6 Raw Denim Mistakes to Avoid 

Here's the video I did on Mike's channel where he goes to buy his first Red Wing boots! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UTArIR26tMw.html

Michael (The Iron Snail) is my favorite youtuber, period. It'll be good to see these two chat.

My two most favorite clothing channels all in one. Great collaboration. Never seen Michael so quiet and didn’t mention Taylor, not even once 😁

More of this format please lads. Loved it!

Excellent collaboration, it's so cool to get the benefit of your combined style expertise. Salud!

Secret of happiness is when you and your couples look at each other like both of them 😁

You guys make a great team! This is my favorite video so far! =)

The point about buying jeans too small hit very close to home for me. When I first decided to get into selvedge denim I got a pair of APCs that were way too small because the salesman said to, then some Freenotes that were way too small because the salesman said and finally years later got some Momotaros that I sized up with and they fit me perfectly. I always go true to size now and just use a belt if they stretch out too much

Love Michael’s channel and his contribution to the Theo and Harris channel

I cannot think of anything on youtube that I have enjoyed more than this video. Great job guys. Wearing raw denim is an art

another great denim-verse collab video!

Great episode!!

Thanks guys. Humorous and helpful too!

This is my first exposure to Michael, but he seems to be beloved on here. I'll have to check his channel out. Great video, Nick.

No video of Michael is complete w/o him standing in water. In all seriousness, his video on ideal fit of jeans was a life changer. R.I.P. carrot legs.

So, I am on my 2nd phase of raw denim currently. Phase 1 happened around 12-14 years ago by accident when I found a pair of interesting jeans at discount store Marshalls on clearance which I bought not knowing anything else about and turned out to be PRPS jeans. I found 2-3 other pairs from Marshalls. I ended up finding some RRL, Jean Co, Loomstate, and Levi's 501 selvedge. Without much info on the web back then, I wore them, washed them dried them and I think I even had a few tapered by a seamstress. ---Fast forward to this past year, I had a tree fall on my house and only took bare essentials with me and all my old denim ended up in storage while my house is being rebuilt. I tried to start this time with a little more research, but I still made some mistakes mainly due to fear of fits being too small and the hassle of returning jeans when bought and hemmed. I began the safe route with Amazon due to their liberal return policies and free returns. I ended up with 6 pairs of Naked and Famous in the Easy Guy fits. I found 3 pairs of Nudies. I then found Brave Star and their Regular Taper fits, an Iron Heart 888, then a pair of Imogene and Willy's. My priorities are really not fades, but fit, texture, color of denim , and very important to me is a strong taper and small leg opening. All the jeans to this point were nice, but not the fit I wanted. I found a pair of PBJ Slim taper, Raw on sale from Okayama Denim in Japan and decided to take a risk. Lo and behold, those XX-013 turned out to be everything I've wanted in jeans. I've pulled the plug for 3 more pairs in the same fit, but colors and weight. I counted my current inventory I have here and am up to 19 pairs. Because I like to and can control the color of the fabric, I suppose having so many pairs isn't an issue as it isn't fades I am looking for which of course comes from repeated wear of the same jean. ...So TLDR, making mistakes, while a bit hard on your wallet, is something which is bound to happen. I have determined I do prefer PBJ and will keep an eye out for Brave Star brands in my future buys. ....When I get my phase 1 jeans out from storage, it will be interesting seeing what I have and how they look with the considerable knowledge I've gained in the past year. ---Oh, and I prefer to buy Raw PBJs true to size and not soak or shrink them which eliminates the uncertainty of how much they will shrink.

Damn. Great collab! Michael is the man, been following him for years!

I will always size up 1-2 depending on the oz(s). To each its own! Loving mine.

So glad this colab happened you both need each other’s subs that don’t already follow you

I’m with you on those favourite 3 brands Nick, they are amazing!

What could be better than two great guys talking about denim? Two of my favorite things! Fortunately, I can only afford a handful of clothes so I avoided at least one of the mistakes. The sizing issue is a thorny one, still struggling with that one after some years. Thanks for the enjoyable chat.

Nick, this was so informative and fun to watch. Michael is so knowledgeable and fun. So, is that your dog?

Worlds collide! Love The Iron Snail!

I just learned about not washing your jeans just this year. I had this dark gray jeans that has faded into this nice ash gray. I agree the yellowish part of not washing it often, makes it disgusting, since it's very obvious in contrast to the whitish ash gray color. I also notice on other vintage jeans that the yellowish part looks more like a stain in contrast with indigo/blue and looks less amazing. I used oxy bleach on my ash gray jeans, since mild wash with detergent doesn't seem to work, brushed it very lightly horizontally(to avoid ruining the whiskers like fade), it looked better(like a Himalayan Birkin bag; with light gray, ash gray, and white color tones) and faded a little bit. I'll try to experiment how to preserve it's fade, beautiful wrinkles, and avoid getting yellowish at the same time.

thanks guys, you are the best! :)

I throw blue towels in with the machine wash. Heard there was a chance to develop marbling if it's just the jeans. I think it has to do with the top loads with the agitator.

