It is the first week in the start of a whole new year so might just be the time to start with a brand spanking new project pair of raw selvedge jeans.

I thought it could be kinda fun to run through 3 pairs of jeans that I feel offer a little something different, a little something extra that will make for some fun fades over the next few months and years.

Benzak Denim Developers Recycled Super Fade Selvedge Denim.

Ok, let’s start with a pair for all you impatient faders out there. The Benzak Denim Developers Recycled Super Fade Denim. Regulars to the channel might remember the Sherpa Rider jacket I did a deep dive on a few months ago. Well, these are the jeans made from the exact same Recycled Super Fade Denim. The denim, woven by Candiani mills and exclusive to Benzak and is specifically made to fade and fade fast.

For all you impatient faders!

Benzak founder Lenn was wearing the sample pair for 5 months before the release and the results are pretty impressive. Since its the denim we’re looking at here I will say that there are a couple of fits using this denim, the B-01 slim and the B-03 Tapered. Both amazing fits with great detailing. Just up to you which suits your needs.

• Regular Fit / Tapered Legs
• 14 Oz. Italian Selvedge Denim
• Fabric Woven By Candiani Denim (It)
• Exclusively Developed For Benzak (Special #3)
• 81% Organic & 19% Recycled Cotton
• Right Hand Twill
• Sanforized
• Hidden 6th Pocket
• Genuine Cow Leather Patch (It)
• Heavy Duty Stitching (Cotton-poly Core-spun)
• Button Fly
• Made In Portugal

Pick a pair up over on the Benzak Denim Developers website.

Samurai S500AX-NTA Indigo x Natural Indigo Regular Straight

So, there are a couple of ways that we can get indigo onto cotton to make denim. The old school way is to dye a hank of cotton yarn in a big ol’ vat of indigo. Traditionally this is done by hand, pulling the hank in and out of the dye and making sure the indigo gets enough oxygen and is evenly distributed.

I have seen some very MacGyvered machines that make a rough approximation of the technique. But either way… its not fast and difficult to do on a large scale.

The much common method is rope dying. An industrial process in which a big rope of cotton yarn is passed through a whole load of indigo vats, building up the deep indigo colour. Hank dying, given that it is old school, traditional and a little bit special is normally associated with natural indigo because it is old school, traditional and a little bit special. Rope dying on the other hand will be predominantly synthetic indigo.

The hank dying method tends to allow the indigo to penetrate further to the core of the fibre than the rope dyeing method meaning you get a more even, more subtle fade. In Rope Dying, the indigo is sitting on the outer part of the yarn with the core still white. When this wears off, the white core is revealed giving us our sick fades.

With these Samurai’s we get the best of both worlds. Samurai have rope dyed their cotton yarns using natural indigo. We will get that amazing green cast, natural tone but they will fade just like regular, synthetically rope dyed denim.

Along with this fancy method of mixing the old and the new Samurai have taken it a step further. Did you know that they grow their very own cotton? Yip, there is not a lot of cottons grown in Japan, but Samurai jeans founder Toru Noogami has been cultivating their very own cotton since 2008 and it makes its way into their very limited editions. For these, a small amount of the cotton is mixed in. The varying stable lengths make for an uneven yarn, bursting with character.

• Colour: Indigo x Natural Indigo
• Samurai Original Japanese 18oz AI-PLUS SELVEDGE Denim
• Mid Rise Regular Straight
• 100% Cotton
• One Wash
• 100% Cotton Thread Sewing Construction
• Samurai’s iron-made bespoke silver covered Taiko button on the fly front
• Made In Japan

Pick a pair up over at Blue in Green.

Studio D’artisan. Fox-001 – Relaxed Tapered Coyote Fox Cotton.

For our third and final jeans, we’re sticking to Japan and going old school. Like really old school with the Studio D’artisan. Fox-001 – Relaxed Tapered Coyote Fox Cotton.

Right, so why is it Fox Cotton you ask? Because it was named after Sally Fox, the farmer and scientist who hand-bred the once extinct 5,000-year-old tea-cotton strain of cotton and made it possible to spin it into yarn.

You see, the old school cotton from way back in the days of the pharaohs had short staples which don’t lend themselves to modern spinning. For that, you need longer staples so they can be all twisted together.

So the naturally coloured cotton from South America was always overlooked in favour of the fluffier, whiter cousins. But then Sally came along and thought, well, we have cotton that is coloured naturally. Let’s see what we can do about making them commercially viable.

With some clever crossbreeding, she developed a strain of cotton with the naturally occurring colours and staples long enough to be mechanically spun.

The weft here has a brown hue to it and that’s all-natural. But it is not just the colour that makes this cotton special, it is superior ancient fibre has exceptional density, strength, UV resistance and greater insulation compared to modern cotton.

Throw it through a shuttle loom and you get a denim with a very unique hue, a subtle slub and lots of character.

Relaxed Tapered (08) Fit adapted from their signature 107 to have a higher rise, wider thigh, and a more drastic taper to the leg to accommodate thicker calves while maintaining a narrower hem. The result is a great fit that combines vintage styling with modern sensibilities,

• Denim is 15 oz. Natural Fox Cotton Japanese Shuttle Loom Denim
• 100% Hand Breed Organic Cotton – Coyote Brown
• Unsanforized – Raw Unwashed
• Black Selvedge Line
• Indigo Warp/Natural Brown Cast Weft
• Blackened Plated Brass Button Fly
• Engraved Copper Rivets
• Herringbone Twill Pocket Bags
• Embossed Pony Hair Leather Patch
• Chain Stitched Waistband, Yoke, Seat & Hem
• Made in Japan

Pick a pair up over at Division Road.

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Check out our other recommended Selected Stores.

If these 3 picks aren’t to your taste, we are sure you can find your perfect pair of selvedge denim jeans through some of our favourite store’s listed bellow.

Akashi-Kama
American Trench
Arcido
ARTIFOX
Artisan Deluxe
Azura Bay
BATTENWEAR
Billykirk
Blluemade
Blue in Green
Brooklyn Clothing Co.
Brooklyn Tailors
Bridge & Burn
Butts and Shoulders
CLAE
Corlection
Corridor
Dawson Denim
Division Road, Inc.
DuFrane Watches
Falcon
Franklin and Poe
Gamine
Ginew
Grant Stone LLC
Gravel
Hackwith Design House
Himel Bros. Leather
Independence
Indigenous
Keap Athletics
Knickerbocker
Lost & Found
Lone Flag
Loyal Stricklin
Milworks
Monitaly
Namu Shop
North Menswear
Port Products
Redcast Heritage Co.
Rogue Territory
Rooney
SiiZU
STAG Provisions For Men
Stock MFG
Sugar Candy Mountain
Sutro
Svala
Tanner Goods
Tradlands
Two Jacks Denim
Understudy
Unmarked
SOSO Custom Denim
Oldblue Co.
Namu Shop
Viberg
Winter Session