I started writing "How to Talk About" guides with a mindset that nobody should have to feel stupid talking about clothes. If you're reading this blog—there are no stupid questions.

This guide will cover everything from "what are jeans?" to "what are sanforization and mercerization?" But I'm not going to stop there. I'm also going to focus on the things that make denim special. Why do people like raw denim? Why do people like Sashiko and Boro? What's the deal with the different types of trucker jackets? Heddels used to have a dictionary, but I'm going to step beyond that, and try to share the spirit—not just the definitions.

You will hear me generally subvert everything I say by calling it pedantic and pointless, but also point out exactly why these detailed definitions are important; if this seems strange, it's because reality is strange. And also because I wrote this article over the course of years.

Again, there's no need to read this guide from start to finish. Feel free to jump around to any word that always confused you, or skim through the headlines for the section you actually care about.

(Fun fact: I wrote huge parts of this article three times over, and accidentally deleted them, which is why I've been working on it for years. But you finally get to read it now! Please subscribe to keep me from going insane over the idea that all that effort was wasted!

Table of Contents

• What is Denim?
  • What is Not Denim?
  • What is Kind of Denim?
• How is Denim Made?
  • Fibers are spun into yarn
  • Yarns are dyed
  • Yarns are woven
  • Sanforization and Washing
• What are Jeans? What are Trucker Jackets? What are Denim Shirts? What are Overalls?
• Denim Embellishments
• How Does Denim Age?
• Denim Repairs
• Where to buy Denim?
  • Affordable and Value Denim; The Osaka 5; Mid-Market Denim; High-End, Unique, and Designer Denim

What is denim?

Real quick: Denim is a cotton twill fabric comprised of indigo and white yarns.

More specifically, Denim is a warp-faced cotton twill (2:1 or 3:1) with indigo warps and a white weft. I know this sounds pedantic, and I'm going to consider a few things that don't meet that definition exactly, but I'm also going to point out why every obscure detail of that definition is a key part of what makes denim what it is.

Denim is known for hardiness—it is often a thick, heavy twill—and for the visual texture created by the weave. For these reasons, it is often, but not necessarily, used in workwear and other rugged applications.

If you care for etymology. Denim gets its name from Nîmes, France. It was originally known as "serge de Nîmes." However, denim is not serge—they are woven in different ways. Note that nobody argues that denim has to be made in Nîmes. It's not a DOP like some fancy Italian cheese, you can make denim anywhere. Japanese denim is often some of the fanciest denim there is.

What isn't denim?

Wool trousers obviously aren't made of denim. No, your dress pants aren't jeans.

Chino cloth is not denim. This seems obvious, but the tricky thing is... Chino is a cotton twill. Like denim. But they feel different. Chino might feel crisp and airy, it might wrinkle, it might have a sort of waxiness to it. It might be hardy like denim, but it's much more likely to wrinkle. There's no clear-cut definition of "chino cloth" besides cotton twill—the difference is subtle. This guy digs into really fine details with one pair of chinos and one denim fabric, but I don't know if I want to point to one of these as a defining difference, so as far as you're concerned, they're different, and you'll know it when you see it.

Fabrics woven in plain or satin weaves are not denim. A Jacquard weave is also not denim... unless it is, because a Jacquard weave is a weave made on a Jacquard loom, which is weird, because a Jacquard loom is a computing device; it can be programmed to weave most patterns... including denim, I guess.

Chambray is not denim. Chambray is plain woven, denim is a twill. While both combine indigo and white yarns for a somewhat similar textured effect, this difference can be pretty significant to the feel and hardiness, and often to the weight and color, so I wouldn't think of denim and chambray shirts as interchangeable. Still, many brands do confuse the two, so watch out! Any time you see a "denim chambray" shirt, somebody somewhere is wrong, and you have a question you might want to ask.

One way to tell the difference between denim and chambray would be to look at the reverse side of the fabric (the side that isn't the face, i.e. the inner side of the garment). Denim, being a warp-faced twill, should look different on the reverse: more of the white weft thread will show through, with only hints of indigo. Chambray will generally be very similar on both sides, since plain weaves are even. Side note: you can also call the face the "obverse," which is apparently the opposite of "reverse," but... don't.

Hickory Stripe fabric is not denim. It's actually a form of seersucker. That said, it's usually heavy, indigo-dyed cotton, and is used on a lot of workwear and other garments that might otherwise be made of denim.

Corduroy, Velveteen, and other pile fabrics aren't denim.

Fustian is not denim, but it is ostensibly the fabric used for the pants originally referred to as "jeans." More on that later.

Trucker Jackets might or might not be made of denim. Five pocket pants might or might not be made of denim. Wrangler Wrancher "dress jeans" are usually polyester (and not dressy at all).

What is kind of denim?

Now let's get into some trickier cases.

Black, white, and colored "denim" is not technically denim. The indigo and white yarns are defining characteristics of denim. Solid blue or solid white twill is not denim. Garment-dyed twill is not denim. If I really wanted to be a purist, I could even argue that twill with warp threads dyed with a blue dye other than indigo isn't denim, but even I'm not that pedantic.

We could try to draw a line here, but things get hazy. Do you call it black denim when it's on five pocket pants or a trucker jacket, but not when it's on a different garment? Do you call black-on-white twills denim, but black-on-black not? Do you point to some particular treatment? The only clear line is the formal definition, which does not include any color other than blue.

