BD&D's line up of jeans at Bread & Butter in Berlin. |
The 12.5 oz Rough Riders |
Named after President Teddy Roosevelt’s volunteer cavalry unit that fought in the Spanish American War of 1898, in terms of fit they are are entirely accurate for jeans of the period - with an uber high waist, wide leg, brace buttons, cinch and single back pocket.
The back pocket has been placed close to the outer seam - a throwback to a time when workmen needed easy access to the tools they kept there. The yolk is so deep that it goes through the inside top corner of the pocket - giving a very high back rise.
Cinch back and donut brace buttons. Two of my favourite things to see on a pair of jeans. |
Detail Is All
Befitting their rugged name these jeans have been robustly constructed. As you would expect from a Japanese brand immense attention has been lavished on the detailing.Unusually the outer seam is felled - essentially the two seams are interlocked and top stitched, giving a much stronger result - a technique that would have been widely used on denims and other workwear of the era.
The felled seams in all their glory - a much stronger seam historically used on work wear, it makes for an unusual single selvedge edge. |
Another detail that stood out is the single piece selvedge edge fly. Sturdier than a crotch rivet, it’s a feature that BD&D have replicated throughout the entire range.
Continuous selvedge fly and green button hole stitching. Commendable detailing. |
On the more contemporary models green thread has been used to bar-tack the belt loops and pockets too.
Painted arcuates are not normally my cup of tea, but they're something of a Japanese tradition and it will be interesting to see how it ages.
I'll be honest, I wasn't sure what to make of the painted arcuate when I first saw it, but it's growing on me. |
The Jeans In Hand
The fabric is beautiful. The Rough Riders and Big Bills are 12.5 oz 3x1 twill - denim of the time was usually 2x1. When I spoke to Keita Senzaki at BD&D he said he preferred to adopt 3x1 twill for these two models “to stress the thickness and stiffness of the fabric.”Heavy duty denim pocket bags - I'm expecting to end up with indigo stained boxers whilst I break these in! |
Billiken Man - Success Is Sure To Follow
BD&D use Billiken as their brand icon - a good luck charm that was hugely popular in both America and Japan in the early Twentieth century. Largely forgotten in the US now, it was even used as a mascot for William Howard Taft’s 1908 presidential election campaign - the name for BD&D’s Big Bill jeans was Taft’s nickname.Billiken hit the shores of Japan that same year in the form of a huge statue in an Osaka amusement park and the figure remains popular today.
As Keita says, “we think Biliken and B&DD have something mutual in common - American culture, forgotten history.”
The Billiken icon - on the patch, and here tucked away in the back pocket. |
Whether you’re in to historically accurate garments or not BD&D simply make beautiful jeans as they ought to be made.
As you'd expect from Warehouse & Co painstaking research has gone into the BD&D range and it's clearly been crafted with uncompromising attention to detail. What more can you ask for in a pair of denims?
Some Japanese brands can be hard to get hold of in Europe, however BD&D intend to distribute globally. With more of the range waiting in the wings to be released soon, these are exciting times for fans of Japanese denim.
Check out Brown-Duck & Digger here.
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