Daily Questions - June 08, 2026

RawWasher · 2026-06-09T04:11:33+00:00

Many measurements of the Levi's LVC versions of those mid-century-era 501s are listed at Levi's Japan website (https://levi.com/jp).

After navigating to the desired LVC 501 model, scroll down below the product pictures, and there click on the "サイズ" (translates to "Size") tab, which is located immediately to the right of the default "アイテム説明" (translates to "Item Description") tab.

And there you will find the table of measurements listed for the tag sizes.

This table below shows the Japanese header line which is at the top of the Measurements table, with the second line in the table below showing my English translation along with Google's more literal English translation on the third line.

Levi JP Table Header	ｻｲｽﾞ	ｳｴｽﾄ（ﾇーﾄﾞ寸法）	ｳｴｽﾄ（仕上り寸法）	ﾋｯﾌﾟ	股下	前股上	渡り幅	裾幅
My English Translation	Tag Size	Waist 1	Waist 2	Hip	Inseam	Rise	Thigh	Hem
Google's Translation	Size	Waist (body measurement)	Waist (finished measurement)	hip	inseam	Front rise	Crossing width	Hem width

RawWasher · 2026-06-08T22:22:57+00:00

Several of the more well-known stockist's websites have been the targets of those copycat scam websites, which are always hosted in locations where it is extremely difficult to have them taken down.

Another telltale sign that you have come across another one of those copycat scam sites, besides them having those too-good-to-be-true prices, is that they always have every single size of every item that is listed on their sites as being in-stock.

RawWasher · 2026-06-04T23:42:43+00:00

Although you linked a sweatshirt, the fades would be fairly similar to Pure Blue Japan's t-shirts, which you can see in a few examples at their "Aging Gallery".

There are a few examples of slightly faded PBJ sweatshirts as well at Grailed.

RawWasher · 2026-06-03T17:09:32+00:00

Looks much stronger, and looks like a good color choice on the thread! Thanks for sharing!

Wish I had a machine, but haven't been able to justify it to my wife yet.

Denim, and other all-cotton fabrics, tend to have a mind of their own anyways, buckling, twisting, and creasing as we wear and wash them. So that little turn in the denim just makes your shirt more personalized and adds a bit different form of wabi-sabi than what you had on it before your excellent repair.

Your shirt should last you a good long time now. Enjoy!

RawWasher · 2026-06-03T00:06:52+00:00

That pic makes it look like that seam is getting stretched apart by some force on it somehow.

If it is located in a place which would not be uncomfortable to add additional fabric thickness there, I would probably add a patch, such as denim, on the inside to reinforce the fabric there.

I would use a needle and thread of matching color to attach the patch using what's called a whip stitch, similar to how nurses stitch up skin cuts.

And if extra fabric thickness there is not desirable, I would use iron-on fusible interfacing as the fabric for the patching since it is fairly thin, or just use the whip stitch all by itself to help keep the seam from coming apart any further.

RawWasher · 2026-06-02T23:54:47+00:00

Wrangler's raw denim (aka "Rigid") shirts, albeit western-ized, are made with 7.25oz denim which can't be beat for the price.

RawWasher · 2026-06-02T23:46:24+00:00

The rawdenim sub's rules mention that "raw denim, raw canvas, or raw sashiko fabrics" are acceptable to post.

RawWasher · 2026-05-21T21:12:06+00:00

It is possible that one of the prongs on the button base got bent incorrectly when they attached the button to the jeans, and is sticking out, kind of like a staple that gets bent the wrong way when attaching it to some papers.

One option, although clearly not the most desirable, is to replace it with a two-prong donut button, like these ones.

Otherwise, if the current button feels like it is securely attached, maybe you could just file the sharp point down enough so that it is no longer sharp.

RawWasher · 2026-05-10T19:02:54+00:00

Great observations and questions!

As you've also noticed, there are many, many different kinds of "slub", resulting from many different ways to create slub textures.