All that said, there's nothing wrong with colored twills. Black, white, and off-white are common and can look very good. Most of what I have to say about denim is relevant to colored twills as well. Just recognize the technical distinction.

White, off-white, undyed, or "natural" "denim" is often called "ecru" denim. If calling it that makes you feel like Patrick Bateman, then don't. Sometimes, brands will not only not dye the cotton—they won't even bother removing the flecks of the cotton seeds. This is known as seeded denim. It's basically ecru denim with some little black flecks.

Now, for some more pedantic bad news. Stretch denim and most performance denim are... kind of also not denim. Denim is, by definition, cotton twill. If we want to be strict about that definition, any blend at all is just not denim. The ubiquitous blend of 98%-2% Cotton to Elastine is, technically, not denim. Polyester, hemp, lyocell, and similar blends are not denim. And indigo-dyed wool twill is not denim.

Maybe you don't care. In a practical sense, 2% elastene blended into pants that otherwise meet the definition of denim are still a lot like denim. You can still call them denim, as long as it makes sense to you.

But it's different from true denim in a way that you will probably be able to notice, if you are paying attention. Fabrics with elastene and polyester usually do not age well or drape as well as pure cotton twill. Elastene, in particular, loses its elasticity after a couple of years, which turns these stretchy garments into hot garbage much faster. Heavy, pure cotton twill gives denim a signature structure, and it ages in a particular way. Some brands might also create "natural stretch" by changing up the weave or something else—again, this would affect drape and other properties, so even if it looks like denim, it won't be the same. As you'll see later, people love denim for the way it ages. As much as I've called this distinction pedantic, it has practical weight to it.

Again, that's not to say that all blends and alternative materials are bad. They might be more comfortable. Hemp and Lyocell offer environmental benefits. The wool chore coat from Apolis was one of the menswear world's favorite items back when it was sold; it faded and aged in a way people loved. Some of these items might look better or feel better, but by the strictest definition, none of them is technically denim. (Elastene is still bad, don't buy clothing with elastene in it).

Denim brands enjoy certain unusual dying techniques, such as overdying or persimmon dying, or sometimes use colord wefts or something else funky. I tend to think of most of this as still being denim, but it's a fine line between a little something extra and a colored twill.

I have a jacket in a flocked denim, which is an ordinary denim with a treatment on top, and an extra color on top of that. The extra color is designed to fade relatively fast, slowly revealing the denim underneath. I feel like this still counts as denim, because the extra bit is a separate layer on top of the ordinary denim... but on the other hand, it looks nothing like denim when new, at least not from the outside.

Some brands make jeans in a "trompe l'oeil" style. French for "deceiving the eye," "trompe l'oeil" refers to an art style that involves use of hyper-realistic elements to create an optical illusion of dimensionality. With denim, the idea is to make solid non-denim pants, and then pretend you wove them like denim by printing the denim texture on top. The print can appear to be aged, or faded, or patched, or distressed in any way you want, but it's all just a print. Some of these prints look like they're distressed, and then have another print "behind" the distressing. It goes pretty deep. I think of this as a cute gimmick that, in reality, defeats the actual purpose. You want the texture, you want the actual dimensionality of age. Still, this is a unique artistic technique, and there are cool brands playing with it, so you do you.

How is Denim Made?

Oh boy.

Alright, so let's start with cotton. I'm not even toing to bother talking about rivets or zippers or anything like that. For now, we're just going to focus on how the fabric itself is made. And yeah, that starts with cotton.

Cotton is... a whole loaded thing. Cotton requires a lot of water and a lot of labor to grow and harvest. The history of cotton in the U.S. is not only a history of the founding of an economy, but a history of slavery. The cotton gin was supposedly intended to make slavery moot; instead, it breathed economic life into cotton plantations and perpetuated the industry. And not only cotton, but denim in particular, consumes inordinate amounts of water. The details of the social and environmental impact of cotton are beyond the scope of this article. I will touch on them occasionally, but for now, suffice it to say that... well, cotton is a whole loaded thing.

Anyway, some way or another, the fluffy little balls on cotton plants turn into big ol' bales of cotton, which end up in some factory. That video definitely undersells the labor involved. But you have these tangled up fibers and you want to get some long, individualized strands of fiber that you can actually spin into yarn.

So you might comb the cotton. Combing cotton is the process of... well, imagine a machine with a big metal comb, imagine the teeth. Yeah, that's how they separate the cotton out like that. The combing process helps line these fibers up into paralell strands, helps filter out any short ones (long strands are softer and stronger and better for reasons I'm too lazy to get into right now), and generally primes those fibers to be spun into yarn.

Alternatively, these fibers might be Carded. A carding machine achieves something similar more cheaply. The fibers won't run quite as parallel, the fibers will be shorter, they won't be as smooth, the fabrics might pill... but for day to day fabrics like denim, this is generally considered a reasonable trade-off. Combing is usually preferred for luxury products.

Fibers are spun into yarn

So you have a few fine strands of cotton fiber. They're thin and weak. You really can't use them for much of anything. You want your denim to be hardy and strong. So what do you do? You take a few fibers and you spin them together into yarn.

