Shop Review - Rivet And Hide

Exciting news for London denim-heads, purveyors of rare raw denim, Rivet And Hide, opened a retail space last week.

Junior & Danny outside the new premises.

Founded online in 2012, partners Danny and Junior then progressed to an open-by-appointment-only workshop in Parsons Green. In that short time they've built a reputation as one the best places in England for Japanese denim.

Danny has always said if the support was there that R&H would take the next step and open a shop. It’s indicative of the growing popularity of the English denim scene that he’s done so.

The idea took hold in December of last year and it’s taken a few months of hard graft to come to fruition.

Reclaimed wood interior.

R&H pride themselves on stocking only small batch and rare denim that meets their exacting standards. From The Flat Head, Steel Feather to Pure Blue Japan, they have it.

So, it’s not surprising that the same almost obsessive attention to detail that goes in the best Japanese denim went in to fixtures and fittings for the shop. As Danny says,

“We used reclaimed timber and beach groyne wood for the interior. Everything in the store is hand made to reflect the clothes that I sell. Even the hangers have been made by hand and bespoke for Rivet & Hide.”

Custom made rails and hangers! (Holding up lots of premium Japanese denim.)

It doesn’t stop there. The hanging rails have been hand forged by a friend of Danny’s and the chains it hangs from are antique London railings.

My personal favourite are the leather chairs – modelled on the pilot’s seat from a Lancaster bomber, complete with riveted metal panels - great to lounge in whilst friends wriggle in and out of stiff selvedge denim. (Or for hung-over fashion journalists to recover in…)

Still there is the vintage 43200G Union Special – ready for Junior to attend to all your custom hemming needs. Rivet And Hide are one of the few places in London to offer this service.

It might have been hard work but I get the sense that the guys have had fun with furnishing the shop. Yes it reflects what they sell, but it’s also quirkily London. The move from Parsons Green to villagy Fitzrovia is a great step forward for Rivet And Hide.

You can check out what they have at www.rivetandhide.com. Better yet, why not pop in to the shop at 5 Windmill Street to take a look?

Brown-Duck & Digger - Jeans Just As They Ought To Be

BD&D's line up of jeans at Bread & Butter in Berlin.

Japanese denim brands had a strong presence at Bread & Butter in Berlin in January. The stand out for me was Brown-Duck & Digger (BD&D) - the new sub label by Warehouse & Co specialising in authentic workwear jeans from 1900 to the 1960's.

The jeans lineup consists of four fits, the 12.5 oz Rough Rider Trousers, the 12.5 oz Big Bill, the 14 oz Golden Straight and the 14 oz Ivy, the fits getting gradually more modern (read slimmer and lower) as you go.

The 12.5 oz Rough Riders

Predictably perhaps I immediately got exited over the earliest pair in the range - the 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.

The same can be said of the beautiful single needle stitching, the lock stitched hem on the leg and donut buttons.
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.

A core part of the brand's identity is the indigo leaf - a theme that runs throughout the line-up from the painted & stitched leaf arcuate, the green button hole stitching to the deliberately aged copper rivets that show a slight green oxidisation. 
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.” 

And the fabric on the Rough Riders is quite slubby, giving the denim a wonderful texture. Again this would have been a feature of turn-of-the-century denim - a characteristic BD&D have reproduced by tweaking the tension on their vintage looms. I’m excited to see how the these jeans will fade.

Beautiful period donut buttons and deliberately aged copper rivets. Note the slight green oxidisation, consistent with the indigo leaf theme. Other brands should take heed - that's how you do detailing. 

Even the pocket bags are denim. The back of the cinch has also been lined with blue &  white hounds tooth cotton. Rather than leather, BD&D have plumbed for an unbleached cotton patch, maintaining the eco friendly feel of the natural indigo leaf.

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.

Others have characterised Biliken as “the God of things as they ought to be.” For me this is perhaps the more relevant link to BD&D. They produce jeans as they ought to be. 
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.

