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Daniel Fletcher unleashed his most flamboyant outing yet for the Guangzhou-based label with a “The Gentlemen” meets “The Shards” energy.

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PURPLE has launched its Fall/Winter 2026 campaign, “The Classmates”. This is the follow-up to its Spring/Summer 2026 campaign, “The Neighbors.”

The campaign was photographed by Kaito and styled by Terrence Munn. The location of this shot is Saint Violet Academy, a fictional school built around the idea of what “cool kids” wear.

Every school has its characters. FallWinter 2026 brings them together through a collection of denim, tees, flannels, outerwear, matching sets, and fall essentials. And each category is interpreted through a different point of view.

Let us point out that PURPLE is broadening its aesthetic rather than abandoning its streetwear roots. They have included their P001 Skinny, P004 Flare, P005 Slim Straight, P011 Straight Leg, and P018 Wide in their current collection as well. So, PURPLE is actually a good example of the “everything is happening at once” denim market. Its assortment

You can shop for PURPLE’s Fall/Winter collection on the brand’s website, as well as at Neiman Marcus and at Saks Fifth Avenue.

The post PURPLE – Fall/Winter 2026 Lookbook first appeared on Denimology.

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After many attempts over the past few seasons to make a comeback, now they’re so back! At least, judging from what we saw in stores here in New York City.

But there’s an important distinction: they are returning as one of several strong fits, not replacing high-rise or mid-rise jeans.

PacSun and Hollister (we love the adjustable waist!), to name a few, made low-rise jeans a top “priority.” Both brands are featuring most of their denim fits in a low and super-low rise. And there are so many more brands including low-rise jeans in their Fall/Winter 2026 collections.

PacSun Kaia Ultimate Low Rise Baggy Jeans ($64.95)

Hollister Andi Adjustable Waist Low-Rise Baggy Jeans ($54)

Low-rise baggy is the strongest combination. The newer low-rise jean isn’t necessarily the ultra-tight Y2K version. It often comes with loose, slouchy or wide legs. The low-slung/baggy direction was already visible in many of the previous 2025/26 collections.

And the low-rise straight/slim cut is also returning as part of a broader move toward slimmer, cleaner jeans.

Levi’s Low Straight Jeans ($110)

Fall 2026 isn’t “high-rise out, low-rise in.” It’s more like the waistline is being democratised again. Designers and brands are offering low, mid and high rises simultaneously, while the leg shape is undergoing an even bigger change.

And this is important given the recent “are baggy jeans out?” question: low-rise baggy jeans may actually be one of the ways baggy denim evolves for FW26—less giant and shapeless, more deliberately slouched and low-slung.

AE Lowest Rise Baggy WIde-Leg Jeans ($52.46)

R13 Cuffed Cross-Over Low-Rise Jeans ($795)

AGOLDE Low-Slung Baggy Jeans ($270)

The post Low-Rise Jeans Are Definitely On The “Rise” first appeared on Denimology.

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Gucci’s Fall 2026 collection, Demna’s first major Gucci runway collection, makes a strong case for clean, sexy, fitted-to-straight denim rather than the ultra-baggy look.

Key denim looks:

1. Straight, clean jeans
The clearest men’s denim look is a light-wash, straight-leg jean with a relatively clean finish, worn with a tight black tee and Gucci belt.

2. Sexy, fitted denim
Another standout is a deep blue, coated jean worn with a skin-tight black polo. It gives denim a much more body-conscious, sensual attitude.

3. Low-key rather than heavily distressed
Gucci isn’t pushing shredded or aggressively vintage denim here. The denim is relatively clean and polished, allowing the silhouette and styling to provide the attitude.

4. Light blue is important
The pale/light-blue jean is particularly notable because it contrasts with Fall 2026’s strong dark-indigo trend elsewhere. Gucci shows that light denim isn’t disappearing for fall. It’s being made sharper and more sophisticated.

5. Slim/mini-bootcut influence
Gucci’s fall/winter 2026 denim fits also includes slim, subtly flared mini-bootcut silhouettes.

Gucci Fall/Winter 26 is another important signal that Fall 2026 isn’t simply about oversized baggy jeans. The season is becoming much more multi-silhouette. Straight, slim, bootcut, relaxed and baggy can all coexist. Gucci’s particular message is cleaner, sexier and more polished denim, especially light-blue straight jeans and slim/bootcut shapes.

The post Gucci Fall/Winter 2026 Denim Looks first appeared on Denimology.

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Lulus Style Guide: Affordable Jeans Fashion for Every Moment When creating a wardrobe that’s suitable for each stage of life, it doesn’t require a new look each time. The best fashion items are ones that can switch between casual, work, weekend, and evening outfits in an easy way. Lulus provides…

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Since I started writing for Denimology, I faced the same question every year: Is it okay to wear white jeans after Labor Day? And my answer has always been: It’s absolutely okay to wear whatever makes you feel good.