This section is going to seem pointless, but it starts to matter when we talk about left-hand, right-hand, and broken twills, so I'm going to try to be a little details.

A single yarn is a bunch of fibers spun together. They can be spun clockwise—which we call a Z-twist—or counter-clockwise—S- twist. Why are we calling them singles?

Maybe you want that yarn to be even stronger. Hey, what if we took two or three single yarns and we twisted them together? Well, that's when we get to talking about ply. An N-plied yarn is a plied yarn made by twisting N singles together. Generally speaking, you want to twist the plied yarn together in the opposite direction as the singles—Z-twist singles should be spun into an S-twist yarn, or vice-versa. Using the same twist at both levels will result in looser yarns, which... might be useful if you want to achieve certain textures (like bouclé, which I won't define here), but is bad for durability and usually not what you want to do for denim.

You could go even farther and spin plied yarns into cables. If you use Z-twist singles and S-twist plied yarns, you probably want Z-twist cables. Again, this isn't really much of a thing for denim.

Yarn might intentionally be twisted as an uneven yarn to make it slubbier or fade differently or something like that. Slubs are little irregularities in the fabric—a raised texture, a little dark spot or white spot here or there. Here's some slubby linen fabric. See how slubby it is? that's what slubbiness is.

Yarns are dyed.

Well, first: yarns might be mercerized. Mercerization is a fancy industrial process of treating cotton with fancy chemicals that make it stronger, make it absorb dye differently, and kind of give it a little sheen some people like.

At this point, most of the yarns need to be dyed. If the yarns are woven before being dyed, the fabric will come out solid. If you dye a garment at the very end, when it's already a garment, it's garment-dyed, and it'll come out solid. But because denim is an indigo-on-white twill, denim should be yarn-dyed.

Specifically, the yarns that are supposed to be indigo or blue need to be dyed blue. The yarns that are supposed to be white might be left undyed, or might be bleached or otherwise treated to be a somewhat different "shade" of white.

More specifically, the yarns that are supposed to be indigo might be dyed using indigo dye—"true indigo" is made from the indigo plant, but almost indigo these days is synthetic, because it's cheaper and better for the environment and dyes things more evenly. Indigo has yet another a long, complex history I won't get into. But in present... Indigo achieves a certain shade of blue, and also "bleeds" out of cotton.

Bleeding causes denim to fade, helps create unusual aging patterns (as some of the indigo threads bleed into some of the white threads), and potentially stains things you sit on. I'll talk more about bleeding when I talk about sanforization and washing, but this might be one reason some companies try to use other synthetic forms of indigo, or other blue dyes that aren't indigo.

Later on in the process, a garment or fabric might be dyed or treated to achieve a somewhat different color than you'll see in the initial dye. We'll get to that.

Dyed yarns are woven into fabric

So you have a bunch of yarns and you have to make a sheet of fabric. What do you do? You weave the yarns together. Specifically, you weave the yarns together in a 2:1 or 3:1 twill weave, where the 2/3 represents the indigo warp, and the 1 represents the white weft. Denim is warp-facing, which is to say that the warp—the bigger number, the indigo threads—faces the outside, so the outside of the jeans is bluer. The inside or "reverse" shows the weft more, so it's much lighter. Go turn your jeans inside out. Yeah, see that? That's what that's about.

You can't really weave denim by hand, it's a dense weave, you have to use some kind of machine. Those machines are called looms. There are three major types of looms: projectile looms, shuttle looms, and handlooms. Projectile looms are the most efficient, by far. They're about ten times faster and make more even denim than shuttle looms, and handlooms don't really compare at all. Projectile looms are kind of just better. Now, you might be asking, "why do people use shuttle looms?" And the answer is... Oh, boy.

When a shuttle loom gets to the edge of the fabric, it finishes that edge. Projectile looms don't do this. This doesn't really matter. Some people argue that shuttle-loomed is more durable, but they're wrong. Except... well, projectile looms were and are used by mass market brands to make cheap denim. People like the artisinal craftsmanship that mass market brands don't do. So they started to get the idea that they should look for the self-finished edge made by a shuttle loom. This "self edge" or "selvedge" or "selvage" denim (people are weird) isn't better in any real way except that smaller, cooler brands usually make it, and bigger, cheaper brands usually don't. Some brands like the irregularities produced on a shuttle loom, or at least claim to, but there are other ways to achieve slubbiness without using a shuttle loom. Oh well.

To be clear, I'm not saying selvedge denim is bad. It really is a sign of quality, since the brands doing it also tend to make good denim. It's just kind of silly. It's like mechanical watches—are quartz movements better? Yes. In every way? Pretty much. But if you're getting a cool, expensive, well-designed watch made of nice materials, it's probably going to come with a mechanical movement, because those are fancier and more expensive to make and harder to fake. Practicality isn't the coolest thing.

Often, the self edge is sealed with a colored thread. Often, that thread is a red thread. You might see a red thread sealing the inside seam of your jeans. Some people think that the red thread is what makes a self edge a self edge, but it's not, because what would be the point if it was just a color? Some people call this thread a "selvedge ID" since it can help "prove" that denim is selvedge... but it doesn't really prove anything; a lot of brands just throw in some red thread to make their jeans look like they're selvedge.

