I’m loving all the details worked into these Red Pepper jeans. The stitching, zippers, studs, and chaotic distress patterns are the kinds of features that you’d expect from a highly stylized pair of Japanese jeans.

The look is reminiscent of LA’s denim scene, and in certain ways Osaka can be seen as the West Coast equivalent for streetwear fashion in Japan. In comparison, Tokyo often shows a more sophisticated and conservative dress code that can be found in world cities like New York and Paris. Indeed, the rest of Japan seems to think that the people of Osaka lack refinement in both their dress and mannerism – and Osaka’s dwellers hardly disagree! Known for their loud, expressive and somewhat aggressive behavior, Osaka remains true to her merchant roots, and what these people seemingly lack in taste, they compensate with personality and humor.

Like, if a 50-year old Mama-san wearing shredded jeans and a shirt covered in skulls and pistols wants to know if you’re waiting in line or simply loitering near a checkout till, she’ll likely elbow her way past you muttering something about your greasy forehead and nauseating odor. And god bless her. This is the real Osaka they didn’t mention in the travel brochure!

These authentic Levi’s 201, No. 2, 1911 style jeans are being sold for a cool $33,000 - a bargain price, the seller claims. This low-ounce selvedge denim features suspender hooks and an adjustment buckle on the back. The stitching is linen and the patch is made of fabric (not leather).

Obviously these jeans are still in wearable condition and have a lot of nice distress marks that I’m assuming Napoleon or Jesus or whoever was around back then didn’t much care for. If only they knew what we know now: Never, ever throw anything out! The stylish ditch diggers of a hundred years ago could never of imagined how their streetwear tastes would one day shape the fashion world.

Soiled Speedos from your European vacation? Ziplock and store in fridge. Cheetos stained Alf shirt with suspicious dried urine blotch? Insure for $5k. We’re talking potentially priceless artifacts here - literally treasure for your grandchildren. Just think, it’ll be like handing out gold nuggets at your funeral, except in a Salvation Army kind of way. BAM! Another killer Osaka Nines idea. I’m going pay-per view with this blog. Who’s with me?

There’s something wonderful about Japanese service. On the bustling island, it is said that the customer is King, and you really begin to feel it when some minimum wage server sprints from the kitchen to your table just to shave three seconds off your wait time. In Japan, everyone is working like hell for everyone else, and they always seem to find ways to serve the customer better.

So when I saw this unusual picture of washers and dryers sitting in Denime Tokyo, I immediately thought of how cool this service would be if it were available in all denim shops. In truth, Denime Tokyo is not the only place that provides this full service. Now, other stores, like the best Evisu boutiques, have caught on and give the option to shrink and hem purchases for next-day pickup. But Denime Tokyo shortens the turnaround to a couple hours, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen washers so prominently placed in a boutique before!

When you see raw denim, in it’s clown-sized original form, stiff like cardboard and only awkwardly wearable around family members and empathizing denim connoisseurs, providing an in-store shrink and cut gives the option for immediate gratification. It’s kind of like tossing a craps table, a couple strippers, and Hunter S. Thompson’s briefcase in front of a loaded Daniel Baldwin. It gets the plastic swiping (or chopping)!

Anyway, I’d love to see this service offered by more high-end denim shops, even though I’d probably side with caution and do the shrink myself.

Ever wondered how distressed denim is made? Yea, me neither. So it came as a bit of a surprise to learn that Levi’s doesn’t loan their jeans out to impoverished Cambodian farm laborers, or hobos in LA, to get that realistic weathered look.

No. The process is performed by a crack team of denim specialists delivering all kinds of abuse to the freshly dipped cotton. It’s kind of like an S&M dungeon, but for denim. And strangely, I’m not getting off from watching any of it. Well, not as much as having a pair of raw selvedge jeans smudge all over my white seat cushions.

So, if you’ve given up on destroying your own pair of raw denim jeans, make sure to buy some from a top-notch outfit like these guys. The operatives look like they’re working out of Cadbury’s secret lair. You know, the one used during the cold war to surgically pack caramel into those scrumptious chocolate squares. Or, I’ve misinterpreted the entire scene and they’re doing something totally out of Scarface. Hey, it never hurts to drag a nasal straw across your imported third world jeans hitting all the whiskering and bleach lines. Ya never know…

Large magazine scan from Smart Max after the jump. Read the rest of this entry »

After 600 hours of wear, these raw selvage Evisu jeans have proven to be a massive pain to run down! Where are the totally rad distress patterns? Why don’t they feel soft like women’s underwear? 

You see, I wore these selvedge jeans at a laboring job, figuring it would greatly speed up the weathering process (which is the only way to get a custom distressed look); how wrong I was. Standing, walking, pushing and climbing have proven not very efficient at rubbing off the deep Indigo dye. In fact, wearing these jeans around the house, where I spend considerably more time in a seated position, is probably better for this process to take place. With the legs and crotch hardly ever becoming creased while I walk about my workplace, it’s almost impossible to develop the freakish crisscross and honeycomb patterns that you’d expect to get with a pair of raw denim jeans.

Well, I’ve realized my error. I should of been a pussy and just wore them at home, perhaps learning how to play DDR with my ass.

Distressed denim and high contrast wear are prominent features in this pair of jeans from design house Murder License.

Chaotic sewing and severe destruction around the back pockets is sure to remind those pension collecting seniors on the bus, who may of lived through the Great Depression, that they actually had it easy back then. And that’s why you won’t give up your seat. Because standing agitates your ADHD, and the next thing you know you’d be running up and down the isle screaming “I’m running at 40 mph!” Your doctor swears you don’t have ADHD, but that hasn’t stopped you from snorting crushed Flintstones Vitamins your entire life. Wait. Where was I going with this?

Dressy and exotic, these jeans by Killer Treasure are a perfect style for a night out on the town. Red stitching and zippers offer just the right highlights for this lush and deeply dyed denim.

Some people don’t care much for zippers, but I don’t mind. Cause you never know when you might have to bust out a cartwheel to impress a room full of empty chairs to convince yourself that renting an entire community hall for your birthday wasn’t a waste of money when nobody but the cab driver that drove you there showed. And he’s out having a smoke, preparing himself for the experience of what you promised to be an orgy of 400 strippers and pornstars waiting for him inside. You wouldn’t want to lose your bus change at a time like that.

Have you ever attended someone’s wedding in a pair of cargo pants? Well now you can. Casanova creates stylish cargo pants with a slightly dressed up look. Zippers, buttons, studs and other details make their line of men’s wear stand out from the ordinary.

So the next time someone tells you to dress up for some asinine event, toss on an old Kool-Aid shirt and a pair of Casanova cargos. Then bust in the room with a giant ghettoblaster on your shoulders and start yelling something about cheeseburgers. It’s only a wedding. Or your job interview. After you’ve done your song and dance and returned to your car to find another dozen D-cell batteries, they’ll probably realize the genius that you are and book you for future shows.

When other people seem afraid, they’re only afraid of how much they love you!