What jeans are you wearing today ?

Rich22 · Nov 7, 2021

Those Naked and Famous jeans look nice, and are a sensible price. Couldn't pull them over my thighs, though, even in the largest size they sell. The downsides of having played lots of sport all my life.

I had to dig about a bit to find the measurements. You'd think every measurement would be obligatory for online clothes shopping? How can you know what fits otherwise...?

Edward · Nov 8, 2021

Will Zach said:
@Edward - being a chemist, I was also interested in the processes by which indigo washes out or shows fades. The problem is that indigo does not covalently bond to cotton (does not form a chemical bond, which is one of the strongest in nature - not including nuclear forces of course). Reactive dyes do form covalent bonds with cotton, but indigo can't. Instead, it basically gets into the nooks and crannies of the fabric, from where it can be removed by washing or rubbing. Internet search shows that you can somewhat "fix it" by a vinegar bath and then a heat treatment. It might work to some extent, but I doubt it. Or you can try this: https://www.dharmatrading.com/chemicals/retayne.html. May be worth an experiment or two.

Thanks! I'll look into that.

Pandemic said:
I wish more brands offered black jeans fixed with a reactive dye. I’m ok with indigo fades, but I prefer my black jeans not to turn grey and full of fade lines.

I prefer a contrast cuff, but I do seem to recall that the black jeans I had which were dyed black all the way through rather than having the more traditional denim look like indigo jeans (dark surface, lighter underside) held their colour for a long time as long as they were washed at a low temp and line dried; I also always turned them inside-out as I do with all jeans when I wash them, seems to help.

This does remind me that a non-contrast cuff isn't so bad a thing as I'm looking at picking up my first pair of black jeans in fifteen or sixteen years sometime soonish.

TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead · Nov 8, 2021

I'm hooked. Going to put in an order today for 2 pairs of Bravestars, slim straight, one black and one blue. Ultimately I want to end up with a 37-38 actual measurement waist, so I'm going to order size 34 which is a 36.5 am. Even if it doesn't stretch much, I can wear jeans down to 36am, so not the end of the world.

We'll see how that goes, but definitely eyeing some of the other brands noted. Just want to get my feet wet first with something not too pricey. Ideally I'll end up with about 4 or 5 total pairs and then I can clear out all my mall brand stuff, although to be fair, some of it is fine. But I can see the allure of the raw stuff over time and in general I'm trying to get to buy less but better quality.

Anyway, really appreciate the advice. You enablers you

Bfd70 · Nov 8, 2021

Rich22 said:
Those Naked and Famous jeans look nice, and are a sensible price. Couldn't pull them over my thighs, though, even in the largest size they sell. The downsides of having played lots of sport all my life.

I had to dig about a bit to find the measurements. You'd think every measurement would be obligatory for online clothes shopping? How can you know what fits otherwise...?

Don’t discount the stretch to accommodate thighs.

dwilson · Nov 10, 2021

I generally buy my jeans to be about the size I want after their initial hot soak. I did the skin tight thing in my early 20s. I'm over it now. This is also why I've been drifting towards buying one-wash unsanforized denim or just sanforized denim. I don't really feel like playing the guessing game anymore. I'll just buy a pair of one washes in my size and not be super concerned if I won't get the most ultimate high contrasting fades.

Rich22 · Nov 10, 2021

Bfd70 said:
Don’t discount the stretch to accommodate thighs.

They'd look like leggings on me if they were THAT stretchy!

Will Zach · Nov 11, 2021

^^
Did someone say leggings? Here are Tanuki Yoroi 25-oz super heavy indigo canvas baker pants, just got them today. Tapering to an insane 5.75" hem. Unbelievably comfortable at the same time, due to the heavy canvas being pre-treated with enzymes which softened it so the pants feel like 12-oz denim. I like them a lot.

andyone · Nov 12, 2021

andyone said:
I got myself a present. One pair of "the Swiss Jeans Freak" birthday jeans.

