Explaining true denim quality factorsfrom @ceezee999

Transcript

Worst people don't understand what actually makes jeans high quality because the first thing people look for, this little ID, doesn't tell you anything. And brands are betting you'll blindly accept this quality trademark. This ID, otherwise known as salvage, only really tells you how the edge of the fabric was finished. That's it. Once you understand that, something else becomes clear. There's no such thing as best quality denim. Most people think it's a hierarchy, but you actually need to choose between a set of trade offs. What actually determines how jeans fade, feel, and last has nothing to do with labels or countries. All starts with the fabric itself before the jeans even exist. The denim quality begins with cotton, specifically tier length of these cotton fibers. Long staple cotton creates yarns that soften over time. Short staple cotton is cheaper, more uniform, and gets more stiff as it ages. Best that cotton alone isn't enough. All that cotton is spun into fabric completely changes everything. There are two main methods, ring spun and open end spun. Ring spinning is slower and more expensive. Twisting fibers gradually neatly in a singular direction. Create a stronger yarn with some natural variation, and that variation is key. That is exactly what gives your denim more character. I'm talking texture, uneven fading, and fabric that evolves as you wear it. When you rank of that fiber in a high speed blender, everything gets twisted quickly resulting in a thicker, rougher yarn. Neither is really better, but they just prioritize different outcome. But then comes dyeing. And this is where those sick fades are determined before you even put the jeans on. Rope dyeing more traditional method dips yarn into indigo again and again and again, letting oxygen set the dye between yes, essentially leaving the core of the yarn in its original color, white, like cotton. So as you wear the jeans, the indigo fades away, that contrast appears. Slasher dyeing is a lot faster, absorbs more dye, fades more evenly, stays visually consistent for longer. Now this is where all denim myths fall apart. People say Japanese denim is always better. It's not. Japan is excellent preserving traditional methods, working in small batches, and producing fabrics that give character. But not all Japanese denim is good. Not all good denim is Japanese. Japan isn't better. Yes. You could say they're just more opinionated. The same applies to vintage jeans. Old jeans aren't magical just because they're old. They're only better when the cotton was superior and the processes were slower. Plenty of vintage jeans are stiff, degraded, and kind of overrated. Use it as a reference point and never a real guarantee. Country of origin works the same way. Japan, The US, China, India. Country matters only sometimes because it correlates with priorities, not because of geography. So what makes the best jeans? It depends on what you value. If you want jeans that fade, soften, and tell a story over decades, you want the materials and processes that allow that. If you want consistency from day one, modern methods make more sense. Once you see that there's no real discussion for what's objectively best. Using your jeans becomes easy.