Some people also confuse selvedge denim with raw denim. Those people are confused. Raw denim is often selvedge denim, but their defining features are totally unrelated, and selvedge washed denim is reasonably common.

Handlooms, as you might imagine, are even less practical, since they're operated by hand. Khadi is a famous kind of Indian fabric that is made with hand-spun yarns and then "hand-woven" (IE woven on a handloom). Khadi is coarse, but it has a more tangible claim to coolness. Khadi was promoted by Mahatma Ghandi as a part of Indian self-sufficiency. Khadi denim is thus, again, not practical, but cool.

Now we have to talk about the direction in which denim is woven. Since it's a twill, it has to be woven in one direction or another—you can see this in the diagonal. I swear, this is very mildly interesting. Twill can be Left-hand twill, right-hand twill, or broken twill.

Right-hand twill is pretty standard. It's made with S-twist yarn. Left-hand twill is made with Z-twist yarn. Apparently, they fade differently. Right-hand twill is apparently tighter, and left-hand twill softens more over time, and I have no idea why. Heddels wrote about it, though. I'm sure this makes sense to somebody.

What if you want to even a twill out? You could go in one direction, and then the other direction, back and forth, like a zigzag pattern. This is called a herringbone pattern, except, if we're talking about denim, it's not called a herringbone, it's called a broken twill.

Denim has a tendency to twist depending on the direction in which it's woven. Tension will run along one dimension or another and cause problems. Broken twill is one solution to this problem. Sanforization and washing can also mostly solve the issue, since they dramatically reduce shrinking. So denim is often "skewed" or pre-skewed or anti-twisted in order to counteract the twist—especially raw denim, but they do this with washed denim too because denim can twist in between weaving and washing. Sometimes, brands will let denim twist, because they like twisted denim. Some brands—famously, Lemaire—make pants with a twisted side-seam to achieve a unique silhouette similar to that of twisted denim.

Fabric or garment is sanforized or washed.

Your jeans are then either sanforized or not (left unsanforized), and either washed or not washed (left raw). The latter is the defining feature of raw denim—whether or not the denim has been washed when it gets to you—but the term may be used more narrowly to refer to unwashed denim that is also unsanforized or otehrwise untreated. I will use the term "raw" merely to refer to unwashed denim, and will be more specific when I need to be.

Sanforization is a specialized treatment to heat and stretch and shrink your denim before it gets to you. This keeps your jeans from shrinking too much in the wash, or from bleeding or fading too fast. You might think that's a no-brainer—of course you don't want your clothes to shrink, of course you don't want to ruin your couch—but remember that denim lovers are obsessed with fades. Unsanforized denim fades differently. So it still exists, and has its advocates. Beware, raw unsanforized denim might shrink by more than 10% over time.

Although unsanforized denim is often associated with raw denim, the real defining feature of raw denim is that it has not been washed. Washing denim early on can slow fading significantly. People who are obsessed with denim get a raw pair and almost never wash it. They are doing everything they can to make sure that the jeans fade in a specific way, and washing can ruin that—either by slowing fades, or causing patterns of fading that only really come from the wash (and are thus apparently not cool). However, if you don't wash your jeans, you will smell bad. Wash your jeans.

If you see the word "rigid" somewhere in the name of a denim product, that generally implies that it is made of raw denim.

What Are Jeans?

Jeans are denim pants. You've probably heard of them. Well, the term is a little vague, carrying a few different implications, but "denim" and "pants" are pretty heavy implications among them.

While "jeans" and "denim" are sometimes used synonymously, with some people referring to denim jackets as "jean jackets," the word "denim" unambiguously refers to the fabric, and the term "Jeans" just sort of... heavily implies denim pants. It's weird.

More specifically, jeans are usually five-pocket pants—pants in a layout with two pockets on the back, two curved pockets on the front, and a tiny little coin pocket inside the right front pocket. This poket layout is distinct from the typical slant pocket layout, which you might know from sweatpants, or dress pants, or most other pants, because the five pocket layout kinda sucks, except for certain use cases where your legs move in certain ways, and things fall out of slant pockets.

Five pocket pants usually come with belt loops, metal buttons, rivets, and a faux leather or leather patch on the back right, sometimes with a brand logo on it. Levi's famously uses a very small red tag with its brand name attached to a rear pocket.

Rivets are particularly important to the history of denim jeans—they were part of the original innovation that made Levi Strauss & Co. a big deal. Jacob Davis had been buying lots of denim fabric from Levi Strauss, and had learned that his customers were using it for repairs, so he thought to use brass rivets to reinforce stress points. The two men obtained a patent in 1873, and heavily featured the rivets in their early advertising.

Aside from fit, feel, weight, and shade of blue, most jeans are pretty similar. You can decide details, like stitch colors (usually gold), whether you want a button fly or a zipper fly, details about the back leather patch (some brands are using various kinds of vegan patches there, but you gotta have something there), what metal to use for buttons and rivets... But you're mostly looking at details.

"Jeans" get their name from Genoa, Italy. They were not originally made of denim, but fustian. Denim was originally a French attempt at a copycat fabric for jeans. Kind of an Oreo-Hydrox situation. Weird. The word "jeans" these days pretty consistently means denim, or at least a colored denim-like twill.

