Priced at around $40, it’s hard to find raw selvedge going for much cheaper, and aside from the obvious use of lightweight denim, Chinese manufacturing (not necessarily a bad thing) and a rather conservative feature set, there’s nothing blatantly off-putting about these Uniqlo selvedge jeans. However, one thing I wish they had is a button up fly. These jeans are model S002, which are a straight leg cut, but I’m not sure how the fit will change after their first shrink.

From what I’ve heard, Uniqlo selvedge tends to bleed quite easily, which means producing distress patterns should take a lot less effort than my documented battle with a much more expensive brand. We’ll see how they stand up to daily abuse over the next couple of months; I’ll have to post a follow-up documenting my progress. Until then, I’d better avoid wearing susceptible clothing and sitting on light colored furniture, but hey, that’s all part of the ritual and sacrifice in producing a highly customized look! The way I see it, for the bargain that they are, it’s more of a risk of my time than money.