Send your worn-out project to: wouter@long-john.nl
To celebrate the 7 years in business together, Edwin Jeans and Cultizm Store have put their heads together to create an exclusive 5 pocket jeans. They created a limited edition ED-80 fit made from 15.3oz slub pink listed selvage denim. The selvage fabric is made at the Kuroki Mill in Okayama, Japan. Kuroki Co Ltd is widely known for both it’s quality and durability, churning out some of the finest selvage denim in the world for well over 30 years, offering the complete denim production process, including dyeing, weaving and finishing. The collab is made in 58 pairs only, available now!
In December 2015 the book ‘Ametora’ – How Japan Saved American Style – was launched. The book is written by cultural historian W. David Marx. He’s a writer on Japanese fashion, music, and culture. Ametora which means American traditional look is his first book. The book traces the Japanese assimilation of American fashion over the past hundred and fifty years, showing how Japanese trendsetters and entrepreneurs mimicked, adapted, imported, and ultimately perfected the American style.
The book is published by Basic Books, hardcover and 296 pages. Looking forward to see it by myself. The first reviews are very promising!
It has been over 70 years since Big John from Japan started their business as a small sewing factory in Kojima, Okayama. This city is now known as the denim capital of Japan. Big John manufactured the first made in Japan jeans in 1965, and developed the first Japanese denim fabric in 1972. The RURI fit is Big John’s original 14.5oz sanforized selvedge denim. The RURI fabric is based on the fabric of the M1002 PROTO model, which was the first jeans made under Big John brand in 1967 using the fabric imported from Cone Mills Co. The RURI is dyed with special dyeing technique in which dipping was reduced to about a quarter of normal dyeing process, creating the bright light blue color. This is a color traditionally called RURI in Japanese, named after a deep blue gem (Lapis Lazuli in English).
Strolling around Ebay to find new rare vintage items is one of my fav things to do in the weekends. I just came across this vintage Levi’s Jeans jacket from the ’70′s. It’s from their ‘Orange Tab’ line and the previous owner embroidered a great patch of an indian on the back. Perfect and classic combination! Couldn’t resist it to add it to my private collection.
Levi’s Jeans celebrates this year their 100-year anniversary with premium denim fabric manufacturer Cone Mills in White Oak, North Carolina. This partnership is known as ‘The Golden Handshake’. The Levi’s selvedge denim is produced on vintage looms with the signature red stitch signaling craftsmanship. They created special items this year for this celebration and to promote it they made this video here below.
This upcoming February Vol. 8 of the ‘Inspiration Event’ will take place in L.A. The Inspiration event is an initiative from Rin Tanaka. Rin started publishing his ‘My Freedamn’ books back in 2003. This book collection contains the American highlights in clothing; denim, sports, workwear, army, streetwear, etc. All true must haves and some of the editions are already very hard to find. The ‘Inspiration’ event is a kind of tradeshow, event and fleamarket, all in one. But the core is meeting like minded people who has interest in American vintage apparel manufactured from the 1900′s – 1980′s. It’s all about vintage fashions and accessories from boutique and corporate American and Japanese companies, surf and skate exhibitors, plus artists and artisans, hot-rods, antiques, records and audio equipement, as well as live music. Below an impression video from Vol. 6 which was also in L.A. as Vol. 7 was organised in New York. Good luck with the organisation with this upcoming event Rin!
Sly Guild is a brand founded by the three Konik brothers James, Blair and Chad out of Auckland New Zealand. The boys take a raw laid back, conceptual approach to a lifestyle around everyday streetwear. Their short film is a little behind the scenes edit on their 11.7oz raw selvedge denim – ‘Rest Pant’ being crafted in Auckland, New Zealand. Enjoy the making of!
Last week I got my hands on these two deadstock JSB kids jeans. The jeans are inspired by the moviestar James Dean which became a very popular icon for the youth in the movie ‘Rebel without a Cause’ which came out in 1955. A lot of young kids wanted to be as cool as James who was dressed in jeans with a classic white t-shirt and a pair of boots. This era was also the breakthrough for the new rock and roll music. This period after World War 2 is one of the most important periods for the denim industry and also known as the ‘Golden Period’. A lot of small new denim brands were born. Denim became a fashion statement instead of daily workwear. Brands were using the new upcoming icons as a marketing tool to reach the teenagers.
These two deadstock pair of jeans, size 6 & 8, were made by the JSB brand. They are produced in Belgium around the late ’50′s. The pairs are made of right hand sanforized rigid denim fabrics, non-selvage. The back pockets are inspired by Lee Jeans, maybe because of the fact that James Dean was a fan of Lee. I couldn’t find a lot of info about JSB, so great if you know more about this brand. If you know more about it, please send me an email to: wouter@long-john.nl. Check out these rebel jeans here below.