Some people refer to jeans as "dungarees," which originally referred to a different fabric called "dongri," named after a suburb of Mumbai. Some people have suggested to me that "dungarees" specifically refers to a certain style of flared pants used by the US Navy, made of denim, with two front patch pockets.

That said, you can do a lot of weird things with denim. You can have slant pocket denim, pleated denim, even creased denim pants. You can exchange the belt loops for a belt back, an extended waistband, side tabs, or even a ghurka-style waistband. You can make USN flares like I described above. You can make fatigues, double-knee pants, painter's pants, cargo pants, or—heaven forbid—shorts out of denim. I condemn jorts in all contexts. (not really, you do you).

Of course, you can also play with the fabric you use for a pair of jeans. you can use colored twills, distressed fabrics or distresed garments, raw, washed, sashiko, boro, whatever. We'll get into those terms, don't worry.

Oh, by the way, measurements / sizing is about the same as with any pair of pants, usually in a Waist/inseam measurement. For example, a 34/32 would have a 34 inch waist and a 32 inch inseam. Common measurements:

• Waist measures the circumference (or sometimes the width) of the waistband of the pants. A size label isn't usually a mesuremen—something labeled size 32 might have a 35 inch circumference (or a 17.5 inch width). This is sometimes called "vanity sizing"—it might make you think you're three inches skinnier than you are.
• Inseam refers to the seam on the inside, from the crotch to the hem—the length of the leg. Some people wear their jeans with a longer inseam so that it can stack up.
  • "Stacking" is a term particularly used to refer to the way slim, long jeans ripple on the lower leg; this is distinct term from "break," which is a term used for the way dress pants interact with the shoe. It's not wrong to describe a pair of jeans as "breaking" on a shoe, if that's what they're doing, but it's not the norm.
    • Naked & Famous referenced this with their 99 inch inseam jeans. This was an April Fools joke.
• Rise refers to the distance from the waistband to the crotch seam nexus. Yeah, I guess I'll just leave the phrase "crotch seam nexus" there. Anyway, "high rise" or "high waisted" pants sit higher on the body. Denim is more often seen in a lower rise than dress pants, but there are still a wide range of rises that can work well depending on the outfit. I find the five pocket layout especially problematic on high rise pants, since I can't comfortably sit down with my phone in my pocket, but that might not be a problem for you.
• Hem opening is the width of each pant ankle at the hem. It's a relatively good way to gauge how relaxed the pants fit... except they can still be slim and flared or wide and tapered, so you might also want to know the knee width, or to see a photo... or you could just try the pants on. Bootcut jeans usually flare out slightly at the hem so that they can fit comfortably around boots.

If you see a number somewhere in the range of 501 to 569, it's likely a specific reference to Levi's various fits, each of which come with a code number. Levi's 501s are absolute classics... except they've changed the shape of the 501s multiple times over the years, so... idk, the world is a weird place. Levi's jeans are so ubiquitous that you might sometimes even hear people describe the fit of non-Levi's jeans by using Levi's number codes—although that's a pretty silly way to talk.

What Are Trucker Jackets?

As with denim pants, there is a default layout you might expect a denim jacket to come in. Then again, as with denim pants, you can make any kind of jacket in denim, some will just make more sense than others.

The classic denim jacket is a trucker jacket, a short thing with many strips of fabric, a particular pocket layout, and metal buttons. You know what I'm talking about, right? Well, there are different styles of trucker jacket; again, Levi's pioneered the Type I, Type II, and Type III trucker jackets, but we'll also talk about the Lee 101J, 220J, and Storm Rider jackets below. The trucker jackets you're used to are all based on the Type III and 101J styles.

These early denim jackets were cut short enough for truckers to wear when they have to sit all day without sitting on their jackets, hence the name "Trucker Jacket."

Sometimes a denim trucker jacket might be lined with faux shearling or "sherpa" lining. True shearling is a leather material, though, so you really wouldn't see somebody cover that up with denim, that's not a thing... unless you want to do a true shearling trucker and forget the denim altogether. Some jackets just use faux shearling at the collar rather than lining the whole body.

Other trucker jackets might use blanket lining which is to say, a fabric lining material that is kind of sort of like a blanket. This adds some warmth and coziness; the reverse side of denim is usually about as cozy as the front, which is to say, not very. Blanket linings usually have some kind of pattern. You'll know them when you see them.

All that said, you can make any jacket style out of denim. A blouson, chore coat, bomber, parka, overcoat, blazer... Does a denim blazer make sense? Well... if you want one, yes. I suppose.

For that amtter, a trucker jacket can be made of anything. Todd Snyder does them in suede.

