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Post by drstrange on Dec 19, 2014 15:14:34 GMT -6
First I have to admit heading to the wrong side of 50 soon, so you might be calling me an old fossil .... I do understand a considerable part of the raw denim hype is about fades .... and even though I personally (being the old fossil) prefer the pristine state of a trousers over the faded state, I can see some interesting aspects in the picture of Dorian Gray so to speak ... What I do have trouble in understanding though, and this comes from looking at some of the fade examples e.g. at www.rawrdenim.com (a site which in general I see as quite informative and well made), is, how can one possible see any beauty in clearly destroyed parts of a trousers and in particular in holes in the crotch area. Seriously, the day I would stroll the streets with a hole in the crotch of my pants (put aside any accident having happened that very day), is the day my pals should be escorting me to the asylum ... |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 19, 2014 15:26:08 GMT -6
I'm not sure that people see particular beauty in crotch holes, rather the crotch does tend to be one of the first places to 'give out' on raw denim... especially on heavier/starchier denim that isn't soaked/washed very often (if at all). I get most blow outs mended, but some choose not to for whatever reason. Then again, I'm not particularly into the look of ultra high contrast fades. (but do like well worn/faded denim)
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Post by Winterland on Dec 20, 2014 1:54:15 GMT -6
I haven't gotten any holes in my selvedge denim but if I do I will get them fixed or they will go in the rag bin.
I know the ripped jeans thing was a fad for a time. Wasn't my thing but I have been seeing it appear again. Buying preripped or premade holes in clothes is very lame in my opinion.
If they were actually worn in that way from wear I would at least appreciate that someone wore them that long.
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Post by usctroll on Dec 20, 2014 21:18:52 GMT -6
I'm in my early 30s and love old things. I'm with you on unfaded denim and wondering what all the fuss is about destroyed pants. I hope those kids stay off our lawns.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 1:48:27 GMT -6
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more disingenuous and fake the whole "Sick fades" concept is. People avoiding washing jeans for years... Wearing them to do any and every ridiculous task (Skydiving??? Mountain hiking???)... Ocean washing...
Seriously.
Freaking gold miners SURELY would have handwashed their jeans in a creek. As, I'm sure they also avoided unnecessary wear on their jeans. Did they pamper them? Probably not, but as a man who has gotten down and dirty over 6yrs in the Army, I know that "regular maintenance extends the life of your equipment", and for those guys, denim was a big part of their equipment.
Idk, really I'm ranting about nothing, but I'm sure yall know what I mean.
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Post by julian on Dec 21, 2014 5:35:35 GMT -6
Untucked has it pretty much nailed, IMO. The reality is that the kind of 'sick fades' prized by some in the raw denim community is that they are almost the opposite of natural wear patterns because people expend significant thought and effort into achieving what they want to see in the end result. To my way of thinking, that's not what I relate to as being natural.
With regards to crotch blow-outs, I'm not sure they're desirable so much as inevitable if/when you wear the same jeans every day, for every task and also don't wash them for a year.
Certain brands have inherent stress points that lead to blow-outs much faster than others and some of those happen to be brands much loved by raw denim fans (APC, Nudie spring to mind). PRPS has a rather amusing issue whereby they include a crotch rivet for addition strength in that area and yet almost ever pair wear a whole quite quickly on the opposite side of the crotch area. Of my pairs I wear regularly, I'd guess that around 60% of them have had to be darned and inside patched in that area. None of my other jeans have ever worn through in that spot, so it must be their cuts' stress point rather than anything I'm doing to them.
Having said all that, I don't actually mind distressed jeans if they look good... in the same way I don't like brand new raws if they don't fit well - it's all about how each individual pairs looks and fits on each person.
Here in the UK I have really noticed a big resurgence of the two ripped knee look with women's jeans. Seems I see more women wearing jeans with holes in the knees than in non-ripped jeans at the moment.
