RAW SELVEDGE
#75 Okayama Standard from Gustin Photo by Peter J. Cooper
I’ve always thought the idea of raw selvedge denim was the epitome of cool and style, but mostly cool. My dad’s generation wore them all the time because they didn’t really have options. If they wanted jeans, or dungarees as they were often called, they most likely had to wear Levi’s raw selvedge denim. By the time I was in high school, we had nothing but options. We bought our jeans at the Gap most of the time, and they had a wall of different styles developed to create a softer, faded, worn or vintage look by using different washing techniques, like stone wash or acid wash. Fashion designers followed suit and the world of denim went from being the uniform of the cool middle class to high-end fashion completely absent of raw selvedge denim, and it only took one generation for this to happen. But while this was going on in America, something extraordinary was happening in Japan.
The Japanese youth became obsessed with American culture - but not the American culture of the 70s and 80s, but rather the cool style of a post-World War II America, when jeans were worn by the working class or American GIs who lived in them on the weekends. They began to embrace the James Dean look of selvedge denim, white t-shirts and Baracuta jackets. Throw in Coca-Cola and rock-n-roll, and you’ve got a movement on your hands – and that’s exactly what happened (remember, the Japanese discovered Cheap Trick before America did). But it wasn’t enough for the Japanese to embrace a style lifted entirely from American culture. To copy something and regurgitate it wasn’t and isn’t the Japanese way (that’s more of the Chinese way) - they had too much natural sense of creativity and innate style to do that. Rather, their way was to deconstruct and re-design until things become something of their own invention, and that’s what they did with raw selvedge denim.
The Okayama prefecture of Japan is where you’ll find the best raw selvedge denim in the world. It was in 1972, on the Toyodo Model G Automatic loom, that Kurabo Mills created the first selvedge denim in Japan. Since this first production, Japan has become the global leader of manufacturing premium raw selvedge denim by using sophisticated tighter, denser weaves of natural indigo dyed threads with the iconic red stripe along the edge of the fabric. It was and is as close to perfection (with plenty of awesome imperfections) as you can get. Incidentally, Toyodo is the same corporation we know today as Toyota.
If you’re interested in trying raw selvedge denim jeans, there are some things you need to know. Wearing raw selvedge is something of a cultural thing among enthusiasts who are passionate about their jeans. To wear selvedge is to be committed to a process that takes some time getting used to. Depending on the weight of your fabric, your jeans will be quite stiff and require some serious break-in time, which can make them seem a bit uncomfortable at first. They’ll also be a little tight, because you’ll be ordering a size smaller than your traditional waist size to account for stretching over time (this doesn’t take long). Which leads to the next phase which is wearing them as often as you can. The selvedge-wearing community is adamant that you never wash your jeans. EVER. Truth be told, you should wear them at least 100 times before washing them if you decide to wash them. This will create the natural fades that are referred to as “whiskers” from the crotch across the thighs. You’ll also get fades from wearing a wallet, an iPhone, a money clip and even keys in your pockets, creating unique and specific characteristics of your personal denim jeans. And when you finally decide to wash your jeans, you’ll see the fades come alive.
For me personally, I struggled with wearing this style of denim jean whenever I tried it. It wasn’t that I was unable to commit to the process of wearing them often and never washing them, but rather it was more about finding an overall fit that was perfect for me while I went through the uncomfortable phase of breaking them in. Over the years, I tried Levi’s 501 selvedge, but I didn’t care for the quality. Then I tried RRL and thought they were a terrible fit. Seriously, what man needs a low-rise jean? A.P.C had strange shallow pockets and were too skinny. I also tried Iron Heart, an expensive and popular Japanese brand, that offered cuts that didn’t make sense to me and were way too expensive to not love the jeans. Then I discovered a company in San Francisco making and selling raw selvedge denim jeans in a radically new way. Gustin designed jeans cut to perfection – straight, slim or skinny with a medium rise – using premium raw selvedge from mills in Okayama, and also deadstock raw selvedge denim from the historic Cone Mills of North Carolina. Everything is manufactured in Los Angeles. And all of it at around one-third of the price of all the premium selvedge brands around the world. The catch is that they use crowdsourcing to line up supply and demand. As their website says, “crowdsourcing is the mechanism we use to let you tell us what to make. Without inventory piling up in a warehouse.” This means that the jeans you order don’t go into production until they sell enough for it to make sense to their business model. Sometimes you have to wait several weeks – but it’s worth it. They’re selling premium high-end-retailer quality at wholesale prices – which means you can try incredible raw selvedge denim jeans for around a hundred bucks. I recommend beginning with the #75 Okayama Standard, which might be the best made pair of selvedge jeans on the planet. Then go for #172 The 1968 which uses deadstock from the Cone Mills White Oak Plant, the last great American selvedge denim mill. And then finally, the #454 Japan Classic Stretch selvedge is an absolute must. After 20 wears, these will be the most comfortable jeans you’ll ever own. www.weargustin.com PJC