Last week a new denim and bbq concept opened their doors, named Black & Blue. Black & Blue is a new innovative store founded by Barry van den Heuvel and Sjors Coolen in Nijmegen – NL. They are based in an old lumberyard which they turned-out in a really cool place where they share their passion for authentic bbq craftsmanship and workwear. Besides selling the most iconic (denim) clothing brands like, Indigofera, Carhartt, Lee101, Pike Brothers, Rising Sun, Levi’s Vintage Clothing, Red Wing and Zace they also wholesale the American bbq smokers brand Yoder. With these top quality Yoder smokers they will give bbq workshops at their place and on festival spots they will serve pulled pork with delicious sauces. You read that right, Black & Blue is all about the American lifestyle, the good life! If you’re in the neighborhood, go check it out for yourself. Congrats Barry & Sjors with this new adventure, wish you all the best guys!
The brothers from RedWhiteBlue Co are making the finest and extremely cool clothing. Their philosophy has always been designing clothes with the highest quality and details as possible. Always with quality over quantity, the old fashioned way. The process of making quality, detailed garments as they do, by a small, skilled and determined crew, goes through a tedious process. All of their products are handcrafted and sourced from within the USA. So when you receive a RWB Co. made piece, every stitch, rivet, buckle, and button has a piece of ther soul embedded. If you’re not familar with their brand, below some shots from their blog, but check out their site to explore and see the old craftsmanship from these guys!
Last October during the second edition of ‘Global Denim Awards’, an event made possible by e3, a jury of international denim experts selected Sartoria Diletto and Italian mill Candiani Denim as the winning collaboration for this year’s Best Collection. A prize of €10.000 went to the designer. Over 750 denim professionals from around the globe were present at the runway show, while eight pair-ups of emerging designers and premier denim mills presented capsule collections at the Zuiveringshal of the Westergasfabriek in Amsterdam. Denim mill Berto Industria Tessile (Italy) won the honorary Best Fabric award, as a recognition for its innovative denim fabrics. Check here the video from the denim blue night!
This pair of vintage Levi’s Jeans 501 is my biggest jeans from my private collection. The jean is from the end of the ’70′s and is made after the famous ‘Big E’ (untill 1971) period. The top button has a number 6 on it which is a reference to that era. It also has the famous Small E red tab, the backpockets are not single stitched and the wash care label is inside instead of printed on the inner pockets what they did before, also Big E period. So this paritcular jeans is from the late ’70′s, but it can also dating from the beginning of the ’80′s. The fabric has a ‘hairy’ look which you saw a lot in the ’80′s. Sometimes it’s difficult to determine the exactly producing period. This is a nice big boy, size 54 waist and length 30, in my private collection.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary from the awesome denim store Sivletto they team-up with denim brand Kings of Indigo (K.O.I.). For this anniversary they launched a very special “limited edition collection” that will be available exclusively at the Sivletto shop and online and in the K.O.I. online store. This special collab contains 3 master pieces in rock and roll black. The first item which they created is a 13oz selvage jeans, straight fit black denim with detailing that make the denim extra special; a pocket flasher, pocket bag print and leather patch especially developed for the occasion. To complement the black denim, there is a 100% organic cotton tee made from 180gsm single jersey in, of course, black, with an authentic chest print, designed for the anniversary. The last item in the collection is a classic bandana, with the same special limited edition print, made from 100% organic 30’s poplin cotton with a black discharge print. Well done guys and congrats Sivletto with this milestone!
Last year Marc Nelson Denim team-up with Smooth Ambler to create a whiskey stained denim. Perfect combination. Never saw a denim tanned whiskey pair of jeans before. Really curious how this pair will smell. Enjoy the making of in the video here below.
Last month the new retail concept Denoism, founded by Niek Logger, opened their doors in the Dutch harbour town Rotterdam. Denoism is a new specialized store for men with a different approach than usual. The store is more than a clothing store, they also provide the best fresh sandwiches and coffee in their Cafe, there’s also a shop-in-shop teamed-up book store with Mendo and one of the best parts instore is their denim atelier where you can create your own favo pair of jeans. You can choose a fabric and spare parts to make an unique Denoism pair. They stock the finest high-end brands, the brand list is amazing: BDD (Benzak Denim Developers), Denham, Denim.Lab, Edwin, Japan Blue, Kurt’s, Momotaro, Samsøe Samsøe, Brosbi, Butcher of Blue, Saturdays NYC Surf, Kings of Indigo, Deus, Good Genes, Good People, Krakatau, Kytone, MCU, Misericordia, Neuw, Common, Cut, Converse, Red Wing, O.P Jewellery, Monsieur Bojangles, Atelier de l’Armee, Brixton. Go check it out for yourself. Good luck Denoism team!