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Post by Old26 on Dec 21, 2014 9:33:21 GMT -6
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more disingenuous and fake the whole "Sick fades" concept is. People avoiding washing jeans for years... Wearing them to do any and every ridiculous task (Skydiving??? Mountain hiking???)... Ocean washing... Seriously. Freaking gold miners SURELY would have handwashed their jeans in a creek. As, I'm sure they also avoided unnecessary wear on their jeans. Did they pamper them? Probably not, but as a man who has gotten down and dirty over 6yrs in the Army, I know that "regular maintenance extends the life of your equipment", and for those guys, denim was a big part of their equipment. Idk, really I'm ranting about nothing, but I'm sure yall know what I mean. 100% agree with you and Julian. I don't do anything that falls into the regimen of getting sick fades, sans wearing my damn jeans! Those guys to me are poseurs. Same guys that buy all the gear and ride their Harley to the coffee shop - never really becoming a rider, per se. They stand out like a sore thumb, and I'll take my jeans and leather the way they turn out just by wearing and taking care of them. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 11:07:34 GMT -6
Honestly, the more I think about it, the more disingenuous and fake the whole "Sick fades" concept is. People avoiding washing jeans for years... Wearing them to do any and every ridiculous task (Skydiving??? Mountain hiking???)... Ocean washing... Seriously. Freaking gold miners SURELY would have handwashed their jeans in a creek. As, I'm sure they also avoided unnecessary wear on their jeans. Did they pamper them? Probably not, but as a man who has gotten down and dirty over 6yrs in the Army, I know that "regular maintenance extends the life of your equipment", and for those guys, denim was a big part of their equipment. Idk, really I'm ranting about nothing, but I'm sure yall know what I mean. 100% agree with you and Julian. I don't do anything that falls into the regimen of getting sick fades, sans wearing my damn jeans! Those guys to me are poseurs. Same guys that buy all the gear and ride their Harley to the coffee shop - never really becoming a rider, per se. They stand out like a sore thumb, and I'll take my jeans and leather the way they turn out just by wearing and taking care of them. While I'm not into high contrast fades or not soaking/washing my denim for a year, I wouldn't immediately toss those who are into a poseur category. People who are at home taking sandpaper to their denim...sure...but there are plenty of guys who are into 'sick fades' that simply wear their jeans to do what they do (commute by bike, install drywall, *break down computers...etc)...tasks that can inevitably lead to crotch blow outs and sick fades (especially if only washed when a funk starts to develop). *i put in some time volunteering at a local charity that breaks down computers for recycling and rebuilds usable kits to provide to low income families. disassembling routers, cases, optical drives, etc (and all of that razor sharp stamped sheet metal) into their smallest possible components may have been the most abuse my jeans had seen in a single day. |
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Post by Old26 on Dec 21, 2014 11:10:24 GMT -6
Yes, you're right @david. Not everyone belongs in that category. Pre-coffee grumps.  |
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Post by ickes on Dec 21, 2014 12:59:08 GMT -6
100% agree with you and Julian. I don't do anything that falls into the regimen of getting sick fades, sans wearing my damn jeans! Those guys to me are poseurs. Same guys that buy all the gear and ride their Harley to the coffee shop - never really becoming a rider, per se. They stand out like a sore thumb, and I'll take my jeans and leather the way they turn out just by wearing and taking care of them. While I'm not into high contrast fades or not soaking/washing my denim for a year, I wouldn't immediately toss those who are into a poseur category. People who are at home taking sandpaper to their denim...sure...but there are plenty of guys who are into 'sick fades' that simply wear their jeans to do what they do (commute by bike, install drywall, *break down computers...etc)...tasks that can inevitably lead to crotch blow outs and sick fades (especially if only washed when a funk starts to develop). *i put in some time volunteering at a local charity that breaks down computers for recycling and rebuilds usable kits to provide to low income families. disassembling routers, cases, optical drives, etc (and all of that razor sharp stamped sheet metal) into their smallest possible components may have been the most abuse my jeans had seen in a single day. That. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 15:33:17 GMT -6