This is why I only own one pair of raw jeans. If I owned more, it defeats the purpose and it’d never get soft or get great fades etc.

Disagree with 2 things in the video. 1) So you guys can buy, experience different brands and feels but we shouldn't make that mistake? Why is it a mistake? some of us want to explore and find what is right for each one of us. We as humans have been exploring since we have been on this earth. 2) Nothing wrong with loyalty. Loyalty is what makes companies strong and stay in business. Think about it, if you created your brand and product, loyal customers are the best ones. They will spread the word, hype up the brand and make the products stronger. These two things are the 2 types of people overall. The ones that explore and try new things (the explorers) then the ones that find happiness in one type (the loyal). Everything else I would agree. Good video overall!

This is gonna sound funny, from all the expensive brands of salvadge that I've got, the GAP selvedge pair that I've got back in 2010 are the one that fits me the best. Funny uh.

Nothing will fade denim (or patina boots) like riding a motorcycle.

You two have great on screen chemistry. Love to see more, maybe even with weston.

All I want in life is for a woman to look at me like Nick does the people he interviews.

im actually a fan of the slimy/shiny oiled look to the jeans lol usually get that effect after wearing the jeans for a month or two straight

i literally only fade one pair at a time. right now im fading a pair of sda hinode and theyre literally the only pair of pants i wear when i leave the house. ive yet to have to repair them thankfully but i know that i will have to and i cant wait to get mine absolutely thrashed and repaired. at which point they will be free to rotate among other pairs of pants i own so its not like im the guy who only owns one pair of pants lol. its gonna be fun seeing these get gnarly though

I feel like vanity sizing still applies for larger raw denim sizes, I’m a big guy and I did measure before buying, I’ve got a 49” waist but I wear a 42 comfortably

Ever heard of Livid jeans from Trondheim Norway. My city. Bloody love those jeans. And the service you get is like no other. Btw got both my Red Wings from that store. You really should check them up. Livid Jeans

I go to The Denim Surgeon in Red Bank NJ. She is great. Get my selvedge hemmed and full leg tapper there on all my pairs.

Funnily enough, I love the patina on my leather items and denim jacket, but hate the fade and "whiskers" on jeans, the more unform the merrier (to me). Example, the jeans shown at 12:27 look perfect to me, would love for them to stay like that

I have some khaki overdyed denim where the weft always looks yellow. I thought they looked super cool, but maybe they just look dirty 😅

Onboard with the cleaning and care. As a newbie is there a minimum wear time before first wash? Like 6 months etc

I always had issues purchasing jeans especially growing up, I seem to fit better in Levi-Strauss, my brother in Lees. There were times when I got the Sears Roebucks and they would get tiny holes in the knee or the back of the leg in odd spots and the cuffs would wrinkle up almost like being rolled up funky. Later on I bought them and eventually the crotch would split, it would be nice if the seam went but it was in a non seam area so they were ruined or I'd be wearing really short man style Daisy Dukes. LOL

Hi Nick. I can definitely relate to having to repair crotch blowouts . No thigh gap here. :-D

I have decided to live vicariously through Mike. His happiness brings me joy.

Alright question for your guys. How to avoid fade shift on the first wash?

What shirts are each of you guys wearing? Michael looks like he has a sashiko shirt on?

I get my jeans dirtier than most people so I toss in a towel when I wash them seems to scrub the heavy amounts of dirt that will not come off washing them by themselves I never turn them inside out but I run them on a cycle with no spin

I like the way you co-ordained the shirts though, guys..;)

Thank you

I just bought a pair of Japanese raw denim, my first time trying raw denim. It was 1 size smaller (still fit but tight), my size was out of stock. I was so concerned since it is sooooo stiff but the staff convinced me it's OK, it will loosen and soften over time. After watching this video, I think I will never be able to wear this pair of raw jeans 😭

If I'm not mistaken, the Snail's blinking "Help me" and "call the police" throughout the entire video.

So we have Nick the curator of Stridewise and Michael.

Somets!? Which cut? Back during the low rise straight fit craze of the mid-late 2000s I wore my Somets into the ground during Uni. Still have another pair next to new. Cannot believe how comfortable i used to be in that low of a rise.

I’ve had a pair of Uniqlo raw denim (the only raw 👖 I own) for over a year, with frequent use, but they don’t show any fades. I haven’t washed them so far. Do I have to wash them for fades to appear? Or can fades appear without washing?

that dog is super cute sitting there to the left! i love him 😊✌️

I bought a pair of raw denim for $120 and I ended up shrinking them a week later and had to sell them for much less than I paid lol. I want to try and get into them again.

