Brewery Boy

Hi everyone

Finally I get a moment to think, a moment to write and a moment post what I have been up to during the last 6 months. We've opened a brewery.

The brewery is called Beerbliotek, and is in the cultural heart of Gothenburg. So far we've brewed 9 different beers and we're in a lot of pubs and restaurants in Gothenburg and in the south of Sweden, all the way down to Malmö (pronounced Mall-muh).

Now having said that, my love for denim has not diminished in the slightest, as we're working closely with the guys, and girls, from Dr.Denim. Our workwear is denim, see pics. So what will happen now is that this blog will still be focussed on all things denim, but I get to wear them a lot in the brewery, so there'll be a lot of posts from that. And believe me, they go through a lot of wear in a brewery, from grinding malt, to brewing beer, it's wet, it's carrying, it's bottling and kegging and a lot more.

Hope you'll keep on following my adventures with denim.

Regards
Darryl

Treeger "Old Used" gets a fix

I got this pair in September 2011, and it's turned into one of my favourite pairs. Not just because of the colour, but also the fit. Treeger is a good fit for me, loose and comfortable. But they're not my favourite fit, Ormond is still number one in that regard for me.

However, and this is the thing with washed denim compared to raw denim, they tear easier. It is to be expected of denim that goes through multiple processes and washes to get the desired colour. The fabric weakens and these are no exception, hence the two holes over my front left pocket. Out came the sewing machine and the tough nylon thread, and I went to work. Not a bad end result, I must say, and adds to the denim's already vintage feel.

Harris gets another fix

After three years and four days, these jeans were in need of a fix. Now you have to understand, that they went through an abnormal test, in that I wore them every day for 6 months before their first wash. That's 183 days none stop, which is equavalent of wearing them normally for 3 years, so in total they should look like this after six years of normal wear. That's what you get from raw denim. They're unwashed, untreated, and the fibres are in perfect shape. So they last much longer than treated, pre-washed denim. This fix was on the hems, which started tearing. Not a bad result in the end.

Dr.Denim at the office

Good to see some co-workers in Dr.Denim at the office. Here's a friend in Penny, a mustard coloured chino. Looking good.

Never Hide

I love these adverts from Ray-Ban. Feels like they throw you back to a time before time. Not a lot of brands dare to stand for something these days, so it's refreshing to see when some do.

Roadtrip Day 1

The trip started with me traveling north in Sweden to meet up with my friend. An hour train ride from Gothenburg to Trollhättan, followed by an hour flight to Røros in Norway, very far north. That was followed by an hour bus trip to Funäsdalen, back in Sweden.
Our trip started at 16:00 when we hopped in his Landrover for a 600km drive to Stockholm.
Tomorrow we hop on the ferry, Landrover and all for 18 hours to Helsinki in Finland.

A roadtrip

Just received a new pair of raw denim jeans from Dr.Denim called Treeger. Another nice cut that fits my skinny body shape really well.
The reason for the jeans is cause myself and a friend will be going on a roadtrip. Sweden to Finland on the Russian border to fetch a dog and back. It's an 8 week old Siberian Laika they bought, so we thought a good roadtrip over Easter could be good.
I got him a pair of Dr.Denim Raymond's. Blue Black Raw. So I'll be posting a few images over the next couple of days.

Denimtarian, worth a look.

Another good denim blog in case you'd like more denim. http://denimtarian.blogspot.se/

Joseph Abboud

If Joseph Abboud is going to start makeng jeans, I'm going to be first in line. I love his latest campaign work and what he's trying to say with it. A brave new world. It's not just about the fashion anymore, your brand has to have substance. You have to start standing up for what you believe in.

Josh's Nudies after 15 months in 13 seconds

Here's Josh with his pair of Nudies, showing the day to day wear during a period of 15months.

Stretch the seams after the wash

Before I washed my first pair of raw denims, I was chatting to Alexander from Dr.Denim and his first bit of advice to me was to stretch the seams after the wash. The reason he said was that the thread used for the seams, are different than that used in the actual denim, so it sort of pulls together after the wash. The shrinking also doesn't help with the seams. What you got to do after the wash is to grab the crotch and the hem, and pull, as you can see in the picture above. Give it a good stretch, and it should help with getting the seams back to "normal".

