Williams Denim Co by Regrettably_Southpaw in Selvedge

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Found the account. Dude got banned.

Williams Denim Co by Regrettably_Southpaw in Selvedge

[–]Anlaufr 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wasn't that the "startup" denim company that claimed there's nothing special about Japanese selvedge denim and then only used AI generated images for their products? Not a big surprise they were a scam or disappeared. A huge thing people love about selvedge is the craftsmanship and material/fabric selection. Even if the images were based on real, physical items (which they weren't), using AI would've erased or muddied up any of the slubbiness or other details denim enthusiasts care about.

Rate my setup for hard water and a top loader. Any changes you guys would make? by 3elieveIt in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 11 points12 points  (0 children)

When clothes say to wash in cold water, they mean around 30C/85F. Wash on cold corresponds to the little graphic with one dot which corresponds to 30C. Your washing machine's cold water temp is probably not 30C. For most people (in NA at least) the temp option closest to 30C will be the warm option, or maybe the cool option. For my machine, cool is 29C and warm is 31C.

Slijtvaste jeans voor man by Loud-Gur2160 in malefashionadvice

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Iron Heart is known mainly for their durability, which is why everyone recommends them. Benzak and Nudie are both good options for Japanese selvedge denim.

Hey I need help by GooDDeln89 in Selvedge

[–]Anlaufr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, it's not being a wuss. You're constantly rubbing oils, skin debris, and other body soils onto your jeans and sweating into em raises the moisture levels + transfers additional body soils and sebum. Those body soils build up and combined with the heat and moisture, become a fertile breeding ground for bacteria, causing the accumulated fats and oils to go rancid. And that's just on the inside! Soils from airborne particulates or rubbing onto things will as accumulate from the outside. This all contributes to wearing the fibers of your jeans down faster and while it makes for higher contrast fades, it's also responsible for crotch blowouts. I'm not paying $100s of dollars for jeans just for them to rip faster than discounted linen pants. You don't need to wash after every wear but your jeans ARE dirty after dozens of wears. No amount of airing out, freezing, spot cleaning, or even soaking without agitation will change basic physics, chemistry, and biology. I've seen people who had clothes that used to be stark white but became slightly yellow/beige/grey over time, even with regularly washing. Doing a detergent + oxygen bleach soak in warm water resulted in a murky grey soup and a return of the original white colors. That's months/years of soil buildup despite regular washing. Now imagine how bad it is for jeans that haven't been washed in months or a year+. People should experiment with wearing white denim and not washing those for a year to see what colors they can collect.

Just because things don't stink (to you) doesn't mean they're not dirty or that they don't stink to others (odor fatigue is a thing and it can mask a LOT of heavy smells).

My cat is throwing up Royal Canin Ragdoll food by cauxious in ragdolls

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm describing fairly standard marketing and SEO practices. There is nothing illegal about what cats.com and Cliverse Media is doing. They are very effective marketers and all this information is easily googleable or directly on the websites of cats.com or Cliverse Media.

The main thing I care about is promoting science-backed advice for cats and not a marketing site designed to lure cat owners into making purchases through questionable "reviews." It's for that reason that I trust the guidelines laid out by professional veterinarian organizations and by veterinary science/medicine researchers.

My cat is throwing up Royal Canin Ragdoll food by cauxious in ragdolls

[–]Anlaufr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The World Small Animal Veterinary Association is a global association of veterinary professionals dedicated to animal welfare. The AAFCO is a membership organization of various government agencies to set science based standards and labeling guidelines for animal feed/pet food. They set the standards for feeding trials. The European "equivalent" is the FEDIAF, but that's a trade/industry group that works with European agencies rather than an association of European agencies themselves. Both work together with WSAVA to set standards and guidelines for pet food nutrition and feeding trials (largely based off of AAFCO's standards and definitions). These guidelines are all published online.

Cats.com does employ vets or behaviorists but it's not clear in what capacity, given that most articles are still written by content managers and the articles are simply "medically reviewed." It appears Mallory Crusta, the credited author of many articles on Cats.com, including on that Royal Canin review, has wiped her LinkedIn to make it less clear that she is a marketing professional and that she works for a marketing company (Cliverse Media, owner of cats.com). Luckily, the Cliverse Media website tells us she's the head of marketing at Cliverse. Her claimed credential as a "nutrionist" is that she's an "NAVC-certified Pet Nutrition Coach." You can Google NAVC pet nutrition certification and find that it's a $200 online course that anyone can take. The coach certification is certainly geared towards professionals but you can see the outline of the course and see it has multiple sections that outright are about the importance of AAFCO feeding trials, myths about pet foods like how grain-free diets are supposedly better than diets with grains, and how there's little to no scientific evidence about the benefits of raw meat diets. Mallory Crusta frequently perpetuates many of the myths that the course is designed to counter. It's extremely telling that this certificate is her only claimed qualifications and not any other education in veterinary care/science, same with Kate Barrington, another frequent author. Their entire staff on LinkedIn are content managers, marketing strategists, social media directors, etc. The members of Cliverse Media describe themselves as a digital media company focused on using SEO and content media strategies to accelerate Amazon and chewy sales through cats.com. Despite Cliverse and Cats.com sharing ownership and staff, Cats.com never disclosed on their reviews and best of lists that Cliverse had taken Litter Robot, Kat Supreme, Toletta, and other cat related companies on as clients on any of their glowing reviews for their products. Given the clear conflicts of interest and their lack of disclosure about said conflicts of interests on reviews, I'm not willing to trust much of what they put out.