Hey what’s up ! You said you were a 32 inch waist so what size do you usually go with, with brands such as TANUKI or samurai

This is how i wash my jeans every 6 months, they take a lot to fade because I have a lot of pairs, so first of all I use a vapor machine, it is like a vertical Iron, so vapor kills all the germs inmediately, if there is a lot of soil or a stain I use a little acetone or even alcohol and a sanitizing wipe, this process last like 20 minutes, finally I use a sanitizyng spray (like lysol) half meter away from the jeans and let them dry in the shadow like 10 minutes, yo can forget about bad odors and other stuff

Question is it bad to own 10 pairs of raw denim jeans or is it to much? I wear jeans like 24/7 from work to relaxing.

Nick where did you buy your blue shirts..

Thanks for all the information i needen. However, whats the shirt the guy on the left is wearing? (blue eyed one)

5:36 can you please specify brand and model? Really like that fit

Well well well if it isn’t ME EDIT: my shirt is from Taylor Stitch! Indigo waffle baby!

I know the denim was the star of this video, but I wanna know what shirts you guys were wearing. Both looked great

What’s confusing to me is that people say to not wash and dry selvedge denim jeans for at least the first couple months (outside the initial soak) in order to get good whiskers. But say I want to cuff or hem the jeans, given they’re usually way too long. I won’t know how long to cuff or hem the jeans until I wash and dry them because they shrink.

Huh? he was my favorite part of Theo and Harris videos. Diddn't know he did other stuff.

I have one pair and will buy a Second I get mine from brave-star salvage and I did get one pair from sugarcane but it’s way to small for me and will keep them for the day I get skinny lol

I always think the “never wash fade” is ugly, I generally warm water machine wash once a month, not only to keep it fresh and last longer, but the fade will look natural and therefore better

I’m a brand loyalist to Levi’s and I don’t really see that changing haha

@Stridewise are you wearing the Satchel & Page Bomber Jacket @15:56 mark? If so, where did you get the white removable shearling wool collar? (I thought they only came in black)

Get Micheal into the new Iron Ranger. Red wing Mn is about a 40 min drive from here 🤙

What shirt is Michael wearing? I love its fabric!

I have zero Osaka five @6:35, I do have four pairs of Iron Heart though 😅

The denim and the mutual affection are so raw. 🙂

What are the Levi’s at the 33 second mark? 501’s?

the first wash strengthens the fabric making it less likely that blowouts will happen

Hey! Where did you get the shirts worn in this video?

I want someone to look at me the way Nick looks at Michael

Big shout out to IndigoProof! Rainbow is the best at this… hands down!!!

Does naked and famous do unsaforized or sanforized? Also how do you feel about hemming? Can you hem before you do your year in wash?

For me what worked so far is sizing down 1” Comfortable after 3-4 wears and no need for belt!

love those khaki fields!

Did 7 years with out wash lol not proud of it didn’t know any better 🤷‍♂️

Amazing Gents….

heavy vs light denim?

How do we stop raw denim from indigo bleeding and lock in the color?

The dog needs his own channel. Can we have at least a Q&A?

Hi guys thanks so much for the video - question I bought a raw denim pair of jeans - they are too big - i was thinking to put them in the dryer (without wash) to shrink them while avoiding a wash - what do you think of my idea? any suggestions?

Get a pair that fit the thigh, i went through around 4 pairs (total $1800) 😞

What are those accents? Guy on the left maybe Midwest? On the right, Long Island? Boston? I've spent a lot of time in Japan every year for over 20 years, and it's funny, whenever I go into a small denim shop in any Japanese city, they always seem kind of surprised an American would be so appreciative of what they have to offer. They see the US as the model they emulate.

He'll Yeah

What did Michael mean when he said don’t walk in wet raw denim?

whats the best jeans for hiking/running? (apocalypse scenario)

Controversial opinion: I’m not a big fan of fades. Prefer the cleaner look. At the same time in to high quality selvedge denim. From the little I know apparently Iron Heart jeans fade slow. Can anyone confirm?

What denims are those @ 0:34

If you have 10 pairs of jeans and wonder why you not getting those fades Only wear one pair stop the rotation

Levis 501 STF worn honestly, without nonsensical rules.. denim philosophy

Well, I am in total violation of being a slave to one brand. In the late 1960s as a child I got a pair of Levi's 501 shink-to-fit (raw denim) jeans. I have been wearing them ever since. I am not going to change to any other kind of jeans, including any 501s Levis's made after 2000. I consider the 501 STFs made between 1994-2000 the gold standard and that is what I am sticking to.

I don’t want my jeans to fade!

Methinks the Osaka five need updating. Add Tanuki to the list.

Which one planned the shirts?