100% agree with you and Julian. I don't do anything that falls into the regimen of getting sick fades, sans wearing my damn jeans! Those guys to me are poseurs. Same guys that buy all the gear and ride their Harley to the coffee shop - never really becoming a rider, per se. They stand out like a sore thumb, and I'll take my jeans and leather the way they turn out just by wearing and taking care of them. While I'm not into high contrast fades or not soaking/washing my denim for a year, I wouldn't immediately toss those who are into a poseur category. People who are at home taking sandpaper to their denim...sure...but there are plenty of guys who are into 'sick fades' that simply wear their jeans to do what they do (commute by bike, install drywall, *break down computers...etc)...tasks that can inevitably lead to crotch blow outs and sick fades (especially if only washed when a funk starts to develop). *i put in some time volunteering at a local charity that breaks down computers for recycling and rebuilds usable kits to provide to low income families. disassembling routers, cases, optical drives, etc (and all of that razor sharp stamped sheet metal) into their smallest possible components may have been the most abuse my jeans had seen in a single day. I want "sick fade" but with so many jeans in my rotation, all of them are very healthy and I MEAN they are mostly pristine.... I felt it is so silly that defeat the whole purpose of the movement of raw selvedge in the first place .... at least to me. On a different subject, I think building a computer from stretch is almost like a lost art now. I used to do that back in the Intel 286/386 days. The machine was SO expensive from the store and I was able to save hundreds if not thousand to buy parts to build one myself. Fast forward 30 years later, I just buy my computers from Dell for 1/4 of the price of the 386. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 16:44:45 GMT -6
...Fast forward 30 years later, I just buy my computers from Dell for 1/4 of the price of the 386. even the phone you are carrying is a fraction of the cost of one of those old 386 machines...and a lot more powerful. i laugh when i think back to when ram was $50 or more per MB |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2014 17:46:16 GMT -6
...Fast forward 30 years later, I just buy my computers from Dell for 1/4 of the price of the 386. even the phone you are carrying is a fraction of the cost of one of those old 386 machines...and a lot more powerful. i laugh when i think back to when ram was $50 or more per MB I thought the disk space on my 20mb HD will last me at least 5 years. |
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Post by Mattbert on Dec 23, 2014 21:29:19 GMT -6
*i put in some time volunteering at a local charity that breaks down computers for recycling and rebuilds usable kits to provide to low income families. disassembling routers, cases, optical drives, etc (and all of that razor sharp stamped sheet metal) into their smallest possible components may have been the most abuse my jeans had seen in a single day. Next time, try using your hands. |
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Post by Mattbert on Dec 23, 2014 21:40:18 GMT -6
On a different subject, I think building a computer from stretch is almost like a lost art now. I used to do that back in the Intel 286/386 days. The machine was SO expensive from the store and I was able to save hundreds if not thousand to buy parts to build one myself. Fast forward 30 years later, I just buy my computers from Dell for 1/4 of the price of the 386. This is me nodding vigorously. My teenaged self, veteran of multiple desktop computer builds and countless rebuilds and troubleshooting exercises, would be shocked and dismayed by the lack of techie kung-fu displayed by his future self 20 years on. Whereas I used to know every nook and cranny of my machines because I put them together from scratch, nowadays pretty much all the things I own that have an on/off switch are just black boxes and cyphers to me. That world passed us by long ago. |
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Post by DigDug on Dec 23, 2014 23:10:10 GMT -6
Ok, I'll take a "slight" desenting view. I like to see Wear on some of my jeans. I would find it odd if a guy showed up with new, unfaded, crisp, etc jeans and shirt to work. You can tell a lot buy what a guy is wearing how he wears it and how he takes care of it.
Now I'm not talking stinky, ratty, squaller jeans. But the kind that a guy has put some life into (even if its just a hard working family man).
Crotch fades/tears are a bit much (I always find those pics unnessassary, why the hell do I want to see that). But an overall pic of a used pair Ok.
I learned a new word that kind of explains it - WabiSabi!!!
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Post by DigDug on Dec 23, 2014 23:23:47 GMT -6
Let me add. That I think its interesting when you take a dozen guys, give them the same pair of jeans, have them wear them for a year and end up with some completely different looks.
Its true of all kinds of things - boots, belts, cars/trucks, tools, homes, food, etc etc
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