*** Visvim thread: Dissertation on a Japanese Holy Spirit ***

[bows1]

Calgary, Canada! https://lessoneseven.com/collections/visvim

Damn the sz 12 is already sold out! Anyone seen these for sale in another shop?

 

[norigim]

Curious what people picked up from the trunk show this time around (just did mine in Tokyo last week).

I picked up a couple Jumbo sweatshirts in various cuts, some pants, and the six-five. Seemed like mostly an updated basics season without really any new standout pieces.

 

[discobobulated]

I’m sure more stores will get the Brigs soon. Just a few have them for now but they are a worldwide release.

 

[botzzz]

Damn the sz 12 is already sold out! Anyone seen these for sale in another shop?

blue owl has in brown in 12
ssense in black in 12

 

[frunk]

Curious what people picked up from the trunk show this time around (just did mine in Tokyo last week).

I picked up a couple Jumbo sweatshirts in various cuts, some pants, and the six-five. Seemed like mostly an updated basics season without really any new standout pieces.

It was a pretty small season…
I preordered grizzly boots and the 101 IT in yellow.
Gonna get gray-ish jumbo SB pieces during the season.

 

[norigim]

It was a pretty small season…
I preordered grizzly boots and the 101 IT in yellow.
Gonna get gray-ish jumbo SB pieces during the season.

I had trouble getting sweat-shirts in the exact color I wanted during the season in the past, even with a SA trying to reserve it in advance. Usually, if I wanted 2-3 colors I'd only be able to get 1 in my size.

I was tempted by the 101 JKT IT... it's been a while since they've done a plain one in the non 101XX cut, but I think they made some changes as it felt even more cropped than before and the sleeves seemed wider as well. Did you feel the same or am I just imagining? I was also not sure if I wanted another lamb jacket as I'd prefer calf if they ever do another release of it.

 

[frunk]

Yea, it’s a new 101 fit, which is why I opted for it. Slim body (like the OG), with balloony arms (like the 101xx)… but with a crop.
I sized up to a 4, so I hope the fit is what I’m going for.
I personally prefer the lamb leather to other materials, and the damage/patina was tasteful.

 

[Retlas]

I only pre ordered the paint splattered denim...

 

[discobobulated]

Brigs arrived and very happy with them. Not that heavy but amazing boots. Leather smells great as well.

 

[Art Vandalay]

Curious what people picked up from the trunk show this time around (just did mine in Tokyo last week).

I picked up a couple Jumbo sweatshirts in various cuts, some pants, and the six-five. Seemed like mostly an updated basics season without really any new standout pieces.

Hi there, new to the forum so great to meet everyone! I actually loved the 3 in one coat with removable collar/ liner vest. I ended up pulling the trigger on the IT strabler in green. That silhouette is a weakness of mine haha.

 

[norigim]

Yea, it’s a new 101 fit, which is why I opted for it. Slim body (like the OG), with balloony arms (like the 101xx)… but with a crop.
I sized up to a 4, so I hope the fit is what I’m going for.
I personally prefer the lamb leather to other materials, and the damage/patina was tasteful.

Ah, I really hope they bring back the old 101 fit. Sizing up 1 was perfect for me.

 

[norigim]

Hi there, new to the forum so great to meet everyone! I actually loved the 3 in one coat with removable collar/ liner vest. I ended up pulling the trigger on the IT strabler in green. That silhouette is a weakness of mine haha.

Ah nice, living most of the time in CA means I don't really buy thick outerwear though, otherwise I might have been tempted to get it.

 

[Art Vandalay]

Ah nice, living most of the time in CA means I don't really buy thick outerwear though, otherwise I might have been tempted to get it.

I felt similarly about the coat- I'm a bay area native and while it felt like a lot of value for what it was, it won't get the wears.

 

[Watty]

Not sure what the overall vibe is among the folks here about reps (not for resale) as I haven’t seen a ton of talk about it in reviewing most of the thread, but figured it couldn’t hurt to share some personal, first-hand experience for benefit of all. Also, to clarify, I understand that by purchasing any reps at all, I’m ostensibly supporting the industry and making it more likely to continue, so want to own that up front. Still, I chose to purchase as I wanted to try some stuff, if not only because I know I’m probably never going to spend retail on it (e.g. Purser) and wanted to see how they’d look on me.