Ruedi Karrer, the "Swiss Jeans Freak" runs the Jeans Museum in Zürich. From their homepage: "The Jeans Museum in Zurich is the world’s only brand-independent museum for heavily faded denim. It is currently home to over 14.000 jeans and denim jackets. All naturally faded. The Jeans Museum was founded by Ruedi Karrer, also known as the Swiss Jeans Freak. Ruedi was born in the Swiss Alps in 1959. He fell in love with denim in 1973 when his family received two pairs of Levi’s jeans in a clothing donation parcel."
Homepage: The Jeans Museum

The Jeans (also from the homepage):
"On September 8, 2019, Ruedi turned 60 years old. To celebrate this milestone and realise a life-long dream, he partnered with Candiani Denim and IMjiT35020 to create 60 pairs of completely custom-made jeans."

As I live near Zurich, I donated several old, well worn jeans to the museum. So I wondered what his own jeans would be.

Here some pics:

It's a high rise, straight cut jeans. I look forward to break it in!

I got that pair hemmed. Wearing it often and like the cut a lot... Sorry for bad lighting.

TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead · Nov 20, 2021

Got my bravestar 13 oz today. Love it.

They are tight but comfortable. Can get top button closed, again tight but im not really forcing it either.. Wondering if I should push it and go down one size. Right now I can put a few fingers down the backside. Definitely snug in crotch, can't imagine going tighter, but if that's what it takes, I've already had kids

Or thinking wear a few times see what happens, adjust next pair if need be. I guess I could always wash and dryer worst case to shrink some before they fully stretch out.

edit: after wearing several hours now, if these stretch out a full inch or so, they're going to be a little bigger than what I wanted. They're almost exactly where I'd want them to end up now, if that makes sense. Just like a 1/4 inch more in waist and crotch would be perfect. So I think what I'm going to do is wear another day or two, and then give a soak. This is what Bravestar recommends on their website if you're a size too big-- to soak right away to shrink it down a size, get it mostly dry, and then wear damp to form. Hoping the partial wear stretches a bit, then I'll get the shrink from the soak, and then maybe a little bit more stretch to get to where I want.

LMK if anyone has other advice. Worst case I could just keep wearing and wash after 20 or so wears and if they've stretched way too much, I'll take to a tailor to adjust. There's supposedly a magic Jeans doctor not too far from me.

ES335 · Nov 20, 2021

I love Bravestar. I'm expecting my 6th pair, 21.5oz Sequoia slim taper mid next week. Good luck dialing your sizing in!

TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead · Nov 20, 2021

Thanks. Bravestar just posted their Black Friday special. Looks like 2 styles of jeans for $72 each. If you're on the subscriber list you get first dibs. Not sure if posted to general public yet.

Boyo · Nov 20, 2021

^^ On a pair of jeans, only the areas under tension will stretch (waist, thighs etc) everything else will stay as is.. I doubt these will become too baggy for you..they’ll just get more comfortable.

Fonzie · Nov 21, 2021

TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead said:
Got my bravestar 13 oz today. Love it.

They are tight but comfortable. Can get top button closed, again tight but im not really forcing it either.. Wondering if I should push it and go down one size. Right now I can put a few fingers down the backside. Definitely snug in crotch, can't imagine going tighter, but if that's what it takes, I've already had kids

Or thinking wear a few times see what happens, adjust next pair if need be. I guess I could always wash and dryer worst case to shrink some before they fully stretch out.

edit: after wearing several hours now, if these stretch out a full inch or so, they're going to be a little bigger than what I wanted. They're almost exactly where I'd want them to end up now, if that makes sense. Just like a 1/4 inch more in waist and crotch would be perfect. So I think what I'm going to do is wear another day or two, and then give a soak. This is what Bravestar recommends on their website if you're a size too big-- to soak right away to shrink it down a size, get it mostly dry, and then wear damp to form. Hoping the partial wear stretches a bit, then I'll get the shrink from the soak, and then maybe a little bit more stretch to get to where I want.