Anyway, to break down the classic styles of trucker jacket:

• Levi's, history mostly from Stridewise
  • Type I (c. 1900): defined by a single pocket on the front left, a buckle in the back for cinching, and pleated front near the buttoning. Cut short, but, unlike most styles of trucker jacket, a Type I is usually cut loose in the body. Since 1936, the type 1 (and every other chest pocket on a trucker jacket) has had a pocket flap and button; before then, the pocket was just a patch on the chest.
    • Here is an example from Levi's Vintage Clothing. LVC is a Levi's line known for reproducing classic styles at higher quality.
    • Here is a more affordable example from Levi's which, like the earlier Type I, does not have a pocket flap.
  • Type II (c. 1953): introduced the second chest pocket. The buckle on the back is replaced by two-button side adjusters at the hem of the jacket. The jacket is cut slimmer and not quite as short.
    • Here is an example from Levi's Vintage Clothing
  • Type III (c. 1967): the image of a denim jacket in your head. Has two seams that run over each chest pocket making a V shape. No longer has the front pleats. The cut is a little longer and a little slimmer still, although still fairly short.
• Lee, here is an unreasonably detailed guide to every minor change in these jackets over time. These are generally referred to as "rider" jackets, as they were intended for cowboys, who, like truckers, did a lot of sitting.
  • 101J: the original 101J was closer to a Type I, but in 1948, they changed the style. Similar to the Type III, the earlier 101J has a few key differences: the pockets are angled and curved in different ways, and instead of V-shaped, you see two straight vertical seams.
    • A fancy onefrom Lee 101, which is their higher-quality lable for classic styles.
  • 220J (1970s): Mostly just the 101J with side pockets.
    • The current model is unfortunately made with 1% elastene.
  • Storm Rider, a.k.a. the 101L: based on the 101J, but now includes a corduroy collar and blanket lining for warmth. May or may not have side pockets.

What Are Denim shirts

As discussed, lightweight jeans are usually around 12 oz. Typical shirting fabrics are less than half that weight. Twill shirts are common, so why not, say, a 5 oz. denim shirt? Or... why not a 12 oz. denim shirt?

Denim shirts create an interesting effect. Whereas jeans fit into nearly every wardrobe, denim shirts are a conscious choice. Maybe you just want a dark blue textured shirt, but most often, if you want a denim shirt, you want workwear or western details. There is some overlap between those vibes, but I'll discuss them as distinct.

Workwear details would primarily be: two chest pockets with horizontal flaps. You might also see a certain kind of contrast stitching at the buttonholes. You might want a relatively heavy fabric you can wear down, because the vibe you're going for is going to be rooted in the way denim ages: like you did hard labor in it. Like the shirt has a story to tell.

Western shirts are a little more interesting, if you ask me. I'd recommend a dark denim with noticeable gold stitching, chevrons wherever they fit, pearl snap buttons, two sawtooth chest pockets. A longish point collar. Still a heavy fabric. Yeah, okay, I've got a very particular idea in my head.

Again, chambray and denim are two completely different weaves. However, a lot of brands out there, inexplicably, talk about "denim chambray" shirts or use the terms interchangably. They are not interchangable. Even at equivalent weights and in similar shades, denim and chambray should feel different and age differently.

That said... you want chambray shirts. They are very good shirts.

Denim Overalls

Ugh, I don't really want to write this section.

Overalls have been around for a while, but the early history is hazy. They've been used as work clothing (and likely specifically for slaves) in the 1700s, if not sooner. But none of this is clear, because the term was also used to refer to outerwear (which actually makes sense) and all sorts of other garments. Some early Levi's patents refer to overalls, but these were generally more similar to pants; some included the suspenders, but not the "bib," which is to say, not the torso-covering portion. Some were kind of just over-pants. They called these "waist overalls."

Anyway, Henry David Lee, founder of Lee Jeans, appears to have been the inventor of "bib" overalls. Carhartt also made some pairs early on, but Lee obtained the first patent. There's also some evidence that early overalls had a removable bib, but Lee's bib was built into the garment.

For some reason, jumpsuits are not called overalls. That's weird, isn't it? You can wear a jumpsuit over all of your... nevermind.

Overalls were, for a very large portion of history, used as practical workwear. Accordingly, the common cultural image of them is not only casual, but low-class; they were associated, after slavery, with sharecroppers, poor white farmers, railroad workers, and other physical laborers. These specific connotations have dissipated somewhat, but the more general connotation that they are clothes for poor laborers still holds. Strangely, unlike jeans, double knee pants, barn jackets, and other workwear, overalls were never fully adopted by white collar workers or other workwear-loving city bros.

That said, overalls have made some cultural impact outside of the true workwear context, with occasional trends in the 70s, 90s and 2010s. No, I'm not pulling up receipts, use google if you want to see Will Smith or the young Olsen Twins in overalls.

Denim Embellishments

The first "embellisment" to discuss is shade. Denim can be darker or lighter, theoretically as a result of washing. But there are a hundred tangible and intangible factors that can change the exact shade of blue. What dye did you use? How much, and for how long? Did you do any distressing? How absorbent is the particular cotton you're using? What was the air pressure where the fabric was dyed?

As I mentioned above, rivets were originally used to reinforce seams and other stress points. They've also become an iconic part of how denim is styled. Most jeans and trucker jackets also use metal buttons, and jeans almost always have leather or faux-leather patches on the back.

Remember when I mentioned colored twills above? Those incldue black and white twills, black-and-white weaves, garment dyed twills... The green twill from Aimé Leon Dore above, my purple-and-white 501s, and those bright orange raw Levi's I saw in a TJ Maxx once. Technically, none of those kinds of twill are Denim. The photo above demonstrates why this is an imporatant line to draw. There's nothing wrong with green twill, but it doesn't fit the same niche that true blue-and-white denim covers. It doesn't carry the history or cultural cache of denim. It doesn't carry the same versatility. Should you get green twill pants? Sure, if you want them. Just know the difference.

