Uniqlo Selvedge – S002 Straight Leg
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.
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True about the bleeding part of UNQLO jeans. I saw some stain on mine so I rubbed it lightly with a hand towel they give out in restaurants, and saw the towel turn blue where I placed pressure! Now I am afraid when the time comes to wash it!
I agree that Chinese manufacturing is not a necessarily bad thing, of course there have been many bad apples. I hope I can follow up. About what Crew says it sounds like bad news!
Even some of my expensive denim bleeds.. $40 well worth it, especially in Australia where clothing is triple the price of anywhere else!
I think ‘bleeding’ is unavoidable with any selvedge, raw denim, no matter what they cost. Just got be careful when wearing to start with.
I’ve got some of the S001 raw selvedge (slim/straight), and a pair of the more expensive ‘All Made in Japan’ line…both use Japanese denim from top Japanese mills, just that some of the stitching up is done in China to keep up with supply. Apart from the button up fly and the use of slightly thicker denim on the MIJ’s, I honestly cannot fault the ‘MIC’ UJ jeans. The stitching is top notch…obviously Uniqlo are demanding a level of quality from the Chinese manufacturers. I was horrified to realise the Chinese made jeans had wonderful, thick chain stitching where my £110 Lee 101z had a thin line of straight stitching. For £30 (£50 for the MIJ), I am their biggest fan. Since I’ve been getting Uniqlo, I can’t bring myself to part with daft sums of cash for big name brands. No more Nudie, APC or Samurai for me. OK…they’re thinner, but they’re FAR cheaper – and a little bird tells me the latest Uniqlo MIJ are 15oz…although I have yet to confirm for myself.