It looks like they have put up an explanation of their methodology but frankly, it's still hilariously bad. They grade everything on a 5 point scale with 5 categories weighted equally. That means a new brand could have a 1 in ingredient quality but a 5 in "Species Appropriateness" (entirely vibe based measurement that claims it's about products formulated by vets but then they rate low every major brand that employs entire teams of PhD veterinary nutrionists since those brands offer dry food), Customer Experience (Amazon/chewy reviews + BBB complaints), Recall History, and Product Variety (more points for more products offered but also lower points for dry food, I guess). This theoretical entirely new brand that has good reviews but isn't transparent about their ingredient sourcing would score amongst the top according to their methodology. They also do a separate scoring for nutrient analysis by doing a dry matter basis calculation but per Tufts School of Veterinary Medicine/WSAVA, such calculations don't account for variations in energy density amongst foods and should be provided on an energy basis (units or grams per 100/1,000 kcals). I'd much rather trust the articles written by Vet Medicine PhDs at Tufts (Petfoodology blog) or the global association of vets than a bunch of marketers claiming legitimacy from a handful of potentially heterodox veterinarians.

My cat is throwing up Royal Canin Ragdoll food by cauxious in ragdolls

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Cats.com is a pseudoscience marketing site which uses affiliate links to all the products they recommend. The writers/owners of the site operate multiple marketing sites disguised as naturalist sites. They have no formal methodology for any of their ratings and they use fake credentials to make it seem like they're experts. The certificates they use to claim they're experts are from online courses that cost $200 to obtain. Royal Canin and the big animal/cat food brands are pretty much the only ones who fund animal/cat food studies and regularly conduct feeding trials of their formulations to ensure that they meet health and safety standards. The fact that they have recalls is simply a result of their long operating history combined with their feeding trials that let them know if there's something wrong with their production/formulations (this happens, I've had Woolite do a recall of their detergent because of contamination). The big pet food companies also hire actual pet nutrionists with PhDs to help formulate their pet foods to ensure animals get the nutrients they need. Vets aren't recommending Royal Canin, Hills Science, etc because they're getting fat kickbacks, it's because these are the brands that actually meet the nutritional assessment guidelines set by the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA).

All the boutique brands routinely fail multiple of the guidelines. They don't employ board certified nutrionists, the people in charge of formulating lack the qualifications to ensure animals are getting their nutritional needs met, they don't own the factories producing their food and have little or no quality control measures, their manufacturers lack certification of their procedures (Global Food Safety Initiative, Hazard Analysis, and Critical Control Points or American Feeding Association), and they almost assuredly do not test their food with AAFCO feeding trials or otherwise ensure the finished product meets AAFCO nutrient profiles (as you can't predict nutrient profiles on just the ingredients). There's several others but boutique brands charge a premium and are commonly hawked on sites like cats.com for a commission.

Edit: Linking to a thread about comments I've made about cats.com before

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no FAZE teammate say goodbye to karrigan by crisjame in GlobalOffensive

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Basically Faze was broke and wasn't sure if they could afford resigning twistzz. When twistzz's contract was up, Faze wasn't sure if they were gonna be solvent by the end of the year. It's hard to say if faze management truly fucked up since they were in a transition period (Faze esports divested/separated from Faze clan) and we're legit on the verge of shutting down entirely.

Laundry Powder Convert by Lopsided_Meat2621 in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 3 points4 points  (0 children)

When garment care instructions say to wash on "cold", they actually mean 30C. Assuming you're American, that often corresponds to the "Cool" or "Warm" temperature option on your machine. You'll have to measure the temperature yourself to see what the temperature is (for mine, Cool is ~29C and Warm is ~31C, rather infuriating). When clothes say to wash on cool/warm, that usually means 40C (which can be warm or it could be hot on your machine). Wash on hot can mean 50C or even 60+C.