News Flash - DC4 Robbed

Bulk of stock taken from Berlin Shop

The following is from the DC4 Blog:

"On Tuesday night the 14th of January around 3 to 5 AM, DC4 has been robbed. Culprits have broken into the store and taken most of the items in our store at the Torstrasse. The police are currently investigating the case.

Important: DC4 stamp 
All the jeans from our store have been stamped 'DC4 Berlin' on one of the inner pockets. If you come across a brand new pair of jeans with this stamp, get in contact with us as soon as possible! Please keep an eye out for any of the goods that might come from our store. Many brands are hardly available outside of Japan, like Toys McCoy and Samurai Jeans.

Help us find stolen items and get a reward!
Do you spot a stolen product on websites like eBay or on a forum? Send the link to contact[at]dc4.de and you'll receive a FREE pair of jeans, and a discount on your next 3 orders.

Don't place online orders until further notice
Naturally, this means that orders placed online cannot be processed right now, we hope for your understanding. The shop will be closed until further notice. We're shocked and outraged about the whole event and can't wait for the criminals to be put to justice."

I popped in to the shop yesterday before my flight home - luckily they had some stock buried in the basement but the place is depressingly bare.

Please keep your eyes peeled! The denim community is a close knit affair and it's upsetting to see this happen. Let's hope whoever did this is found quickly and that this is not the start of a trend...

All the best to the guys at DC4.

Levi's Vintage Clothing 1967 505-217 Selvedge Jeans

A Thoroughly Modern Pair of Bottoms.

Levi's are justly famous for their jeans, in particular the 501. But, it's only Levi's Vintage Clothing (LVC), the brand's heritage arm, that still use the narrow loom selvedge denim of their forebears, scouring an extensive archive to make faithful reproductions of the originals.

Introduced in 1967, the 505 sported a narrower fit than the 501, with a taper from the knee.

However, by today's standards (read hipsters wearing their girlfriend's denim) they would be regarded as more of a regular fit.

The 505s lost the button fly in favour of a Talon zipper. They do retain the high back rise and deep yolk of Levi's earlier jeans, so are still meant to be worn high. Quite right too. (Though if you're minded, you can sport them lower.)

They’re quite similar in cut to the LVC 1954 501s, the first zip flied narrower legged 501, though interestingly this earlier jean sports a lower waist.

Talon Zipper

This similarity to 1950's jeans means you can get away with a chunky turn-up, but they'd also suit a narrower double turn-up. Of course, as you'd expect from LVC, the hems are chain stitched. 

The other main difference are the back pockets - they’re slightly slanted on the 505.

LVC normally favour Cone Mills for their fabric, but the beautiful 14oz denim for the 505 was milled by Kaihara in Japan. Most Levi's are 11oz or 12oz, so it's nice to see them do something a little heavier.

Coin pocket fade - Kaihara denim ageing gracefully

As denoted by the '217' on the patch, it is sanforized, (shrink-to-fits are indicated by a '0117'), so the leg only shrunk by just under an inch after a pre-wear soak.

I wear them high so went of a slightly larger waist size then normal. (According to some they come up small in the sizing.)
Simply wear them damp and they'll mould to your body perfectly.

Natural cotton pocket bags

I bought them in April of last year and, aside from a brief Central Asian hiatus with the military, have worn them constantly since. 

They recently had another soak (post epic beer spillage) and are developing some nice fades. 

Alas, they've now been consigned to the wardrobe. But it is not all bad - I'm breaking in a pair of 19oz 1948 Roamers from Pike Brothers; the lighter Levi's will come out again in the summer.

1967 is a about as contemporary as we get here at NU without getting a nosebleed and having to lie down in a dark room.
If you're new to the world of selvedge denim, not yet prepared to tackle a pair of shrink-to-fits but looking for some excellent quality selvedge denim in a fairly modern fit (well, modern by New Utility standards) then the 505's are for you.

Chain-stiched hem and red line selvedge edge.

Every denim-head should have a pair of selvedge Levi's in the collection. This jeans' versatility, combined with  the fact they don't cost the earth, I think I paid DKK 1200 at Brund in Copenhagen, means they're one of Levi's Vintage Clothing best sellers.

