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What to Look for in a Well-Made Pair of Jeans
Expensive jeans aren’t hard to find. Figuring out whether they’re actually better made can be much harder.
Because you also pay for brand name, marketing, distribution, retail margins, and all the other things that happen between making a pair of jeans and getting them onto your legs.
That can make quality difficult to judge from the price tag alone. This week’s main story is about how to look past that and judge the jeans themselves—a truly valuable lesson.
In This Issue of the DH Weekly
- This Week at Weirloom – A question about what kind of brand I’m actually building
- New guide – The signs of quality to look for in jeans
- New drops, restocks and releases
- From the Archive – How to spot a well-made tee
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This Week at Weirloom
It’s been a while since I shared an update on what’s happening with Weirloom. And if you’re new to the Weekly, you might not even know that I launched my own jeans brand last year. So here’s what’s been happening lately.
Is Weirloom a “Selvedge Brand”?
A few weeks ago, Bryan announced that I’m back on the judging panel for this year’s Indigo Invitational. In the post, he described Weirloom as “his selvedge denim brand,” which got me thinking; because I don’t see Weirloom as a “selvedge brand.”
From the beginning, my ambition has been to build something that can scale, and eventually become what I do for a living. I’ve said several times that I didn’t start Weirloom to get another hobby 😅
Selvedge is the obvious place to start for me. After nearly two decades of working with and writing about selvedge jeans, of course that’s where I start. But what I really want is to take everything I love about the top-shelf jeans—the quality, the details, that they’re made to last—and make that available to more people.
Eventually, this will very likely mean you’ll see non-selvedge Weirloom jeans. Shocking? Maybe. But don’t say I’m not honest and open about it 😇
The WL#2 Restock Is Here
The real Weirloom news this week is more straightforward: the WL#2 Slim Fit—made from Italian selvedge denim—is back in stock, and pre-orders have shipped.
I opened the pre-order back in May with an expected shipping date of August 13, and I got them out right on time. A few sizes are already gone, but most of the size range—from 28 to 40, including 35 and 37—is now back on my shelves and ready to ship to you.
Since they’re now “in stock”, the pre-order pricing is over. That means these are back at the regular price of €200, or the equivalent in your currency.
For a pair of made-in-Europe selvedge jeans with many of the quality signs that I look for in a well-made pair, I still think that represents good value for money.
Speaking of signs of quality in jeans, that brings me rather neatly to this week’s main story.
What Are You Actually Paying For?
A higher price doesn’t automatically mean better jeans.
Most of the time, you’re paying for better denim, better construction, better hardware, or better manufacturing. But you’re paying for a brand name, marketing, distribution, or the fact that the jeans are hanging in a very nice shop.
Back in June, Bryan wrote a guide to the eight signs he looks for in a well-made T-shirt. Then, while I was on holiday for most of July, he did the same for jeans—and that guide is now live.
The new guide covers 11 “checkmarks” you can actually inspect yourself—from selvedge denim and chain-stitched hems to pocket bags, belt loops, hardware, and the extraordinarily rare one-piece fly.
It’s not that your jeans have to have all these details. A flat-felled inseam isn’t automatically better than an overlocked one. Cotton thread is more authentic, but less durable. And some of the best jeans in the world don’t have a one-piece fly.
The point is to understand what these details tell you about the jeans in front of you—and whether the price reflects the product itself. Once you know what to look for, good jeans leave plenty of clues.
Things Worth Your Attention
The drops keep dropping, so here’s a week’s worth of restocks and releases for you—the highlights of what landed in my inbox since the last issue.
Brave Star Is Gearing Up for Heavyweight Season
There’s a lot going on here, but the star of the show is the new 23 oz. Colossus, a special Kaihara selvedge that Brave Star bought the entire available lot of earlier this year.
It’s woven in an unusual heavyweight 4×4 construction rather than the usual 3×1, packing more yarn in both directions. But because it’s long-staple yarn, all that mass has a surprisingly supple hand despite the hefty 23 oz. weight. It’s currently available on pre-order, expected to ship at the end of September.