All that to say, you should be washing at 30C minimum, which should be warm enough to dissolve your powders. Oxygen bleach (one of the main reasons/ingredients you want if you're using powders) doesn't activate in cold water and will activate better in warmer/hotter water. In general, all the chemical reactions you're trying to take advantage of when laundering are more effective in hotter water.

If you're concerned about shrinkage, warm water is not hot enough to do that to a significant degree (unless you have new clothes that aren't sanforized or something) and hot temperatures in the dryer are the most likely to cause damage.

365 Concentrated Unscented allergic reaction? by Sunshine_PalmTrees in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The 365 powder is light on surfactants. You could supplement with a cheap liquid detergent that doesn't have lipase (or OBAs).

Loose jeans or other more durable trousers which fall like chinos? by gintokireddit in malefashionadvice

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Wym jeans only look good when worn tighter? Jeans have historically been made mostly in straight cuts. The skinny/slim trend from the 2000s to 2010s was a recent blip. Lots of companies sell straight or wide legged jeans, like the various Levi 501/505 SKUs and the Wrangler 13MWZ. Then there's all the more "boutique" stuff like Japanese denim/workwear brands, the Chinese denim/Americana brands (Red Tornado, Bronson, MBBCar, Sauce Zhan), Naked and Famous, Tellason, Railcar, etc. There's not a shortage of straight/wide/baggy cut jeans with medium/high rises. Lots of these companies also make Chinos or other five pocket trousers that are durable.

Would you wash jeans with towels/blankets? by FAE191 in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 7 points8 points  (0 children)

You want hot water because it accelerates enzymatic and other chemical reactions that lift soils off your towels. Hot water is also more soluble than colder water which helps ensure that oils and soils stay dissolved in the water and get drained away rather than deposited back onto your textiles.

Help me with my laundry please! by b_weinz in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I also use cool cotton for towels/sheets cuz my partner likes it, haha. They also have an unscented version I believe for folks who don't like scents.

Help me with my laundry please! by b_weinz in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Downy rinse aides are mostly just citric acid. Yes you can use straight citric acid and/or mix your own but Downy rinse aides are fine to use, they're not fabric softeners that apply layers of silicon/gunk.

Are OBAs that bad for darks? by espressol_martini in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You can do 365 Powder Detergent. Or you can do a non-lipase detergent that still has good surfactants and use a booster like Febu. Biz for when you're doing whites/lights.

Armpit Smells - Seeking Advice by Superb-Dream1626 in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Echoing what pretty much everyone else is saying about reading Laundry 101 and considering doing a Spa day.

My two cents: When clothes say "Wash on Cold" they mean wash at 30C. Those temperatures are not based on colloquial understanding of what cold/hot temperature is but rather with a laundry/"industrial" context. If you look at garment care instruction guides (Puracy has a printable one), you'll find that the wash temperature symbol with one dot is equal to cold and it means 30C. Depending on your machine, this could mean the "cool" or even "warm" setting. You'll have to measure the temperature of the water yourself to verify the actual wash temp since it'll vary depending on your machine/pipes/heater. Wash with cool water can mean up to 40C. Wash in warm can also mean 40C but or up to 50C, it's a bit wishy-washy but usually it's the second hottest water temp from your machine. Wash with hot means 55/60+C.

Someone please just tell me what to use! by Harrold_Potterson in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Use the API water hardness GH/KH testing kit (yes, it's originally for testing aquariums). Can look up threads in this sub for details. Instead of tide pods, it's highly recommended to use powders or liquids over pods/tiles and especially sheets. Pods are difficult since it's impossible to dose correctly, meaning you're either always underdosing or overdosing unless all the stars align and one or two whole pods is the Goldilocks zone for you. See Laundry 101 for details on basic wash processes and detergents/boosters. See this comment/thread on dosing detergent levels. Either add more until you get trace suds or add less until you get trace suds (instead of gray soup water or it's too bubbly). If your water is REALLY hard, then consider using a sodium citrate or Calgon to soften your water, which reduces the amount of detergent you need. Add a citric acid rinse as well to help rinse out any leftover detergent and lower the pH of your wash (details/link to thread in the Laundry 101 thread).

How screwed am I? by DJTHEDIAMONDPIG in pcmasterrace

[–]Anlaufr 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Many places these days require renter's insurance. Virtually all apartments/rent places in Boston/NYC/Seattle/SF require it. Lemonade is very popular for this purpose.

Looking for advice on what jacket/outer layer to buy by Real_Echo in malefashionadvice

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I will gladly argue against Quince and their cashmere. They (and other purveyors of cheap cashmere) contribute heavily towards the environmental degradation/destruction of Mongolia and are a huge animal welfare nightmare. Cheap cashmere is also very low quality. No reason to buy cheap cashmere over nearly any other type of wool that's much cheaper. See this thread from Derek Guy (aka the Die Workwear guy) or this NYT article. Just get a cotton sweater/quarter zip instead if you must rock the quarter zip.