To find your nearest LVC stockist click here.

Pike Brothers 19 Oz. 1948 Roamer Pant

Japanese Denim, German Engineering.

Taking their inspiration from both European and American workwear, Pike Brothers focus on making beautiful authentic clothes, eschewing trends that seem to govern most of the denim industry in favour of simply producing what they like. This makes them a firm favourite of mine.

Most of Pike Brothers’ other denim is only 11 oz, a trifle light by selvedge standards. However, they did cause a bit of a stir with the uber heavy 23oz 1958 Roamer Pants, and this is where the inspiration for the 1948’s came from.

As Pike Brothers’ founder, Fabian Jedlitschka, says, “we had several people asking for a little bit lighter version and a wider fit.” 

Clearly I wasn’t alone in wanting them to do something in between the two, with a cut closer to the 1937 Roamers.

As their regular mill in Turkey is only capable of working with denim up to 16oz, Pike Brothers had to turn elsewhere.

For Fabian only Kurabo in Japan could deliver the quality needed. 

Simply put these jeans are a thing of beauty. Fabricated from 19oz right hand twill raw selvedge denim they’re satisfyingly heavy. 

The indigo really is quite a deep, well, indigo. The contrasting blue and golden stitching on the selvedge, replicated again on the coin pocket, is a great touch. 

Selvedge detail on the coin pocket

At 19oz I was interested to find out whether these jeans presented any of the same production problems as the 23oz Roamers, “production was a bit more difficult. We had to sew the denims a bit slower not to risk any needle damages but besides that it wasn't too bad.”

 The 1948 Roamer has lost the cinch and brace buttons of their 1937 cousin.

Fabian argues that by 1948 manufacturers had ditched these in favour of belt loops, “we looked at our archive and also studied pictures from the 40s and decided not to outfit the 1948 with suspender buttons and a cinch. These features are hardly found during that era.” 

By way of comparison the 501 lost its brace buttons in 1937, younger workmen preferring to sport a belt.

D ring for your watch or wallet chain

In cut the 48’s retain an authentic "anti fit" feel, with a decent rise and a wide, un-tapered leg, again entirely accurate for the era. 

All the details you expect to see from Pike Brothers are present and correct - the honey yellow stitching, the heavy bar tacked belt loops, seam ends and pockets.

As is the lock stitched hem. In an earlier interview with Denimhunters, Fabian argued that European work wear manufacturers would not have had access to Union sewing machines capable of chain stitching. Maybe an issue for some people, but I don’t see a problem. 

Lock-stitched hem

My one quibble is that it would have been nice to see Pike Brothers dispense with the light zinc finish buttons and rivets in favour of something worthy of such heavy denim. In all other respects they’ve gone the extra mile with these jeans. A minor point though. The quality of this Kurabo denim is such that it’s not a deal breaker.

Maybe too light? Zinc buttons..

Pike Brothers recommend that you break in the jeans from dry. It’s been covered before in the Denimhunters Rinse Guide, but I always give raw denim a pre wear soak. Not only will a soak make your denim last longer, it will prevent them shrinking after the first wash. 

There’s not much point investing months of your time breaking in such beautiful jeans only to have them not fit you afterwards.

That said, post soak the jeans had lost only an inch off the leg. The waist stretched by just 3/4 of an inch. 

I’m genuinely excited at the prospect of breaking these in over the next few months. At 19oz this will take some work, (just buttoning the fly is a challenge), but that’s why we love raw denim, right? Thank Christ it’s winter though, these baby’s are heavy!

Pike Brothers have surpassed themselves here. Clearly a lot of hard work went in to developing the 1948 Roamar Pant, and the end results are impressive in almost every way. Tempted? You should be.

Available direct from Pike Brothers in two inseam lengths, 34” and 36”, you can order them here.

(With thanks to Fabian & Olivia at Pike Brothers for letting me try them out on behalf of Denimhunters)