$200 For A Pair Of Jeans - Understanding The Economics Of High End Raw Denim - Buying Denim
Jeans
Two hundred dollars for a pair of jeans?
All right.
Today guys, we're going to be talking about understanding the economics behind high-end
denim.
Why would you pay so much money for a pair of jeans?
This is presented by Real Men Real Style and this is Antonio Centeno, the founder of Real
Men Real Style.
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Okay, the question, "Why pay $200 or more for something that you're going to wear through
and can be bought at a department store for $40?"
You know, when you frame the question like that, there's no way to justify high end denim.
However, that way of thinking is outdated, the reason being denim has really transformed
in the last 40 to 50 years.
It's moved from work wear to business casual.
It's worn with $1000 sports jackets with $500 dress shoes with $300 shirts.
Basically, jeans are a classic wardrobe piece.
Since they're worn now with dressier outfits, the material and the workmanship have had
to increase, and so is the cost.
Just look at this gentleman over here to the right, a great look.
It's because of the texture of the jeans that he's able to wear them with this blazer jacket,
the crisp, white shirt.
I mean, this is a guy who works at the nights in Vegas, really a great look.
The signal that he's sending with the denim is he's casual.
With the jacket, with the crisp, white shirt, he's sending also the signal that he means
business.
FIVE FACTORS INFLUENCING PRICE
Quality Fabric
Most of the fabrics used in high-end denim, and I'm not talking a lot of the name brand
stuff, but I'm talking more of the raw denim, this stuff is made to last a decade versus
stuff you go and you buy at the Buckle or True Religion or something like that.
That's made to last a couple of years and the reason being is raw denim uses a heavier
weight cotton denim, usually 12 to 18 ounces, and they use specialty looms coming out of
Japan, Zimbabwe, and in the USA.
These are more resistant to wear.
They also use specialty processes such as selvedge, and that's where the end of the
fabric is finished to prevent fraying, or slubiness, and what that is, is it's small
little imperfections that some of the denim heads are willing to pay extra for.
Here, we see a Japanese gentleman who is actually putting the indigo dye by hand on to the denim.
Well, it didn’t pop up the way I wanted, but I was going to try to show you guys the
loom.
Attention to the Details
1.
A mixture of other fabrics such as colorful cotton linings.
2.
Another attention to detail is sewing with specialty threads, so oftentimes, lower end
jeans, they don't use a great thread and that's why it eventually comes out.
You can use specialty threads with higher end denim and it's going to stick around longer
and bring color.
3.
Embroidery
4.
Unique rivets and studs.
The gentleman that helped me put this together, Christopher over at Brown, Deim, he actually
uses 50-cal casings as part of his jeans, pretty unique.
5.
Stingray, eel, and calf leather, all of those can be used on belt loops and the pockets.
Here's an example of calf leather used with a belt loop, some of the casings, and that's
a 50-cal backend over on the bottom left with a star.
And you can see leather used right on the pocket, a unique touch, something that you
would not find on anything off the rack.
The Right Fit
Now, I will admit.
You can find a lot of brands out there that perhaps fit you if you've got a good body,
but if you don't have a good body or you've got one that has -- let's say you've got shorter
legs or really longer legs, but you want a unique type of fit or cut, that's where going
with higher end line is going to pay dividends because they target specific client profiles,
build types.
And by doing that, by going after less, actually the fit is spot on for those that they actually
do target.
So a few of the lines actually out there, they can actually make everything to your
exact measurements and fit specifications.
These are again more custom jean makers.
Here's an example of again, Brown, Deim.
They've provided me these photos, but you can see that he actually takes a number of
measurements and builds an individual pattern for each customer.
Handmade Quality Control
One person takes the project from start to finish.
This is very different from let's say a pair of Levi's which they're made on a factory
floor and they go from person to person, and there isn't always a great quality control.
You do have quality control checks, but not to the degree of one person who takes full
control of the project from start to finish.
Limited number, so this is where it becomes an art because it's basically like a painting
or a sculpture.
Only so many can be made from, I would say, the higher end brands because you've got one
person and he can only do so many or she can only do so many per year.
It's a piece of art really.
It's not a piece of common clothing.
And in fact, oftentimes when you're getting them from these one of a kind manufacturers,
basically what you're getting is one of a kind.
Here's an example of some embroidery that's on the inside of the pocket, a place where
very few people are ever going to even see it, so something pretty unique to this type
of higher end denim.
Cost Per Wear
It's made for heavy use, so it's pretty common.
You get a thousand plus wears over ten years, compare that with a hundred wears from a conventional
pair of jeans.
Think about it.
You pay $100 or $50 for a conventional pair of jeans that you're never really happy with
and they just do the job, and if you pay $200 to $300 for a pair of higher end denim and
you get a thousand wears out of it, it actually comes to less per wear.
It also requires careful washing, which you may be saying, "Oh, that's not a great thing
because I have to actually think about it."
Well, it's not always true because actually you wash it less.
And when you do wash it, you take better care of it and therefore, you get a longer life.
And many people who are in the raw denim, they actually like the character that develops
in a pair of jeans as they're worn and they conform to the body.
So for further information, I'd like for you to go check out Casey over at The Butt Therapist.
She's got a great website, and again, that's the butttherapist.com.
I'll link to her down below, but you can actually send her an email and she'll send you three
brands she thinks will work well for you.
In addition, go check out Brown, Deim.
Now, Christopher helped me out with this article, which I link to the article down below as
well, but he makes custom-made denim right in the great State of Massachusetts.
If you want more information about men's style, you know I've got that awesome e-book out
there, 600 pages, over 14 hours of audio, and the link to it is down below.
All right.
I'll see you all in the comments.