Some more info :

Raymon, the mind behind the brand Red Cloud & Co, has been carefully studying the styles and techniques of early American jeansmithing for the past decade. He’s also amassed a broad collection of looms and sewing machines to accurately reproduce work wear from the 1850′s to 1960′s. Woven from long-staple cotton (originating from Xinjiang) by union workers on antique Levi’s shuttle looms, Red Cloud jeans are crafted exclusively at Raymon’s studio in Shenyang, China. All jeans feature Japanese brass riveting throughout the front and back pockets, and goatskin leather patch detail.

What I have been given :
Red Cloud & Co. — R400s 21oz
For the enthusiast, collector, or coal miner Rec Cloud offers a 21oz raw unsanforized denim, developed to wear hard and age gracefully. This perfectly relaxed straight leg shows ample texture for the contemporary “motorcycle” fit. Unique blended natural and indigo weft for softness further proves the precision and skill of these jeansmiths. 100% cotton. Union made in small batches in Xinjiang, China.
Wow, my first 20+ ounce Denim! I’ve been asked to test this particular pair and share my thoughts with the world. It is my first non-Japanese denim I’ll be wearing and first impressions are very good! I’ll write follow-ups from time to time, for now I’ll leave you with a few pics :

 

For those interested, shoot us a pm and we’ll get you in contact with the guys distributing it!

A must see! (not for ordinary people though)

Rue de Montignies 32,
6000 Charleroi.

A few impressions… :

You’ll even find a Tattoo shop in shop here soon!

Born in the middle of the Desert and Raised in a small town in Colorado in the 70s’s Jen McMillan is the creative force (and non creative force) behind Bandit Brand. Inspired by rock and country music and her youth in the 70′s and 80′s mixed with the skyrocketing prices of quality Vintage tees Bandit Brand was born to keep the nostalgia of wearing and loving those tees alive and affordable. Feel free!

© Bandit Brand

Available in store now!

So far, I’m impressed with the quality of the fabric (knowing what this pair has to encounter), but, I think that one of these days he’ll have a hole in the knee area(s)…
Later this week I’ll post some pictures of his 1year old mini Pure Blue Japan XX-005!

The Mister Freedom® MFSC type 189-mn “Midnight” CPO Shirt some became my favorite garment and has following rather impressive specs :

An all original MFSC pattern, inspired by 1920′s-30′s military/uniform shirting made of 10 oz. Indigo warp/black weft twill (with royal blue selvedge ID), aka “MFSC midnight denim”, aka black back denim, aka ‘the bleeder’. Unsanforized
Finished with: Metal military snaps, long chin strap, elbow reinforcement, double shoulder patch, yoke back, selvedge chambray side gussets, buttoned belly flap, triple snap wrists, indigo popeline/blue chambray facing, underarm chambray gussets, inside chest passport pocket…

Designed in California by MISTER FREEDOM® and manufactured in japan by SUGAR CANE Co.

It is a heavy duty shirt that moulded nicely around my body and ages in a very nice way as you can see in the pictures below :

Look rather impressive don’t you think so? After 14Mo, I think I start personalizing the shirt by adding a few things, like they did in the good old days : it’s always fun to do things you’re not supposed to do or that are forbidden to do… an example : Liberty cuffs!

(Liberty Cuffs are those embroidered patches sewn inside the cuffs of Navy dress blue uniforms. These uniforms are worn by Navy enlisted men. The embroidered patches were non-regulation, “illegal,” and often resulted in sailors, if caught (usually by the Shore Patrol personnel), having their liberty cancelled and being sent back to their ship or shore station.

      The patches (liberty cuffs) were sewn, usually by a uniform tailor using a hidden stitch. This resulted in a regulation looking uniform when the cuffs were in place and buttoned, but displayed when the sailor was on liberty and unbuttoned and rolled the cuff up one roll to display the fancy designs. Liberty cuffs were found all over the fleet, and in many state side uniform tailor shops. But, they were most commonly made in Asian ports. In fact, the oldest versions of these fancy inside cuffs were often attributed to “China Station sailors”, “China Fleet sailors”, or “China sailors”, for short. The customizing of the inside of Navy blue jumpers dates back to the late 1800s.)