And in the past few decades, designers and fashionistas have declared whites after Labor Day are definitely a “do”!

White jeans after Labour Day are totally acceptable in 2026. For Fall 2026, they fit into the broader move toward winter whites and lighter neutrals. Most designers and brands are treating it as a year-round neutral.

The more fashion-forward version is ivory, ecru, winter white, or cream rather than the stark summer white.

You can check out below some of our teams favorite picks for “white after Labor Day” denims available to purchase right now.

For Her:

For Him:

The post The “White Jeans After Labor Day” Question first appeared on Denimology.

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Beyond Loopwheeled: Iron Heart Knitwear and Japanese Denim Going Mainstream

When I started getting properly nerdy about clothes, some of the most basic questions had surprisingly difficult answers. Not just about jeans, T-shirts too. 

Why did a T-shirt have no side seams? What did loopwheeled actually mean? You could lose an evening in old forum threads before you got anywhere close to an answer.

That world is still there, but the information isn’t buried anymore. Things that once felt deeply nerdy now turn up in mainstream menswear coverage.

Elsewhere this week, the Indigo Invitational reached its Top 50s, which means the community gets to decide who moves on. Voting closes Monday 14 September at 23:59 Tokyo time.

Closer to home, the Weirloom shirt project got a lot more tangible: 50+ shirting swatches landed on my desk this week, including some very nice Japanese flannels.

The Weight Matters More Than the Label

Loopwheeled has become shorthand for a premium T-shirt. My first Iron Heart item was one back in 2014, and I’ve worn enough of the range since to know that the label only tells you so much.

That’s where the Iron Heart story starts, before following the rabbit hole a little further: what matters once loopwheel itself is no longer the interesting part?

Tubular Doesn’t Automatically Mean Loopwheeled

Updating one of my most established buying guides turned into a deeper fact-check than I expected. The trigger was Whitesville: tubular, yes; loopwheeled, no.

Warehouse turned up as another interesting exception, made on an old low-gauge machine that are even rarer than loopwheelers. Both tees still belong in the guide, but the update forced me to be much more precise about why.

Things Worth Your Attention

Five quick things that made me stop this week:

• Very sophisticated marketing – Nick English asked if I could share his new Malaysia video, then admitted this was about as refined as his content-marketing strategy gets. The video totally earns the plug: heavyweight denim, tropical heat and a scene adapting Japanese influence to Malaysian conditions.
• What’s the deal with Chelsea boots? – I’m working on a Chelsea-boot guide, which will include these Meermins. (Nick’s Stridewise guide is in the research pile.)
• “Expensive” Gustin jeans – Gustin has a $249 pair in 10 oz. Japanese denim containing 20% cashmere and, at the same time, a 15 oz. raw California-made jean for $79. Quite a spread.
• Heavy without the fight – Brave Star’s 20.5 oz. Odin is slubby, crosshatch selvedge that the brand says is surprisingly supple thanks to long-staple cotton. It is $158 and made in Downtown Los Angeles.
• Thai heavyweight specialist lands at Cultizm – The German retailer now stocks four heavyweight jeans from Piger Works.

Japanese Denim Makes the Wall Street Journal

Seeing Japanese denim get serious attention like this from the Wall Street Journal feels slightly surreal.

Iron Heart is the vehicle, but the story goes much wider: Haraki’s biker roots, Japanese denim manufacturing, the international business and the community that grew around the brand.

It’s about the people more than the clothes. For example, Giles describes the Iron Heart Forum as an old-fashioned form of social media and talks about some of his closest friendships growing out of it. That gets closer to why this world becomes an obsession than another close-up of a shuttle loom.

There’s already some anxiety in the comments about mainstream exposure spoiling something that felt niche. I get the instinct, but I’m on the other side of this one. Seeing a publication like the Wall Street Journal spend this much time taking Japanese denim culture seriously is good exposure for the brands and for the scene around them.

From the Archive: Iron Heart’s Next Generation

I went back to the Iron Heart Forum for the first time in months to verify an old quote. At the top was bigger news: Alex Padmore will become President of Iron Heart Co., Ltd. in 2029, with Haraki moving to Chairman and focusing even more on making products.

I’ve watched Alex’s role grow for years. I interviewed him in 2018, revisited the wider Iron Heart story in my brand profile, and later sat down with Alex and Giles for the podcast. In the announcement, Haraki makes it very clear that he sees Alex as his natural heir.

Ps. If this is starting to feel like an Iron Heart-sponsored issue, it isn’t. But I have actually just partnered with them.