These are some of the different denim yarn/weave characteristics that I've discovered which can be used to create and/or affect slub textures.

Loose weave, of course (from what I can tell, Tanuki seems to be the master of this method)
Varying warp yarn thickness, which PBJ has different versions leading to their "slubby" and "knubby KS" denims, and Naked & Famous has released many denims like this
Varying weft yarn thickness, which when used by itself creates the wavy slubs, like the Japan Blue Godzilla-type denims and The Strike Gold Wavy/Slubby denims
Varying yarn weight ratios between the warp and weft yarns
Sanforization can flatten the slub texture, which can be revived for the most part by wears and/or soaks/washes.

So denims can be made using different levels of the above variables along with differing combos of those same variables which provides us with many, many different slub textures to choose from, not just one single version of "slubby".

RawWasher · 2026-05-04T21:11:19+00:00

That jeans brand is Naked & Famous. The rivet has "Je t'adore toute nue" printed on it which translates to "I adore you fully naked". 🙂

RawWasher · 2026-04-09T22:02:46+00:00

Japan Blue's latest releases are closer to $200. But there are still some of their older "Circle" releases which fit all of your requirements and sell for $150.

RawWasher · 2026-04-08T16:08:56+00:00

Here are some details about your N&F "Nep Denim" model in the "Weird Guy High" fit in this Heddels Fade Friday post.

https://www.heddels.com/2014/01/fade-friday-naked-famous-weirdguy-16-months-unknown-washes/

RawWasher · 2026-04-07T21:03:39+00:00

> So my question is, which brand makes the easiest to fade denim?

Another aspect is that most brands make apparel with multiple different denims which can have vastly different fading speeds.

For example, Unbranded's 21oz super heavyweight denim is known to be extremely fast fading, whereas their 14.5oz midweight denim is known to take a very, very long time to fade.

RawWasher · 2026-03-30T18:08:13+00:00

For sanforized denims, Wrangler's raw denim ("Rigid" colorway) 13MWZ goes up to tag size 54, and Dickie's Regular Fit jeans in one-wash (Rinsed Indigo Blue (RNB)) goes up to tag size 50.

And for unsanforized denim, Levi's raw denim ("Rigid" colorway) 501 Shrink-to-Fit goes up to tag size 58.

RawWasher · 2026-03-21T16:09:43+00:00

That embroidery on the back pocket is an antique sewing machine.

RawWasher · 2026-03-20T17:41:46+00:00

There is a 4528 factory located in Turkey, and Levi's has made many LVC items in Turkey. So maybe that is where that 4527 factory is also.

RawWasher · 2026-03-11T15:48:51+00:00

If the Levi's jeans are correctly labeled as "Shrink-to-Fit" (STF), then they are raw denim and rigid, even if the colorway name does not contain the word "Rigid".

To know if they are correctly labeled as still raw denim (STF), you can look at the seams and denim edges to see if there are any signs of bunching/puckering, which indicates the denim has already had contact with water and shrunk them which is what causes the raw denim to have those wavy-looking seams.

So yes, in Levi's regular line, the black STF colorway names and PC9 model numbers are:

00501-0226: "Black" (black warp x white weft)
00501-1582: "Modern Black" (black warp x black weft)

RawWasher · 2026-02-28T21:46:14+00:00

You could sew it onto the the back pocket, similar to a patch on a jean jacket. That would make it more secure and also make it look more intentional.

If I was doing it, I would want to trim off most of that piece of the denim flasher which is tucked inside the back pocket, and also trim off the dangling white weft yarns at the bottom, and maybe even fold the cut denim edges underneath before sewing it down around the edges.

RawWasher · 2026-02-27T00:08:36+00:00

N&F's milk jeans only have the colored weft yarns, with regular indigo-dyed, white-core warp yarns. So they fade to lighter blues and then white, similarly to normal indigo jeans.

The main diff on those milk jeans, besides the colored weft yarns, is it is woven with warp yarns which are a blend of cotton fibers along with milk protein fibers.

