Now it's getting colder here I noticed waaay more people wearing chinos around my Uni, it seems like NZ is a bit behind the times, but a year ago I swear almost no-one would be wearing them. Now even really mid-low budget menswear stores have a range of chinos that they didn't have last year.

 

Anyway going into town later this week cos I need a plain pair of dress pants for rugby. Also looking at getting another pair of pants, thinking about getting some chinos but really don't want to jump on the bandwagon. Any other ideas? Bear in mind it's coming up to winter.

Grey wool flannel pants of this sort? If, long-term considerations aside, budget is an issue, I might be able to find some other pairs but I don't know about shipping to NZ.

That being said, avoiding something because it's trendy is the same thing as getting something because it's trendy. In the end your choices are determined by the same thing.

Yeah, I know my mentality is pretty retarded hah. I guess I'll have a bit of a look tomorrow, see what's out there.

Here's my APC jeans after about a year. I didn't want to wash them at all, but I got a little too drunk, which made me have to wash them after about 6 months :unsure: I also washed them right after I took these pics.

 

 

Sorry for the bad iphone picture :(

Damn, you've got much more contrasted whiskers than I do, thinner too. I washed my Unbranded pair 3 times in 10 months though. I also don't have any rips, but I don't carry my phone in my back pocket and it doesn't have any hard edges. I'm excited for them to become really bright.

My fades were about the same except in the front pockets. Mine are more worn in. My back pocket is only now starting to tear from wear. I also had to get my crotch repaired. My jeans are 2 years and 2 months old with one wash. My second pair are probably a year old, I can't remember exactly when I bought them though but I haven't worn them nearly as much, they still look fairly new in comparison.

Yeah I like the contrast in them. Right after I took this picture and washed them (by soaking in the sink with cold water and Woolite Extra Dark) the thighs and legs brightened up a bunch. My phone goes in the pocket with the hole, wallet in the other. The crotch (at first I wrote "My Crotch" but that sounded funny :P) is wearing pretty bad too, almost have a hole.

Wait, how do you use a pair of pants for 6 months and not need to wash them? If they are wearing to the point they have holes, you obviously wear them enough.

 

I have two pairs in general rotation, and they get washed pretty much every week, and I either wear a work pair, or something else while they wash.

 

I also don't think I have ever managed to hole a pair of jeans, and not a lack of trying. Denim is pretty resilient to attack, though its exceptionally bad when it does tear normally.

Someone will explain this better than me later, but the jeans we're talking about are raw denim. They haven't been washed or pre-treated at all by the company that sells them (APC for these). They aren't dyed, but have indigo for color instead. As you wear them, they stretch and fit to your body, and the indigo wears off in areas of high use/contact. They're basically personalized. I wore mine every single day for about 8 months straight. They just don't seem to get as dirty. If they ever do get smelly, you can put them in the freezer to kill the bacteria. That never happened to me though.

 

When you wash them, it takes away a lot of the indigo, making the fades/contrasts not as good, and also harder to fade more in the future.

 

Here's them brand new

Corrections:

A) They're dyed with indigo like other jeans (some use synthetic indigo, some don't), but they're not treated to keep the indigo in the wash.

B) They get hella dirty. Not hella bacteria-y (after a while the amount plateaus), but dirty all the same. Doesn't really do much though.

C) Freezing doesn't replace washing. Even if it killed most of the bacteria, they multiply so fast one single survivor is enough.

 

There are a couple of reasons why your jeans might tear. First of all, people who buy raw denim often wear it almost every day, so they'll tear faster in terms of months but not individual wears. Additionally, wearing your jeans for really long periods without washing them will cause the fibers to crease and break, especially if you don't wash them at all at the beginning, because of the starch used to cut the jeans while making them. Finally, the make of the jeans matters; I wouldn't trust raw denim from H&M for example. I can't speak for the quality of APCs but apparently it's not stellar.

 

The appeal is that they're more sturdy (at least when it comes to high-end denim, esp. heavyweight denim), look more authentic than pre-distressed jeans, and are more environmentally friendly, both in the way they're worn and the way they're made.

Now it's getting colder here I noticed waaay more people wearing chinos around my Uni, it seems like NZ is a bit behind the times, but a year ago I swear almost no-one would be wearing them. Now even really mid-low budget menswear stores have a range of chinos that they didn't have last year.

 

I wore a pair with a black shirt last year to a party, friend was like "watda[bleep] are dey, looks ugly"

 

He bought a pair a couple of weeks ago :rolleyes:

You're just ahead of your time. That, or the way you wore them didn't inspire him. Should have pulled them only halfway up your ass.

Hah. I got some cheap dress pants for rugby, then I got a couple of new shirts too. And then I went and bought a new pair of Levi's, 520's. They're a lighter stone colour I guess, I dunno what I plan to wear them with...

Found grey chinos at Club Monaco on sale for 19$. Aw yeah. Going to need to have them shortened though, they're four inches too long. They're fairly relaxed but I'm starting to like that when it comes to pants, as long as they fit in the seat and crotch.

Those jeans are actually Petit Standard, not NS. Also, since I'll be buying a new pair soon, and you said APC isn't good quality, which brand would be? I thought these jeans were awesome, so if there's even better ones, I'll get those :thumbup:

At any rate they're not worth their price tag when compared to similar quality. Don't ask me what brand to go for, I wouldn't know. You can always do some searching on Styleforum though.

My brothers been getting into fashion lately and was asking me if I knew anything about Raw Denim. I told him a bit and he asked me to find out what are some good ones to buy that aren't super expensive. Any recommendations?

Unbranded. They're made by Naked & Famous but without the branding, so they turn out to be significantly cheaper. No fabric experiments here either.

http://www.rawrdenim.com/2011/04/5-raw-denim-labels-under-100-part-1/

http://www.rawrdenim.com/2011/05/5-raw-denim-under-100-part-22/

[Edit] Turns out Unbranded jeans are 2.5 ounces heavier than APCs. Did you (steve and Blake) wear them every day?

Well I got mine around April, so I didn't wear it everyday until around September. From september until now, I did wear them every day though, so around 8 months straight. What would the 2.5 ounce difference make, other than weight?

Resistance and warmth, fade patterns. Lightweight denim fades much faster. I've worn my Unbrandeds just about once or twice a week for a year though so it doesn't compare.

I've been going with Levi's waterless, which are relatively cheap ($60) but good for the price.

 

My first pair faded nicely but I wore a hole in them after 8 months and 3 washes, and they got a bit too small since I gained some weight. Had to replace them, bought a new pair 2 weeks ago.

Naked and Famous are my only raw denim type jeans. Unno if they authentic or whatever you want to term them, but holy hell, those pants are annoying to wear. Its probably just the cut, but I always have a bad testicle day when I wear them.

My first pair, I wore roughly 4-5 days a week in Arizona until it was too hot to wear jeans. My second pair, I rarely wear as I still prefer my first pair. I'll take pictures this weekend for a comparison.

... which are relatively cheap ($60) but good for the price.

Holy.... 60 dollars is cheap? I've never had a pair of jeans that I paid over 25$ for...

Now it's getting colder here I noticed waaay more people wearing chinos around my Uni, it seems like NZ is a bit behind the times, but a year ago I swear almost no-one would be wearing them. Now even really mid-low budget menswear stores have a range of chinos that they didn't have last year.

 

I wore a pair with a black shirt last year to a party, friend was like "watda[bleep] are dey, looks ugly"

 

He bought a pair a couple of weeks ago :rolleyes:

Most people I know wear Chinos now and I live in NZ. I got a pair a few months ago and three people asked me where I brought them.