So, onto the story. I’ve got some family overseas that lives in China who can navigate TaoBao either directly or with some help from friends and coworkers and I’d gotten curious about some replicas, mainly for personal use as per the above though I will say there was some amount of “mind settling” that went into it to be able to tell when the real stuff I bought might be fake beyond the insight provided by people here (shoutout to @secondhandvisvim and others who routinely help legit check when asked). I know I could have figured the purchasing out myself, but having them make the purchases and then bring to the states with them last time they visited was easier and didn’t involve paying for shipping.

To that end, I chose to buy the following items:

• Black Crash Jumbo Hoodie
• Black Crash Amplus Crewneck Sweat
• Mud Dye Jumbo Hoodie
• ’22 Purser Jacket
• Some kind of Crash Lumber Shirt
• Crash Jumbo Tee
• Crash Logo Tee
• Macray Crash Coverall

Onto the evaluative comments:

Right off the bat, envelope/bag is a pretty dead giveaway. Most items didn’t come with one at all and I think one that did came with the wrong item listed on the printed tag on the exterior. Of course, not every person that buys VV is going to keep the envelope (or have it shipped to them by the stockiest), so that’s not necessarily proof of anything, but obviously having one at all, let alone one that looks right, is going to be a big deal on the second hand market.

Next up is tags. Most of the items above didn’t actually come with anything attempting to be a copy of the retail tags. I bought a few items from the same seller and they came with some black tag listing a made up brand and some misspelled tag line about fashion. Again, same problem as with the envelope as not everybody selling secondhand will keep them, but still. As for the ones that DID come with tags that aimed at copying retail, it seemed like the same information was printed on the smaller tags (e.g. same text on three different tags) which is not something I recall from the retail stuff. One or two things had that hologram tag, but it looked fairly cheap and I thought I read somewhere here that VV has since moved away from it anyway. I haven’t dived deep into the size and item number tags to see how those measure up, but if you’ve got any specific questions, happy to answer.

After that, we really get into hand feel and construction as the main means of telling a fake from its retail counterpart. For this, I think going item by item is best:

• The two black crash sweat items are close, but also not. They’re “nice” and better than the mud dye hoodie below as they seem “softer” and the hand feel is closer to the real thing both in terms of the texture and the weight. Aside from the coloring and how thorough the distressing is (seemingly more so than at least to two retail crash hoodies I have), the main thing is that the distressing process didn’t seem to produce the correct final result. On my retail hoodies, if you look closely at the face of the fabric, the individual fabric fibers are still visible, but have been obscured by the “fuzziness” developed during the crash processing. On the reps, there is very little fuzziness on the face of the fabric and almost all of the individual fibers are visible. Now, this isn’t something that you’ll be able to tell without up close photos, so not easy to “diagnose” until you have it in hand, but hopefully the description helps. If anyone wants photos, I can try to take some to show what I mean. Then again, please take this with a grain of salt as it’s possible that the reps are intended to emulate a different “style” hoodie and the crash processing may be different. ( I want to say they were called out as “court” versions whereas mine are “just” the Jumbo SB crash from the last couple years).
• The jumbo mud dye hoodie…..is 100% not mud dyed. Because of course it’s not, let alone at the price I paid of like $50-$60. Aside from that though, it’s mainly the way it feels. It’s got a good “heft” and is fairly structured, not to mention they more or less got the “fit” right with the voluminous hood and such, but it just doesn’t feel…right. I think anyone who’s had even one bit of retail VV would be able to touch it and know immediately it was a fake. It just doesn’t feel as nice by any stretch of the imagination. Like they used really basic cotton for it rather than whatever VV uses. It’s okay for the price, though I think I prefer my RC ones and the main appeal of this would just be in that in shares the form factor with the retail version.
• The ’22 Purser jacket was a funny one. The photos made it hard to tell, but that’s not really surprising. When I got to inspect it in person, however, there were several things that made it clear it wasn’t real. From the outer face fabric not even being close to what G Cord seems to look like, or the arms being COMICALLY large and thickly padded, I think it wouldn’t be hard to tell that you had purchased a fake if you’re unsure. Note that I did sell this piece but made VERY clear with 5 different descriptors that it was not the real thing. Despite that, I had like 4 buyers either make an offer or outright buy it thinking it was the real thing before cancelling after some discussion. That was the funniest part, seeing people that thought an actual VV piece was selling for $150 ish instead of $2500+, but I digress. I think I saw someone post about a fake one here (not mine, different size) being sold on an auction site for retail prices, but with the closeup photos that I think were included, it should have been obvious to the buyer….
• The crash lumber shirt in a dark brown (maybe HBT?) was one I just figured I’d try on a whim. It looked okay in photos, but I wasn’t expecting much. The distressing is acceptable though not great. The real kicker is that the “ICT” tag is an ironed on patch with a pretty low “resolution” on what I assume to be the “print” of the image onto it. Buttons don’t seem to be incredibly substantial or attached well either, but not sure if that’s part of the crash vibe or not. This was a piece that I think is less trying to be sold as a rep as, despite the ICT tag, as it didn’t actually come with a VV tag “set” hanging off the white chain-y bit. I think based on the feel and the way the crash patches were attached (again, ironed more than sewn), it would be obvious that it’s a fake.
• The crash jumbo tee. This is one where I’m of two minds about it. I briefly owned a couple of jumbo tees before realizing the neck was WAY too big on me (weird, given I’m a bigger guy with a 17”+ neck), so I know how those felt. This wasn’t QUITE the same fit or hand feel, but it’s not SO terrible as to immediately give it away as fake, especially since the crash process may have impacted things. That said, it does feel kind of “insubstantial” as it’s fairly thin. Honestly I’m not sure that I’d pick it up and immediately think it was fake, which makes it tough.
• The crash logo tee. Picked this up in black from a different seller than the pocket tee above and this one was much more “there.” Feels better, looks better, and I’d guess it will hold up to washing and wear better. The only thing I can think of is that, if the retail version is tube knit for the body, that would be the giveaway, but I honestly haven’t bothered to check. If it’s not, then this one is pretty close and, if someone didn’t keep bag/tags for it, I’d be skeptical of a second hand purchase unless they had a receipt they could show as this rep was “that good.” Then again, it’s a tee shirt, so the cost differential is lower stakes, so it wouldn’t be quite as messed up if you do snag a fake for like $180 used, say, as opposed to the $35 or so rep cost (at least when you compare to other reps of higher cost items).
• Lastly is the Macray crash coverall. This one is the biggie. I’ve done ZERO research about the retail version, but if you handed me this and told me if was a real one, I’m pretty sure I’d believe you. Got a nice heft to it. The inner liner looks correct. The distressing is well done. The hardware looks and feels correct. The fit seems like it would be right for the brand. All of it is well done. If anyone has got one, we can certainly compare notes, but this would be the main item where, absent proof of purchase from a legit vendor, I’d be highly skeptical of a second hand purchase unless the price was something crazy, like sub $300 where the risk is low that the cost differential is something crazy.

Those aside, I’m contemplating snagging a couple more pieces for research purposes. I have a retail tweed lumber and, while I’m not worried about it in the slightest (thanks to @jukes1 for selling it to me for a reasonable price), I’m curious as to how close the rep is to the real thing as the “story” they tell on the product page seems compelling and if it’s close, I’d also be skeptical of that in future as I want to eventually snag a retail one in the other color.

If you’re fully against reps of any kind, let alone a brand you care about, and dislike that I bought them at all, I totally get that and will take the “licks” in the comments, but if this helps even one person here make a more informed purchase in future, then I think it did at least a little bit of good, even if that is some post hoc rationalization on my part….

 

[Fycus]

All in good faith- Ive been vocal that my first pair of journeyman were the HDK reps which get as much wear as my authentic pair, and to a certain extent I prefer the fit of the reps. Its obvious in person which are the reps, but its a good avenue to try them out before pulling the trigger on the authentic. To a certain extent the more recent batches of reps are pretty lazy and low effort, early on the brand had some pretty close-to-authentic reps, now with all the processing and custom fabrics its too difficult to make something similar.