If anyone, and I mean anyone, thinks (s)he can help me realizing this, shoot me a pm please!

Next up is the S/S12 collection Sack Coat. I really fell in love with that Midnight fabric of my CPO, it was only logical to purchase myself new MF® piece knowing that Christophe came up with yet another fantastic fabric : MFSC Indigo denim twill. It is a Dark Indigo warp x dark Indigo weft fabric, 100% selvedge Cotton, 12.4 Oz. with solid white selvedge ID. A very rich dark indigo color, with purple hues, in and out! Still working an a few MF® jeans I decided not to purchase another one, but instead I purchased the Sack coat. My only problem was sizing. We had the sample collection in house, and I tried a size 38… this fitted ok, but, I looked for a fit as it was not meant to be : I already have the Biribi from last season, where I opted for a roomy fit… for the Sack coat, I opted for a modern fit, intenfing to wear it only with a tee or shirt underneath. I opted for a size 34 and just started wearing it out of the box. Fit is perfect, I’m not intending to soak it, just let the weather (rain, sun & sweat) & my wearing it do it’s magic… Hope I made the right choice… Below the garment, worn for about a week, RAW :

There’s so much MF® I’d love to wear…but you won’t have the time… but I’m very honored to work so closely together with the MF®-crew : seeing, feeling, inspecting and trying their stuff already is the biggest reward a man can get :-)

 

Once upon a time there was an old man and his wife living in a japanese village. They felt very sad and lonely because they had no children.
One day the old woman went to the river to wash some clothes. Suddenly a big peach came floating down the river. It actually was the biggest peach she’d ever seen in her entire life. She pulled the peach out of the river and decided to take it with her for supper. 
Back home she was getting ready to cut the peach in two pieces. “Wait! Don’t cut me!” said a human voice from inside the peach. Suddenly the peach split open and a beautiful baby boy jumped out of the peach:

They wanted to shrink the jeans in boiling water. Nonono… Tuomas froze the jean, like in the good ol’ days!

photo ©2012 Tuomas Jäälinoja – nordicdenimhouse.com

The old man and woman were astounded but very happy and so they took the baby to be their son. Since he was born from a peach, they named him Momotaro, which means Peach Boy. 

When Momotaro was about fifteen years old, he told his father that he must do something to help their country. In a distant part of the sea there was an island named „Ogre Island“. Many wicked ogres live there which terrorize the people of Japan. So Momotaro is going to go to „Ogre Island“ and fight them and bring back the treasure they have there.
The old man gave him a sword and armor, and the old woman fixed him a good lunch of millet dumplings. Then Momotaro began his journey, promising his parents that he would come back soon.
Momotaro went walking toward the sea. It was a long way. Momotaro met on his way a spotted dog, a monkey and a pheasant, who usually hated each other but all became good friends and followed Momotaro faithfully.
So, with Momotaro as their general they finally reached the sea. At the edge of the sea Momotaro built a boat and they all got in the boat and started across the sea toward Ogre Island.
When they came within sight of the island, they could see that the ogres had a very strong fort there. And there were many, many ogres. It was a terrible battle! At last the ogres were completely defeated.

photo ©2012 Tuomas Jäälinoja – nordicdenimhouse.com

They all bowed down low before Momotaro and promised never to do wicked things again. Then they brought Momotaro all the treasure they had stored in the fort.
It was the most wonderful treasure you can imagine. There was much gold and silver and many precious jewels. There was an invisible coat and hat, arid a hammer that made a piece of gold every time you hit it on the ground, and many other wonderful things. Momotaro and his three helpers carried all this in their boat back home…

This was the story of our winning Peach Boy. What follows is a series of images displaying B(r)(l)uce in it’s current state, 12Mo of battling! Yuo’ll notice one thing : battered, wounded but not defeated!

And the last one, compared with a brand new one :

Momotaro jeans are available through our shop here.