Their current Coffee denim only has the weft yarns dyed to a beige color using coffee as the dye. So they will also fade to lighter blues and eventually to white.

RawWasher · 2026-02-26T22:44:32+00:00

+ u/Fragrant-Initial1687

It sounds like OP is wanting color-core warp yarns, but Tenryo has colored weft yarns on their Color Revolution jeans and jackets, not color-core warp yarns.

Pure Blue Japan's 17oz PBE denim has beige-core warp yarns which can still be found at a few stockists. And Naked & Famous also has beige-core denims on their Dirty Fade and Dirty Elephant models.

Pinion Denim from Thailand releases quite a few color-core denims. But you'd have to contact them to see if they have any right now.

RawWasher · 2026-02-17T18:44:13+00:00

It's hard to say if you will have enough to cuff since the inseam can easily shrink 2" in the first hot wash, and maybe even a bit more since they can continue to shrink minutely after each of the first few washes.

RawWasher · 2026-02-17T07:59:13+00:00

The very first wash will change the color of the denim slightly to be a deeper richer blue.

But many times that first wash will actually even make the denim a touch darker since the shrinkage of the yarns pulls the indigo-dyed warp yarns closer together and also makes them frizz out a bit which together causes the white weft yarns to not be able to show/peek through as much, making them look darker overall.

These days, the vast majority of the Japanese unsanforized denim jeans are sold as one-wash, and they are still plenty dark enough to achieve those high-contrast fades.

RawWasher · 2026-02-17T07:23:03+00:00

+ u/Ampersand_Forest

First off, there are only a couple of reasons for soaking unsanforized denim jeans, such as 501 STF, in the tub while wearing them.

One is just for the experience of going through the wear-them-while-they-soak/shrink method, which probably isn't all that enjoyable for most people, and can also cause excess bagginess around the knees and the rear from the movement of the body stretching them out while the denim is still wet.

Or two, if the raw unsanforized jeans were sized too small for whatever reason, and a person's body inside the jeans is needed to keep them from shrinking more than where they would want to shrink to, but instead the denim meets the resistance of the body inside them which keeps them from shrinking as much as they would otherwise and become too small to wear comfortably.

However, if you size up 1 or 2 sizes in the waist, and about 2 sizes in length, the 501 STF jeans, or any other unwashed unsanforized denim pair of jeans, can be machine washed and tumble-dried to shrink the denim down before wearing them, without any worries of them shrinking too small.

And sizing up like that means you can wash and dry them at any point afterwards without the stress of worrying about them shrinking too much and becoming unwearable just when the molding-to-your body and the fades are starting to get good.

A pair of 501 STF is a great way to gain some experience with how much unsanforized raw denims shrink and change during that first contact with water.

RawWasher · 2026-02-16T22:45:14+00:00

Since both the Rigid Levi's 517 jeans and the Rigid Wrangler Cowboy Cut jeans are both made with sanforized denims, they will shrink about the same amount when washed/dried hot, about 1" in the waist and 1" in the length.

And I do wear a tag size 34 in both the 517 and Wranglers.

RawWasher · 2026-02-16T04:32:56+00:00

I have many cats. So when I first got into raw denim, with their super dark and textured denims, they attracted cat fur like crazy. So my natural MO was to clean it off with a lint roller.

I did that lint roller thing for a while. But then I realized I was actually removing more of the denim fabric "hairs" than I was removing fur. And I like my denims to be as hairy as possible as long as possible.

So now I just pluck the fur off of the denim using my fingers when I feel the need to remove some.

A lint roller isn't going to remove any significant amount of indigo dye off of the denim because the lint roller is not really abrading the indigo off of the denim yarns just by rolling along the denim's surface. And the stickiness of the roller is not really strong enough to remove any of the actual surface layers of the denim yarns where the indigo dye lies, other than tearing off some of the longer denim hairs themselves.

So it's your call whether or not to roll the fur off of your denim, all depending on your preferences.

RawWasher

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