Moreover, denim might be overdyed—either intentionally dyed too long, or dyed a second time on top of the original dye to create a combination of two different tones, which might fade differently.

Distressing is an umbrella term for simulated wear and tear. Some distressing is somewhat subtle—stone washing, for example, might only cause a small amount of abrasion—whereas other distressing might involve giant holes torn in the jeans. Sometimes, there's some kind of faux-fraying, I'm not really sure how they do that, but there's no actual hole, the main fabric isn't frayed, it's just like... a layer of fraying added on top. Often, this aging is a very poor facsimile of the way denim naturally ages—as discussed below.

There might be any variety of designs printed on top of denim—I think those are generally bad. I mentioned trompe l'oeil "denim" above, but you could also have real denim with trompe l'oeil faux-distressing, like a fake ripped knee where the knee isn't actually ripped.

You might also add some patches on top of denim. Boro refers to a Japanese form of patchwork which often involves visible patchwork with different denim fabrics. Sashiko refers to the Japanese art of visible white needlework. Together, they contribute to a mindset of embracing visible repair. The idea is that mended clothing is more special because it's been worn, and loved, and restored, rather than discarded. It shows your appreciation for a good garment. That said, Boro and Sashiko are both used on new garments as well, sometimes to symbolize that spirit of repair, but often just to make pretty designs.

One other thing I think is cool is a raw hem. That is to say, a hem that isn't sewn up properly at the end, so it visibly frays. Ethan M. Wrong writes about raw hems here.

Some people intentionally leave their hems too long and then cuff their jeans—roll or fold them up at the hem. That's different from cuffed dress pants—with dress pants, you sew the cuff in place very neatly, but with jeans, you just roll them up.

Some people intentionally leave their hems too long and then step all over them. This causes the hems to kind of look like raw hems, but uneven. Damaged. They call that "heel bite." That's... I'm not sure why that's a thing, but it is.

How Does Denim Age?

Ah, here we are. Denim's saving grace, really. Whereas stretchy pants sag, chino and seersucker and linen wrinkle, denim—particularly good, hardy denim—ages slowly and gains character over time.

Good denim might soften over time. If you bought a pair the internet recommended online, you might have actually been disappointed in the orignal... hardness of the fabric. However, if you've worn it day in and day out—as /r/rawdenim might encourage—it might eventually wear down in just the way you want it to. Part of the appeal of heavy, high-quality raw denim is that it is built to last long enough for that to happen. Shockingly, some participants in /r/rawdenim will even claim that their jeans are comfortable. Can you imagine?

Denim also fades. More specifically, indigo bleeds, and a lot of dyes in general fade out of cotton. Washed denim might fade slowly, and the brand that made it might have used any number of techniques to keep that fading slow, but raw denim will bleed indigo and fade constantly over its lifespan. Note that this can not only be a problem in the wash, but like... if you're sitting on a nice couch. Whoops, got some indigo on your couch.

More interestingly, denim fades in specific patterns based on the ways it is worn and used. When you sit down, the fabric scrunches at the parts where your legs bend. Some of the indigo coming out of some fibers effectively dyes other fibers. The jeans show patterned lines like whiskers or honeycombs, that fit precisely to your body and the ways you move. This makes a pair that you have worn personal and unique to you. Is that cool? Denim guys think so. Sometimes, denim guys will just gush over a well-faded pair, saying "the fades!" like that means something.

How to Repair Denim

I've spoken a lot about how denim ages. So what happens when you invest a few years in your life in getting perfect fades, softening up a pair of stiff, heavy, raw denim until it's just perfect... and then it riips! Well, because people grow attached to their jeans, there are quite a few art forms built around repairing them. Repair is celebrated as both a sustainable practice and a display of the dedication a person can have to buying less and buying better.

Essentially, there are two categories of denim repair: patching and reweaving / darning.

Patchwork is the process of using a patch, either on the face or referse of the denim, to cover a hole. patchwork is at least somewhat visible, but easy and cheap, even for large tears. It can also be a good way to show that your denim has aged nicely. Boro, which I described above, is the Japanese art of intentionally visible patchwork, but you could certainly use a less visible patch that matches the fabric near it.

Darning and reweaving can be done in an "invisible" way, but can be more expensive or difficult (especially for large holes). Reweaving can also allow you to extend a hem or do a few other things patchwork isn't really suited to. Fabric might be a little stiff after a fresh darning. Sashiko may be used to make these repairs visible. Some other artisans might use embroidery for other kinds of visible mending, leaving your jeans with a cute little flower where there was once a hole.

Derek Guy put together a great twitter thread on repairing denim.

Where to Buy Denim Clothing

Affordable; Osaka 5; Mid-Market; High-End;

Let it first be said that you should thrift. Here's a guide for thrifting Levi's. Here's a guide for thrifting Wrangler. But some of you want to buy denim new.

This is a tricky one. Generally speaking... You should not spend a lot of money on denim. The brands you've heard of all have massive scale that allows them to use relatively good cotton to make a relatively cheap product.

