Day 237 | Uniqlo denim

I'm a keen reader of a magazine called Monocle. In a nutshell, it's a briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design. In the previous issue, they interviewed Tadashi Yanai. He's not only the president of the Japanese company Fast Retailing, who is the parent company of Uniqlo, but he's also the richest man in Japan.

The interview is about the company Uniqlo, and what they've been up to recently. I really like the way he thinks about the products they sell, and the way they come to life and why. On one of the questions that Monocle puts to him on whether or not Japan is still the heart and soul of the company, he responds, "Yes, without a heart and soul, a brand cannot be understood". That's why I like Dr.Denim. The wording on the buttons of my jeans say, "A good pair of jeans is like a member of the family". A real love for the product.

Here's a piece from the interview about denim.
Monocle: The denim that you've launched at the ne Uniqlo concession in Selfridges in London is making a virtue of jeans "made in Japan". Is that a new direction for Uniqlo or are you still making jeans in China?
Tadashi Yanai: We do both. Our denim fabrics are made in Japan by Kaihara, probably the best mill in the world, and some sewing is done in China. These new products that we are selling in the UK and Japan are made entirely in Japan. We did it because the jeans processing technique in Japan is still the best in the world.

M: Does this mean you'll be expanding jeans production in Japan?
TY: Unfortunately, the structure of industy has changed in Japan. There isn't the capacity to do all the sewing we need.

Day 230 | Swedish jeans brands

I'm currently busy with a project for my Swedish class about Swedes and their love of denim. It's a love relationship that's been going strong since before the 70's and on to today, with a lot of brands garnering international aclaim. The history of denim is a very interesting one and I am learning a lot about just how many companies have their origins here in Sweden. With all of that, I decided to find some brands that are well know and not so well known today, but who still play a huge role in placing Sweden at the top along with Japan, as a country that knows a thing or two about denim.

The companies that are the best known for denim is surely Nudie and ACNE, followed by Cheap Monday, Denimbirds and Dr.Denim. The others then would be PACE, Denim Demon, GulBlå and Bay Icon. The rest, companies such as H&M, Tiger of Sweden, FilippaK and WESC are Swedish clothing companies that also do denim as part of their overall clothing ranges, but not a real focus on it as say Nudie or Dr.Denim would have.

Day 223 | Two hundred posts

Today I managed to post the two hundreth post on this blog. Never thought I'd get this far. I've been wearing the jeans quite a bit again lately, and every now and again when I have them on, I look at the marks I've made on them over the past 223 odd days. It's such a pleasure to realise that every one of the marks is of my own doing, and not done by some machine in some sort of denim process. Mine look like only mine can and that's what I love about raw denim.

There's such nice lines on the knees, both on the front and the back. Then there's the moustache lines on the front below the pockets. The back pockets also shpw some nice marks. The best thing of all for me is the colour. In the beginning they were black/blue, and now they're much lighter, and a lot softer.

One of my favourite magazines at the moment is one called Monocle. It's basically a briefing on global affairs, business, culture and design. You can check it out online at monocle.com. They cover a lot of current fashion and mix that up with future trends. It's with this that I stumbled across a story on a new denim shop that opened in The Netherlands called Teneu De Nímes. According to the co-founder Menno van Meurs, "Our dream was to create a denim haven in Amsterdam". You can check them out at tenuedenimes.com.

On day 139 I wrote a bit about "Serge de Nimes" and where the word denim and the word jeans comes from, if you're interested to know.

Day 216 | New and old

This week i decided to compare the jeans again, but not as I always have. This time I'm taking the first photographs I have of them and comparing them with photos I took today. It's been seven months sine I bought them on day 1 and just over one month since I washed them on day 183.

The top most photograph is what the back of the jeans look like today versus what they looked like in the first month. They don't even have a shine to them yet. The creases are far from permanent and they're still raw looking and "stiff". Worn in and washed appear more blue and a lot more pemanent marks.

The front of the jeans are no different. My front pocket wallet mark is much more evident as well as the moustaches.

I have also added the two photographs at the bottom left to show a close up of the denim on day 1 and today, day 216. Such a huge difference in colour, texture and appearance. The jeans feel really fantastic to wear today after six months of wear and one wash. Smooth and really comfortable. There is somehing about the feeling you get when putting on a pair of new raw denim jeans though.

Below 's a list of websites I have mentioned on this blog in the past, but never in a complete list in one blog post. Most have something or other to do with jeans or denim. Others have really good forums where you can have all your questions answered. The rest has some news about denim or jeans or how to clean them, wash them or look after them. Happy reading, till next week.

agavejean.com
superdenim.co.uk
allevol.com
dresscodesatl.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selvage_denim
askmen.com
styleforum.net
mynudies.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indigo
designboom.com
authenticforum.com
superfuture.com
jeansuk.com
kitmeout.com
happypeopledontcomplain.blogspot.com
denimology.co.uk
bizarrepdx.blogspot.com
wondermomo.blogspot.com