Levi's Vintage vs Japanese denim

I was trying out some Levi's vintage and some Japanese brands like Samurai, Flat Head and Denime. These Japanese brands all reproduce vintage Levi's cuts according to the staff in the store.

Why would one pick some of these high end Japanese brands over reproductions made by Levi's themselves?

Should I just go with the ones that fit me best?

Levi's vintage have unreliable quality and measurements.

While the Japanese brands might base some of the cuts on classic ones from Levi's, there are a lot of details that are unique to the Japanese brands which make them desirable.

Japanese brands also have a different, almost whimsical attitude to them. It's almost like they repro the jeans down to the very last detail not just to create works of art, but to have fun and poke fun at the kind of thing they do. This was so much more apparent pre-lawsuit when you had stuff on the leather patches like pigs pulling jeans apart (Studio D'Artisan's) or girls doing the same (Free Rage).

Fit of course is the most important thing for me, so of course if you're looking for a faithful reproduction of old jeans then you should consider that as well.

I think the biggest difference is how the two will look in one year after being worn...
Wear a pair of Levi's for 6 months... then wear a pair of jeans from Flat Head, Warehouse, Samurai, or Sugar Cane..
They won't look anything alike in six months, the character contained within the Japanese brands will be very apparent compared to what you'd see in a pair of six month old Levi's.

^^ The LVC thread on sufu would beg to differ. While alot of lvc doesnt produce high contrast fades, they wear in many ways more "natural" and closer to vintage denim. Note that alot of LVC are looser fits and lighter denim fabrics, being reproductions.

Beg to differ?
When did i say the Japanese brands produce a more "natural" fade?
I never said one over the other.. i said they would look nothing alike.

My bad, I for some reason, took you post as implying that the japanese brands produce "better" fades...

There are so many variables in buying denim, that you probably should go with the ones that simply suit you best.

LVC jeans are something of an orphan range - they haven't had the consistent care put into them by some of the Japanese makers, notably, as Kiya says, Samurai, Warehouse or Sugar Cane. There have been several errors in some recent LVC too - wrong pockets or detailing.

That said, the best LVC are as close as you'll get to vintage jeans. My 50s LVC repros fade exactly the same - as far as I can tell - as my last pair of 50s originals.

All jeans fade in different ways; I like the way Samurai fade, but it's an 'interpretation' of the look of vintage denim, not better or worse, but different. They crock quicker than most LVC (altho LVC jeans vary a lot, they have different spec denim for different years, and then there's produciton variations too). Some Japanese makers, notably Evis, have put it about they they own the original vintage looms and that their denim is better than anyone else's, but that's not really true - LVC is made on original Cone Draper looms, which have been used since the 20s.

Really, just about any of the above-mentioned Japanese jeans, plus the classic LVC models, have the capability of amazing fades.

Japanese denim is overhyped by people trying to be diferent or cool by wearing japanese denim. It's akin to being punk or goth, so you wear dry denim, no one cares. Levi's Invinted denim, i'd go with the EG versions of the 501 if i was paying 200$ + for levi's though. I'd like to get some of the vintage releases just for collecting.

Originally Posted by Composer_1777

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It's akin to being punk or goth
It's nothing like being punk or goth. Maybe you only know the mall punks or something, but I don't know anyone who became a punk because they just weren't getting harassed enough.

Wearing dry denim and japanese labels is for people in fashion trying to be diferent than other people into fashion. Like punks, goths, emo's and now hipsters, they all like to think they are better than avg people within the same category and eventually it winds up becomming some sub culture type thing.

Japanese denim started out as underground in fashion; now that it is mainstreme fashion it's become a group of people and then that group will become some new group and the cycle continues. In 2 years it will be some new type of clothing thats cool in underground fashion.

What are you talking about?
I'm not sure if even you know...

You're talking like this is some new thing.. Japanese denim as WE know it has been around in Japan and America since the late 80's.. that's almost twenty years now.

I'm saying its' like music trends. That is my observation. Yeah i've been knowing about japanese denim and dry denim for a while and hardly anyone knew about it. Recently it's become the "in thing" for underground fashion, but its not underground anymore so everyone trying to be diferent than LA denim wearers is going to have to find something new to be cool. SF people seem to be pretty versatile and i could be wrong, but that is what i observe in fashion trends.

Incoherent gibberish about denim and subcultures plus Third Eye Blind lyrics. Wow.