The other heavyweight release is the 21.5 oz. Reaper Heritage in black. It’s a left-hand-twill selvedge with a black warp and white weft. That combination gives it a much more traditional black-denim look than black-on-black, and it’s available in True Straight and Slim Straight.
There’s plenty beyond heavy jeans too. The 12.5 oz. Sawtooth Wabash snap shirt is a first-time combination, limited to 75 shirts; the 13 oz. Ironside Brownstone jacket is a 50-piece drop; and the Mojave Western Cut has been done in 13 oz. herringbone, with 72 pairs in the first run.
Also worth a look: the Sawtooth Shadow shirt in 12.5 oz. stretch selvedge, a herringbone restock across four jeans fits, and the Glory Days yarn-dyed indigo T-shirts.
… or shop the pre-orders, currently including the 23 oz. Colossus and the Sawtooth Wabash.
Franklin & Poe Starts Flannel Season with UES
The first fall delivery from UES has landed, bringing back the slubby flannels they relaunched last year after a decade-long hiatus, alongside a couple of double-gauze shirts.
My pick is the 502655 Slubby Flannel Shirt in navy (the one Andrew, on the right, wears). At 8.8 oz., it’s lighter than the heavy flannels UES is probably better known for, which makes it closer to an all-year option than a true winter heavyweight.
The heavily slubbed yarns and lightly brushed finish give it that nappy, textured surface I like, and it’s finished with acorn pockets, cat-eye buttons, and a selvedge-ID gusset at the hem. It’s also available in brown and green.
Cultizm Gets Two New Greencast ONIs
Two new ONI fits have landed in the brand’s 15 oz. Green cast selvedge: the 200-GC15 Wide Straight and 622-GC15 Relaxed Tapered.
The colour is what makes this denim really interesting. After rope dyeing the warp with indigo, ONI gives it a yellow-toned sulphur finish, shifting the denim towards that distinctive greenish blue. As the indigo fades, that undertone should become increasingly visible.
Also arriving is Kaptain Sunshine’s first FW26 drop, including a new 5P Straight Denim in 13.5 oz. San Joaquin cotton selvedge, alongside the matching Tracker jacket.
Cultizm also has two new washed versions of the LVC 1933 501 plus House of Blanks heavyweight T-shirts in a two-pack, made in Canada, clocking in at 275 gsm (8.11 oz.).
Hinoya Goes Back to the ’40s
There’s a bit of a 1940s theme around the latest from Tokyo’s original denim destination.
Buzz Rickson’s WWII Denim Blouse is the brand’s take on the stripped-back jacket made under wartime restrictions—four front buttons instead of five, no pocket flaps, and a “FOR THE DURATION” pocket flasher. It’s made from Buzz Rickson’s 13.6 oz. selvedge denim.
They’ve also got three Levi’s Vintage Clothing 501 reproductions, covering the 1944, 1947, and 1955 models. The progression is almost a miniature denim history lesson: the simplified wartime 1944, the cleaner and more modern post-war 1947, and the boxier 1955 associated with outlaws and bikers.
Hinoya also received the green cast drop from ONI, including three straight fits—the 246 Neat Straight, 288 Regular Straight, and 200 Wide Straight—with the 246, currently their number-one bestseller.
Brooklyn: Roughout Boots and the First Signs of Autumn
The autumn deliveries are starting to arrive in earnest now, and there’s quite a bit in Brooklyn Clothing Co.’s latest drop.
The thing I’d look at first is the new drop from Unmarked. They’ve got two boots in heavyweight roughout: the WWII-inspired N1 Boondocker and the lace-to-toe Archie Boot. Both are Goodyear-welted, and that light-coloured leather will only get better with wear. At $549, they also look like good value for money.
There’s also a substantial Full Count delivery, including an olive-drab 2107 Type I and matching 0105 Wide jeans, plus chinos, shirting, and a USN-inspired herringbone coverall. KATO’s FW26 arrivals have started landing too, with new Ripper Flannels and three coloured selvedge options in beige and brown.
