Best Selvedge Denim for the Middle Class? - Page 12

Not surprising if true. The price of faithful reproductions is that you live with the same shit they did back then.

Split? Get your own, pussy.

Can someone explain how they make non-selvage, but great quality denim? My understanding of the fabric making process is that you use either a shuttle loom, or basically air cannons to cross the threads. The shuttle loom would obviously take longer, but your putting less stress on the threads because it moves slower. The cannon method would likewise put more stress on the threads because they are basically being shot like a projectile at high speeds.

That said, obviously not all selvage is created equal. There can certainly be some shit selvage made as quickly and cheaply as possible.

However, that still leaves the question of whether the projectile method can create denim of as good quality? Can it? Comparing the best selvage can do with the best the projectile woven fabrics can do, does the "other" method reach a point of maximum quality? Does it not matter when the threads are thicker?

As for the Lees or Wranglers comment, it is unfair to compare years worn. In order to get an accurate comparison, you have to compare the actual hours worn and compensate for the added wear and tear one wearer has vs. the other. I am pretty damn sure that the Wrangler wearer does not 1) wear his jeans very hard, and 2) live in them for most of his waking hours daily. He probably washes them too and didn't put a lot of wear & tear trying to fade them. In addition, I bet his jeans started off without starch which is horrible to fabrics.

Let's hear some suggestions!

If someone dropped you in manhattan with a 100 dollar bill and told you to get some new jeans, where would you head?

Do a search for some of ringring's posts but others far more knowledgeable on the subject than myself have answered this questions several times before. One such thread: http://www.styleforum.net/showthread.php?t=117799

How are you so "damn sure" when you're cherry picking examples? For every example you have of a guy who beats the shit out of his jeans but they hold together there's another of a guy whose got a crotch blowout from his 9-5 desk job. I think few were really that familiar with busted seams until they got on here. Say what you will about washing/not washing, it also has to do with the kind of cotton threads used which are bound to be more fragile than their contemporary poly counterparts.

You don't know much about denim if you think that somehow the jeans you find at Self Edge, etc. are free of starch.

If you were limiting yourself to $100 you might as well go to the bottom end of that spectrum with some run of the mill Levi's. Or if you're looking into something Japanese, Uniqlo's got a good denim line.

I haven't been in Manhattan in a few years but I'd probably go to 45rpm and get a 1'x1' denim scrap if you only gave me $100.

Not all info being propagated is bullshit. For example shuttle loom fabric with less stress, has shown up on Paul T interviews on Ralph Tharpe and Roy. Benefits are no knee sagging/bulge, this particular issue occurs a lot but no one knows exactly why until now.

Haha you must be fun at parties! I will assume that with 200$, you would buy either 2 pieces of the same fabric or a 1.41 x 1.41 piece of the previous fabric.

If you gave me $200 I'd get a 4"x4" swatch of the 24x hand dipped denim.

you are absolutely correct. i was suggesting in general high-end selvage is going to be superior ... but there are several non-selvage denim lines out there that make very fine denim.