one wash (hand-done, of course) and retails for a mere $450.

But that’s only the beginning, since 45 rpm also sells custom washes in one-year, two-year, five-year and seven-year versions (also all hand-done) between $750 and $1,500 a pair. Get ’em here.

More pics after the jump…

Continue reading →