Blue in Green Gets a Pure Blue Japan Exclusive Drop
The New York retailer got a batch of BiG exclusives from Pure Blue Japan.
A standout item is the 14 oz. Teacore Black denim, available in PBJ’s 019 Relaxed Tapered and the 003 Regular Straight fits. The warp yarns are dyed brown first, then rope-dyed black, and have a brown weft underneath. That means the denim will gradually reveal those warmer brown tones as the black fades.
There’s also a 16 oz. Double Nep denim in the same two fits, this time pairing an indigo-dyed warp with a sumi ink-dyed weft for a darker, heavily textured fabric.
And the shirts are worth a look too: an indigo-overdyed double-gauze check, plus seersucker and jacquard options—all very much in PBJ’s textured, indigo-heavy wheelhouse.
Redcast: Tigers, Natural Dyes, and a Quieter Week
Redcast have been taking it unusually easy since the last Weekly—I’ve only had a couple of emails from them, rather than the near-daily stream of new arrivals I’ve become accustomed to 😁
The Flat Head ‘Hyaku Tora’ Linen Shirt
What really caught my eye is The Flat Head’s Hyaku Tora linen shirt. It’s based on a 1950s Hawaiian shirt motif, hand screen-printed on linen, with pattern-matched pockets and coconut-shell buttons.
If it looks familiar, there’s a reason. Freenote Cloth’s Ice Tiger shirt is also made from Japanese screen-printed linen. It’s not the exact same tiger pattern, but there’s definitely a resemblance. I like both of them a lot.
Graph Zero New Arrivals
There’s also some considerably more unusual denim from Graph Zero: 15 oz. black-grey jeans made from slubby, skein-dyed denim, plus a limited run combining kakishibu—persimmon tannin dyeing—with aizome indigo dyeing.
Late Summer Must-Haves
And if you’re not quite ready to think about autumn yet, Redcast also received a new Sun Surf reproduction of a vintage Tropicana Sportswear aloha shirt, while Rogue Territory’s latest delivery includes an 8.5 oz. washed Japanese selvedge Field Shirt.
Iron Heart Knows How to Tell a Product Story
In a recent newsletter, the heavyweight champs traced the coach jacket from 1950s American sports through college campuses and into the hip-hop, skate, and Amekaji scenes of the ’80s and ’90s. I really enjoy seeing brands do storytelling like this.
The resulting product is great, too: a relatively faithful 4.8 oz. Nylon Coach Jacket in black or grey, plus the more Iron Heart-esque take: a 10 oz. Neppy Selvedge Denim Coach Jacket with rope-dyed indigo warp, light-blue weft, copper snaps, and ribbed cuffs.
That wraps up Iron Heart’s SS26 collection, so stay tuned for the FW26 collection that’ll start dropping soon.
KATO Wants to See Your Fades
We’re in the final month of Year 5 of the Indigo Invitational, but that isn’t the only fading competition around.
KATO runs its own Fade Contest. Entries are open internationally, and the jeans have to start raw, they have to be KATO, and you have to fade them naturally through wear—that goes without saying.
Winners are picked at the end of August and December, with a $200 KATO gift card for each winner. If you’re willing to part with your jeans after the competition, KATO even accepts worn-in pairs in exchange for new ones.
If you already have a pair of KATOs that qualify, you might as well consider entering. And if you’re looking for a pair to join with—or you’re new to the brand—start with my KATO brand profile to understand what makes their jeans different.
From the Archive: How to Spot a Well-Made Tee
This one isn’t exactly ancient history. We published it at the end of June, just before my summer break.
But it belongs here because it’s part of the series of this week’s jeans guide: learning how to judge quality from the product itself rather than relying on the label, the price, or the marketing around it.
For T-shirts, we identified 8 things to look for, including loopwheeled fabric, single-stitch hems, bound collars, flat-locked seams, better cotton, and close-to-home manufacturing.
So far, we’ve done tees and jeans. There are a few other obvious categories we will likely give the same treatment over the coming months.
The post How to Judge the Quality of Jeans appeared first on Denimhunters.
DENIM and PATCHES sourced this post originally published on this site