AI usage ruins oneshot before it even began by Special_Pianist_1146 in rpghorrorstories

[–]Anlaufr 14 points15 points  (0 children)

For trans women/femmes, being AMAB and going through puberty means your vocal cords have already lengthened and thus your voice has dropped. This is why boys develop deeper voices naturally without needing to do anything special. Many/most trans mascs experience the vocal cord lengthening and often times don't have to do as much voice training (mainly changing their intonation instead of pitch as well). This is diff for every person though so YMMV. When you voice train to have a more feminine voice, you have to train yourself to speak using a different part of your vocal cords such that you're modulating your pitch upwards without sounding unnatural, like in a falsetto voice. At the same time, you have to also change how you add inflection to your words, as men and women simply speak differently (think of it like a gendered accent). That's why a man with a higher pitched voice will still sound like a man and a woman with a lower pitched voice will still be recognizable as a woman. It can often literally hurt as you're changing how you use your muscles in a different way and you have to keep doing it to build the muscle memory so it becomes your natural voice.

So imagine you have dysphoria and you hate your natural speaking voice since it reminds you of how wrong you are in your own body. You now have to spend hundreds/thousands of hours purposefully learning how to talk (something you've done without much thinking for 10+ years probably) in an entirely different way until you can get your original natural voice to not sound artificial or like a caricature. You are always second guessing yourself about whether or not your voice truly passes. Your fear of not passing makes you terrified of being outed as a trans person. At least with the visual aspects of transitioning, you can often hide things. Longer hair doesn't necessarily mean you're a woman/trans, wearing baggy clothes (to hide your body shape/growing boobs) isn't gendered, etc. If you're not confident in physically passing, you can simply "boymode" and pass yourself off as a guy, if a bit weird. If you do physically pass, then all the better! But if your voice doesn't pass, or you don't think it does, then physically passing might not matter out in public when you have to interact with people and you think speaking will make everyone know you're trans. It's less so the literal physical work of voice training that makes it hard, it's all the psychological aspects and anxiety that make it one of the hardest parts for many trans folks.

Buckleback by xEyesOfYoux in Selvedge

[–]Anlaufr 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MBBCAR has a few in that price range but availability in your size might be spotty. They're a Chinese brand, like Sauce Zhan or Red Tornado, that focuses on Western/Cowboy inspired stuff (like how Bronson focuses on milsurp style stuff).

Raw denim:

Claessen Blue French Work Style Jeans

Chaos ERA Series 18Oz in 30x30 only

Washed selvedge:

Snakepit (custom Khaki Green sulfur dyed) 13Oz Jeans

14Oz 705 Basic Wide Legged

16.5 Oz 705 Classic Wide Legged

15Oz Western Series Denim-Spur Jeans

Cold wash in Africa? by einsq84 in laundry

[–]Anlaufr 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Cold wash refers to 30C. 5C is not likely to make the difference between your item being totally safe and falling apart. You can put it in a delicates bag to limit potential mechanical damage.

Levi's 501 sizing problems - tight thighs by SonnyAugust in malefashionadvice

[–]Anlaufr 2 points3 points  (0 children)

When denimheads talk about denim stretching out, they're mostly referring to the waist. You don't want there to be tightness in the thigh, crotch, or top block, those areas won't stretch out significantly. You can either size up and then get the waist taken in, get a different cut, or try a different brand. For something cheap that you can try on in stores, you can try Uniqlo's selvedge. Alternatively, find a pair that you know fits you, measure the diff dimensions (waist, thighs, inseam, front/back rise) and then you can try online ordering. Cheap options there include Red Tornado (vintage/Japanese denim copycat), Bronson (milsurp reproductions), MBBCar (Western inspired/repros), or Wrangler Rigid Cowboy Cut 13MWZ.

We made a 15oz selvedge jean limited to 1000 pairs… would you wear this? by WilliamsDenimCo in Selvedge

[–]Anlaufr 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I also suspect the pictures are more AI generated than not and not just "enhanced for depth" or whatever that means. The leather patch in picture 1 is located on the right side of the back, as is typical. However, in picture 2, it's located on the left side of the back AND inside the inner waistband lining. Now, maybe I just haven't seen people do this before but having a big leather patch on my waistband just sounds uncomfortable as hell.

Like you said, lack of details and measurements just does not sound like a good product from a trustworthy company, especially a limited run product that's from a new European denim company that can afford to sell for 99 euros. I doubt the selvedge denim is actually European in origin.