The Unbranded Brand Jeans

Originally Posted by whodini

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And we come full circle to my point about making regrettable purchases by trying to match what's on paper to the price instead of looking at the bigger picture. I wore those Akademis twice. Total ******* garbage.

i wish i could find some jeans w/ cool multicolored buttons though, those were the one redeeming quality of the jean.

srsly... i used to be whiny and think people were being smug when they spoke negatively of cheap denim thinking only of the price as it was inexpensive... but if something seems to good to be true [in the case of akademi = selvage,made in japan,hidden rivets,...] it probably is.

uncontrol-fwiw, you can see the seam under the leather on my kmw's

Originally Posted by robbie

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i wish i could find some jeans w/ cool multicolored buttons though, those were the one redeeming quality of the jean. srsly... i used to be whiny and think people were being smug when they spoke negatively of cheap denim thinking only of the price as it was inexpensive... but if something seems to good to be true [in the case of akademi = selvage,made in japan,hidden rivets,...] it probably is. uncontrol-fwiw, you can see the seam under the leather on my kmw's
Oni has colorful buttons, PS Red-Ear has different types of buttons but I don't remember if they're colored (check BiG?). As for the denim, because the high-priced and high-end brands we enjoy work directly with the mills to get new denim made specially for them and thus they have far more interesting denim. Things like slubbiness, streakiness/dye quality, construction, fit, etc. are all factored into the higher price. I'd rather pay for the PBJ 007 or 010 denim that I'm not going to see in any other brand's jeans than cheap out and get some bland denim that looks like everything else in the sea

prps has different color buttons.

jeez i think whoevs posted that linx to the HypeBeast thread needs to get punished big TIMEZ brahs. yo i copped a look at the shiz and now i feel all weird lolol and i think i need to getem jawnz. STFU dudes! im so next level

Originally Posted by robbie

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these are just this years model crappy selvage jean from UO. like the ones from last year that a lot of folks bought [myself most notably] which lost rivets on the first wear and fit like **** and had insane QC issues. the name of the brand is escaping me. I thought they were rad, but i'd be hessitant giving Uo 80 dollars for a pair of anything.

haha... Naked and Famous? I lost all of my fly buttons in a year!

Originally Posted by naaaaate

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I can think of a few brands for $280 that do that

I love these jeans but still, lol. At least it looks intentional with the angle of "shop"

Y'know though, whodini, now that I've had a few JS, I'm starting to wonder how many of their 'quirks' are actually intentional.

But thanks for that example. The UO really is a horrid oversight, and if it's intentional, I'll pass on the kool-aid they're drinking.

Originally Posted by whodini

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No, I meant that knowing how UO operates, especially in-house brands, they could be selling these jeans for $40 RETAIL but thrown in the selvage buzzword and they suddenly have to be priced comparatively to Gap, Good Society, etc.

I could be wrong but this was the impression I got, too. Something just looks off.

Good point.

Ironically, I can hear the boardroom discussion on price now...;

"That's priced too inexpensively - everyone will think they're cheap! Forty dollar jeans?! We have to let them know these are exclusive and posh, yet edgy. Get me an Exclusive and Edgy price!"

"$80, sir?"

"YES! And not 79.95! No cents. Those *** brands don't do that, do they? I want it just barely out of the price range of that pimple-faced sucker who we call our customer!"

I'm just waiting for my school to be overrun with these *sigh*

We have 4 shops in my town...

Gap
American Apparel
Urban Outfitters
And some shop that sells diesel and 7fam **** in size 32+ bootcuts and relaxed fits only. They also sell size L and XL Fred Perry made in china. I walk into that store and just shake my head.

Walk downtown on any given day and you'll see at least 10 kids walking around with urban bags. Not saying I never shop there either, I've bought $20 levi's and $20 converse there, and Shades of Greige ****... but I've never bought UO house brand ****.

Originally Posted by mlyngard

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Y'know though, whodini, now that I've had a few JS, I'm starting to wonder how many of their 'quirks' are actually intentional.
Wouldn't be surprised but I'm trying not to blame it on the fact that they're owned by Lucky.

Originally Posted by whodini

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Wouldn't be surprised but I'm trying not to blame it on the fact that they're owned by Lucky.

(And I think your 'markup' theory is definitely applicable to JS too.

If you remove customs duties, import costs, exchange rates, etc from most Japan-made denim, and assuming the Japanese get paid close to NYC/US labor rates, are JS really worth the 280-300 and change?)

Originally Posted by mlyngard

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(And I think your 'markup' theory is definitely applicable to JS too.

If you remove customs duties, import costs, exchange rates, etc from most Japan-made denim, and assuming the Japanese get paid close to NYC/US labor rates, are JS really worth the 280-300 and change?)

I honestly don't know what you're trying to ask. Are you asking that if you compare Japanese-made jeans sold in Japan to Jean Shop (Japanese-milled, American-made) that the Jean Shops would appear overpriced?

Whodini, I think that's exactly what he's asking.

If you removed all those markup factors from Japanese denim, wouldn't it significantly decrease the price we pay for them? Hence, the typical $275 jean from Japan reduces in price such that the $280-300 jean from Jean Shop seems overpriced

Originally Posted by riraito

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Whodini, I think that's exactly what he's asking. If you removed all those markup factors from Japanese denim, wouldn't it significantly decrease the price we pay for them? Hence, the typical $275 jean from Japan reduces in price such that the $280-300 jean from Jean Shop seems overpriced
I don't think it's that simple to compare one brand to countless others when so many factors are involved like actual cost of materials, worker wages, margins, etc. Also, the glaring difference on paper between something like KMW and JS is that KMW is MIJ with Japanese denim whereas JS is MIUSA with Japanese denim (ergo, import taxes should be equal.) I don't know what the going wage is in Okayama versus NYC but my wild guess would be that NYC could have a higher cost of living. It's just not black and white. Brand X might use denim that is more expensive than Jean Shop's while a pair of Jean Shops might take longer to make than Brand X. Brand Y might be trying to work with tighter margins while Jean Shop uses a detail like riri that ends up adding $15+ to the retail price. So where does that leave JS? Is it a $150 pair hyped up to another $100? Hardly. If you compare it to something along the sub-$200 range it clearly doesn't belong. Would you feel better buying JS if it were retailing at $225? Keep in mind that Acne retails at $225. You can kind of see where I'm going with this.

Originally Posted by whodini

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Even in Old Town I've seen kids in Nudie, APC, FH, etc.
I've seen a guy wearing MWaC in Pasadena.....oh wait, I was looking at the reflection at 21 Choices but I did see a guy in 21 Choices once wearing Atelier LaDurance black Royston selvedge bucklebacks....mind was blown. Talked to him for 2 secs and he got em from Context

Which day is 21 again?

Been seeing more KMW in my neck of the woods of late. Guy in the seat at the barber was rocking them cuffed.