The post Why Loopwheeled T-Shirts Are Only the Starting Point appeared first on Denimhunters.

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From Loopwheel Tees to Heavyweight Waffle Sweaters: Inside Iron Heart’s Knitwear Range

I eased my way into Iron Heart in 2014. My first piece wasn’t jeans, it was a T-shirt, loopwheeled—at the time, I barely knew what that meant.

This was the time when knowing—or caring—how a T-shirt is knitted was proper forum-nerd territory. So I what you could do then; I went to the Iron Heart Forum. In a thread about T-shirts, forum legend Beatle had weighed in with this characteristically blunt advice: “go loopwheeled.” That stuck with me.

Today, every menswear publication worth its salt has a guide to loopwheeled tees. What was once a rabbit hole is now the starting point. So what comes after loopwheel? 

For Iron Heart’s FW26 collection, the knitwear piece that first caught my attention is the new IHSW-86, which builds on the brand’s heavyweight thermal, but with sweatshirt details.

The New Sweater Starts With a Familiar Fabric

The new waffle sweater builds on the IHTL-1700. It’s made from a heavy, loosely knitted 100% cotton waffle with four-needle flat seams and a one-wash finish. But the ribbed collar, cuffs and—crucially—hem give it a different shape.

Adding a ribbed hem might seem like a small change, but it has a big impact on the silhouette. An open hem keeps even a heavy thermal looking like a base layer; ribbing at the waist pulls it in like a sweatshirt rather than letting it hang straight.

I’ve worn the lighter IHTL-1301 thermal, and as the knit relaxes with wear, the open hem can flare away from the waist. That’s why the ribbed hem on the IHSW-86 immediately make perfect sense to me.

Iron Heart told me they’ve had feedback from customers that the heavier IHTL-1700 waffle would make a good sweater, and the IHSW-86 feels like a natural answer to that: keep the familiar waffle construction, but change the finishing details enough to turn the thermal into a proper sweatshirt.

The Loopwheel Tee Is Still the Easy Way In

For anyone new to the brand, I still think a loopwheel tee is the easiest way in. 

These days I wear the IHT-1610L, the longer-bodied version of Iron Heart’s 6.5 oz. loopwheel T-shirt. The cotton jersey is knitted in Wakayama on vintage circular machines running at low tension, and the tees are one-washed before they reach your doorstep.

For a T-shirt, 6.5 oz. is substantial without changing the basic job of the garment. It still behaves like a tee, which is why it remains such an easy introduction to Iron Heart.

That was true for me in 2014. I didn’t need to understand the brand’s denim, motorcycle roots or heavyweight reputation to understand a white T-shirt. I only had to put it on.

What has changed is the culture around it. Beatle’s “go loopwheeled” comment once pointed towards something relatively obscure and mystical. Today, it points towards the familiar part of the range.

The 11 oz. Story Started With Long Sleeves

Move beyond the familiar loopwheel tee, and Iron Heart’s knitwear starts to blur the line between T-shirt, thermal and sweater.

Haraki-san originally designed the IHTL-1501 as a long-sleeved tee, using an 11 oz. Japanese cotton knit that brings far more warmth and structure than a normal jersey.

Iron Heart now describes the 1501 as all three: a long-sleeved T-shirt, a thermal underlayer and a lightweight sweater. The IHT-1600 takes that same 11 oz. knit and cuts it as a short-sleeve T-shirt, giving you the same heft and heat retention in a much less expected shape.

For how I wear tees, the 1600 is too much to handle for me. But as an extension of the 1501 rather than the starting point, it makes much more sense.

Why the Sweatshirt Feels More Like Outerwear

Iron Heart calls the sweatshirt range “ultra-heavy,” and with good reason. This 14 oz. Japanese loopwheeled cotton fleece is knitted in Wakayama.

This is one of the places where the brand’s motorcycle background becomes tangible. Close-cut sleeves help reduce wind penetration, while four-needle Union Special flat seams keep the construction low-profile and sturdy.

I’ve worn the IHSW-10, and for me it lands closer to light outerwear than a normal hoodie. The two-way Universal zip is the detail that makes that clearest:

You can fasten it across the chest while leaving the bottom open, which gives more room to move and lets some heat out without opening the whole thing.

Beyond the Familiar Starting Point

If I were buying my first Iron Heart piece today, I could still imagine starting exactly where I did in 2014—with a white loopwheeled tee. It’s straightforward, easy to wear, and these days hardly an obscure choice.

The IHSW-86 is more interesting to me because it shows what happens after that starting point. The fabric comes from an existing heavyweight thermal, but a few deliberate changes make it look and wear like a sweater. A small move on paper, but a whole new proposition in reality.

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