The fancy Japanese brands that charge, like, $2-400 for a pair of jeans are kind of just... bad values. As I mentioned above, selvedge denim does not mean higher quality, it mostly just means it's more expensive to produce. Slubs are fun, but they're imperfections, and it's not hard to replicate those imperfections on projectile looms. A lot of these brands are spending extra money to reproduce 1950s details, but those details are things that we've improved since the 1950s, so it's kind of just reproduction for the sake of reproduction, but lower quality. If you're into that, I have recommendations. But are you really into that? Most people aren't.

The most important things about your jeans will be how they fit, how the material looks, how the material feels, and how long the material will last. There are construction details that improve longevity, but half the charm of nice denim is wearing it in and seeing how it ages with you and maybe even patching it; if you want a pair that will stay dark and uniform forever, you are not a denim head.

So... I'm mostly going to recommend cheaper brands here. If you've been following me for a while, you'll know that I am not shy about recommending nice things, even if they're expensive. But if I don't think there's a point, I'm not going to tell you to waste your money. I'll mention more expensive brands too, but you don't need to run to them unless the cheap brands fail you.

If you want to read about quality and construction in detail, consider visiting Rewoven, this guy is good at that sort of thing. But I discussed this with him, and it's just... good denim is bad, bad denim is good, and quality is a strange beast.

Some of the links below are affiliate links.

Affordable / Value Denim

• Levi's is a good place to get jeans if you're based in the US. Yes, they have 100% cotton options, they have a whole filter's worth of them, the elastene-everything moment has passed. They also make some more expensive denim:
  • Vintage Levis are also a good idea.
  • Levi's Vintage Clothing or "LVC" is a confusingly-named line of new reproductions of vintage styles.
  • Levi's also makes bespoke jeans. Simon Crompton owns a pair.
• Wrangler. "Rigid" means raw.
  • Interestingly, Wrangler's Rustler diffusion line, with pairs ranging from $15-20, is recommended as, weirdly, very high quality. I can't speak to their labor standards, though... at these prices... they wouldn't be good.
• Most of what is carried at Olderbest. This is a general category of Chinese brands that originally sold on aliexpress but got attention for not sucking, or actually being pretty good.
• Red Tornado is another one of those Chinese brands, as I understand it, but they sell on Amazon. The prices are somewhat higher, but hey, they sell directly to US buyers here, and have a wide variety of denim products.
• The Unbranded Brand. A good value option for decent raw denim. Unbranded is a subsidiary of Naked & Famous.

Osaka 5

These five brands are historically important in Japanese denim. Read more about it at Heddels. Yet again, remember: selvedge denim is not more durable. It is considered better partly because it's less cost-efficient, less perfect, and more like old-fashioned denim, not for any practical benefit.

• Studio D'Artisan
• Warehouse & Co
• Full Count
• Denime (linked via Withered Fig because I can't find a better website to link to)
• Evisu. More of a streetwear brands compared to the standard Japanese reproduction brands.

Mid-Market Options

These brands might be mid-market in terms of price, but they're special in some way I am kind of vaguely aware of. Most, but not all, of these options are raw denim. Most, but not all, of these options are either Japanese brands or brands using denim woven in Japan. Some are dedicated to faithful reproductions. Some are more innovative. Some are high quality. The Raw Denim subreddit has spotlight threads on many of these brands.

• Naked & Famous.
  • They do some unique gimmicks.
  • Sorry, no, they do a lot of unique gimmicks.
• Nudie
• 3Sixteen. I prefer the RS cut.
• RRL is Ralph Lauren's westernwear-focused label, and is generally considered to be pretty awesome.
• Buck Mason. Their full saddle cut is really good.
• Blue Blue is doing cool things in Japan. Hard to buy in the US. I have a pair of "jacquard denim" pants from them that... it seems like they aren't available this season, but they're very good.
• Frame is famous for its denim for reasons I don't really understand.
• Rag & Bone is also famous for its denim. I have this tencel-blend overshirt I really like. I usually tuck it in and just wear it like a normal shirt.
• Freenote Cloth makes really cool clothes in the US.
• So does imogene + willie
• And so does Left Field. If you want American Denim, we still have it, it's just not the cheapest mass-produced thing on the market. Don't say it doesn't exist.

High-End / Designer / Unique Denim

These brands offer a little something else beyond mere quality—special designs in boro or sashiko, unique silhouettes, and other features that you just won't get anywhere else.

• Studio Nicholson for unique silhouettes. Not as expensive as some options here.
• Kapital. Sashiko, boro, and their famous "century denim" (see at Blue in Green, Haven, Mr. Porter).
• Visvim, also known for sashiko and boro, for unusual footwear, and for John Mayer's eternal love.
• I'm not a whole fan of the whole trompe-l'oeil moment, but a lot of designer brands
  • Acne Studios is known for this.
• Khaite is a women's brand known for its denim. I don't know much more than that.
• idk, I saw these jeans at Louis Vuitton a while back, they are kinda cool. is the price sensible? no. whatever. I guess that's the point of this section?

Did I miss something?

I try to make these guides... exhaustive, I guess. If I missed something, please let me know. If not... wow, I did a great job, maybe you should go share this article.

Seriously, though, I spent an utterly unjustifiable amount of time on this article. It would mean the world to me if you would share, subscribe, or otherwise show your support. Thank you for reading whatever portion of this you read. And please, don't let me do another one of these guides.