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I bought these from our illustrious Tweedydon a few weeks back but alas, I was too hasty and bought the wrong size for my body. I have his blessing to relist for anyone who's still interested and I'm selling these at the same cost I paid. The upside is that I did more research into the provenance of the jeans themselves and that turned out to be unexpectedly enjoyable.
NWT Hartford Denim Company "Brimfield" Back Buckle, 1930s Repro-style, Raw Selvedge Jeans, 32/34, Made Exclusively for the Palmer Trading Company NYC.
Hartford Denim Company (HARDENCO) got started earlier in the decade with the mission to make denim the old-fashioned way and their dedication seems on-par with the most obsessive Japanese brands. HARDENCO sources their denim from USA mills (in this case, Cone Mills), makes all their products in Hartford, using American-made machinery. Every. Single. Detail.
The Brimfield, internally, is what's known as their Style 006. When this pair was made in 2012, the 006 was their most expensive model: an ultra-classic high-rise, full-leg jean, complete with a leather strap back buckle which used to be a common detail you'd find on pre-war 501s. (Once denim companies began to produce jeans in more sizes, the back buckle became superfluous but much like the selvedge strip, it's a connoisseur's detail).
The Brimfield was produced exclusively for Willy Chavarria's Palmer Trading Company in NYC. Chavarria actually invited HARDENCO staff to come down to the NY store to give a demonstration on their production techniques:
In any case, here's what you'll want to know about these, drawn from details TweedyDon originally listed, what I found online, plus stuff that both Chavarria and HARDENCO staff helped fill in for me via email:
- Material is unsanforized 16.5oz raw selvedge denim from Cone Mills.
- Copper rivets are all hand-made and hand-attached, as are the hand-swirled steel buttons with copper rivet heads at the fly.
- The main fly button at the waist is hand-made from an American penny with a thick center copper rivet.
- Thick leather back buckle secured to the jeans by hand-made copper rivets.
- Deep and functional ticket pocket that's inside the right-hand front pocket is also leather--the same hide as the buckle--and is also attached by hand-made copper rivets.
- The pockets are made with heavy striped cotton of the sort made famous by C19th railroad uniforms.
- Cut and sewn in Hartford, CT. The handmade leather back patch features HARDENCO's original three pines logo. (They don't use it anymore it seems and I don't know why; it looked great!)
They are tagged 32/34 but do keep in mind, this is unsanforized denim and therefore, will shrink when washed (the waist can/will expand back out when worn over time but the inseam will stay the same post-wash).
Waist: 16.5"
Rise: 12.5"
Inseam: 34"
Important note: HARDENCO offers free repairs for anything that the jeans may require over their lifetime. That's...crazy since, in many cases, the labor cost could exceed the wholesale cost of a new pair but their repairs policy reflects the company's ethos around craftsmanship. (Likewise, the folks at HARDENCO told me that they'd accept these as a $100 trade in towards a new pair. Again, that's going above and beyond in terms of customer service).
These are still NWT. On offer for $110 (obo) with free CONUS shipping.
Full image gallery here.
