Vintage Denim Fabric QUestion

[rubydog]

After some searching, I registered here to see if anyone here can answer a question. I have some yardage of old selvage denim. It's the heavy, narrow width stuff, so I guess it is circa the era when the Big E Levis were made, or earlier. One piece has the redline through the selvage, the other is plain. I got most of it from an estate sale where the owner had lots if fabric dating back to the early decades of the 20th century.

Is there a specific market for this? I have asked at ebay on the Vintage Clothing board, as well as the Fabric board with no real luck. Searches on "vintage denim fabric" or similar haven't brought me much info, either. I recall finding a site where people sewed their own jeans, but even there I couldn't get actual links to the discussions; I kept linking in circles.

I thought Japan might be a likely market, but I haven't found any info on that, either.

Thanks for any help you can offer. This site is a great resource for denim info!

 

[LA Guy]

Originally Posted by rubydog

After some searching, I registered here to see if anyone here can answer a question. I have some yardage of old selvage denim. It's the heavy, narrow width stuff, so I guess it is circa the era when the Big E Levis were made, or earlier. One piece has the redline through the selvage, the other is plain. I got most of it from an estate sale where the owner had lots if fabric dating back to the early decades of the 20th century.

Is there a specific market for this? I have asked at ebay on the Vintage Clothing board, as well as the Fabric board with no real luck. Searches on "vintage denim fabric" or similar haven't brought me much info, either. I recall finding a site where people sewed their own jeans, but even there I couldn't get actual links to the discussions; I kept linking in circles.

I thought Japan might be a likely market, but I haven't found any info on that, either.

Thanks for any help you can offer. This site is a great resource for denim info!

Crate might be interested (I have no affiliation with the company) if you have significant yardarge) and the denim is not something ridiculously rare. Otherwise, companies might be interested in it for research or special projects. I would figure out exactly what you've got and what it's worth before parting with it.

 

[jedwards]

There are people on SuperFuture who might be interested in buying this.

A few members make jeans and often looking for good selvedge denim at fair prices.

When Superfuture is back online, you should make a post in the 'SuperDenim' section!

 

[cheapmutha]

if you find out its not worth more than 5 or 6 dollars a yard, then i may buy some.

 

[DNW]

Get Andewhall over at superfuture to make a custom pair for you. It probably won't cost you more than 200, and you'll have an uberly unique pair of jeans. That's if you can't get a good price for the denim. A poster on here and on superfuture named 'ringring' may be able to give you info about the market for denim fabric. In any case, do you have a close up picture of the fabric?

 

[rnrswitch]

If for some reason you could prove the age and manufacturer of the denim, you might be able to sell it to some jean companies for special edition jeans. I am thinking of the Japanese market mainly.

 

[rubydog]

Hey, thanks for all the responses! Some answers to questions: I don't have any mega-yardage. There's about 3 yds of the redline selvage, and 6 yds of the plain selvage. Then I have another similar hunk of yardage from a different source, also old. Can't imagine a way to establish provenance. I just know that it came from two different sources that had lots of old fabric and that I found it in among the other old fabrics. Weak, as far as "proof" goes. I'll try to post pics tomorrow. Is Superfuture offline for a long time? As for a pair of jeans: nice thought, but I think I am cheaper than cheapmutha.

Cheapmutha, I will keep you in mind if I decide to sell for that price. I am still hoping this is worth a semester of community college tuition! Books, anyway. LA Guy, thanks for the Crate suggestion. I dunno if I have enough to interest them, but that is the kind of place I thought might have interest. I also like the idea of a company using it for research. I know that some people have sold vintage clothing back to the original mfg., which is kind of cool.

 

[Kodak]

Superfuture has been down for 2 days