LMK if anyone has other advice. Worst case I could just keep wearing and wash after 20 or so wears and if they've stretched way too much, I'll take to a tailor to adjust. There's supposedly a magic Jeans doctor not too far from me.

View attachment 380492 View attachment 380493

Did you order the same size as your regular jeans? I am a size 32 normally but looks like on Brave Star I am closer to 31. What is your experience? Cheers.

TooManyHatsOnlyOneHead · Nov 21, 2021

Fonzie said:
Did you order the same size as your regular jeans? I am a size 32 normally but looks like on Brave Star I am closer to 31. What is your experience? Cheers.

I can't tell you how much research I did. Like it's really ridiculous. If I went just off their website sizing suggestions, I would have ordered size 35. Would have been huge on me. Ultimately I went with my current "vanity" size that I would buy for banana republic, gap, levis, etc. which was a 33. These tend to be perfect to slightly snug. I was worried because some of these have like 1% elastane or whatever, so I wasn't sure if I was getting a false sense of sizing vs. raw denim.

The 33 bravestar like I said fit perfect right on first try, what I would say comfortably tight. Ultimately I'd want like a 1/4 to 1/2 size stretch just to make it more wearable for longer periods of time. A lot of people have said to expect a full size stretch. So that's what I was worried about was it was going to keep stretching past the point of what I wanted. But I think what Boyo said above is key. It's going to stretch under tension. So the tighter you go, the more stretch. Once you get to a comfortable spot, even though there's more potential, it'll level off.

I'm on the fence as to whether I would go 32 next time. I think it's risky and essentially you're forcing the stretch. Basically you're thinning out the jeans in the key areas, which I don't like. Maybe more bespoke, but I don't feel like doing 3 months of pain. So I think 33 was the right call and if I need to wash earlier than the suggested 50 wears to sort of freeze the process, that's fine. And worst case, I'll have them altered.

So long story short. If your 32 fits perfectly, I'd order 32. If your 32 is slightly loose and you want the BS to fit more snug, I'd suggest going down a size.

Al 916 · Nov 21, 2021

Rich22 said:
Whatever you do, entirely ignore tag sizes on any clothes you own. Measure the waist of the trousers you own, and look at actual waist measurements listed for the jeans you'd like to buy.

Levi's, and others, engage in vanity sizing- even when I had a 37" waist I could comfortably fit in tag 34 Levi's. Now I have a 34" waist those same jeans hang off me.

I have a couple of pairs of Iron Heart Jeans, 634 in 21oz and 888 in 25oz, I found their sizing chart / way of measuring very useful https://www.ironheart.co.uk/content/sizing

If you are after starting honeycombs early then after a first soak and still damp wear them for a few hours and then rehang and air-dry. The creases generally set and form a good base.

Al 916 · Nov 21, 2021

A side note on Iron Heart UK (and I am sure others do this too) if you buy online without having them hemmed you can return if not to size. If they fit well return them for hemming.

Bfd70 · Nov 26, 2021

Bfd70 · Nov 27, 2021

^gotta wear heavy for the chicago winter

navetsea · Nov 27, 2021

Edward said:
This does remind me that a non-contrast cuff isn't so bad a thing as I'm looking at picking up my first pair of black jeans in fifteen or sixteen years sometime soonish.

non contrast cuff is the best for black jeans you want to keep black, just buy black dye, and re dye them as needed, usually this pair also comes with stealth stitching (tonal stitching) so there is simply nothing to stop you from redyeing them black every year or so. just don't buy them tight since dyeing is probably require hot water and it might shrink the pants into skinny post redye.

ES335 · Nov 27, 2021

What showed up in today's mail but a fresh pair of Brave Star hemmed Sequioa 21.5oz. Lovely heavyweights, after the usual workout with a screw driver to loosen up the button openings...

Edit: This material feels MUCH lighter than the 21.5 jeans I bought from BS in May. More like 16oz so.

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