The front of the knees before and after the wash

Here we go with the knees before and after the wash. This is the front. Three things are very clear. For one the stretching in the knees after 6 months of wear. The second thing is the colouration after the wash and thirdly there's the shinyness of the jeans, on the left, after 6 months of wear.

I love the way the folds are so clear on the left, but after the wash they're just marks on the denim. It's why I do these tests.

The crotch and the seat before and after

Today I'm looking at the front and back of the jeans before and after the wash. The crotch and the seat areas as they say.

You'll notice, as always, the shiny-ness of the before photos on the left, and the matt colour of the after photos on the right. Then the standard colouration that happens because of the wash. The other thing is that the folds which is clearly shown on the left are now just marks on the right. Tomorrow I'll show photos of the knees fron and back, where you can see it more clearly.

NY Daily News.com

I always scour the web for information about jeans and denim, especially Raw Denim. Every now and again though I stumble upon articles about my blog, which is always an honour to be mentioned. Here's one I found on NY Daily News called Working stiffs: Raw denim lovers wear their jeans for years without washing them.

Music made with 1000 pairs of jeans

There's always something new and interesting once you start searching for the word denim or jeans on the internet. The above video isn't necessarily the best video, but it's an interesting idea and looked like a lot of fun.

360 degree before and after wash

I've managed to build a 360 degree view of the Ormond Selvage jeans, before and after the wash. I'm going to compare more closer areas this week, but for now you can see them on me in 360 degrees. I tried to get the light the same on both days, cloudy and so on, but there was rain on day one, and not on day two, which always affects colour in photography.

You'll notice the hems are rolled up smaller after the wash. This is because the jeans have shrunk. It's usually 5%, or 2cm, but this may differ wash to wash. I try to not use the spin cycle after the wash, as this removes more indigo ink than I am happy with. I still like the dark colour, however you can see the colour is lighter on day two.

Treeger. A new favourite from Dr.Denim

I was ambling through my favourite store Red Devil, and stumbled upon a pair of Dr.Denims that I haven't seen before. A wash I liked and a cut that fitted me as well as Terence and Ormond does. The style is called Treeger and this particular wash is called Old Used. A straight-ish leg that's a little loose, but not too much. Very comfortable indeed. I'm really keen to get hold of a pair of Blue Black Raw's, cause I think it'll look fantastic after wearing them unwashed for 6 months. For now I have a washed pair that feels great and fits me really well.

In case you're wondering, the boots are Red Wings. Probably the best buy I've made shoe-wise. So far I've had them nearly one year and looking forward to the first snow. They're comfortable to walk in and really warm too matched with my woolen Happy Socks.

Day 188 Winner

Here's blog post by Dr.Denim about my jeans. They came out really good.

Day 187 Washing tips

Here's a post I found on 'How to wash denim'. Some good advice. As there are a hundred ways to get from point A to point B, so it is with washing denim. Everyone has their own way. I wash mine in the same way i wash all my other clothing, with the exception of the first two washes. The reason is simple. Have a look at the pics above, where I washed a white T-shirt along with my pair of Dr.Denim Terence Raw. With the first two washes, no matter what you do, you want to be careful, as there's a lot of blue ink washing out.

Day 185 How I washed my jeans

What I think is important when washing your jeans, is to fold them inside out. This keeps a lot of the indigo dye in the denim, which prevents fading, as well as protect the exposed outer seams.


On day 161 I crashed my bike and got a big grease stain on my knee. I always use vanish when washing, and this means my denim too, if they ever get washed. I wasn't sure it would work so well, because the stain has had 20 odd days to settle into the fabric. I am glad to report that the stain is completely gone.


The washing machine I use has a lot of settings, so I choose the one that seems most appropriate, called 'Denim'. The only problem I have is that the program ends with a spin cycle, which I try to avoid. The reason for this is that the spin cycle, no matter how slow, sucks out all the water. This means dye, which means more fading than is absolutely necessary. So I always set my alarm to 5 minutes before the cycle ends, so I can pull the plug and hang them up wet, to dry naturally.

Tomorrow I will publish some photos after the wash, stretching the seams and hanging them up.