You're going to find yourself curious about the terms associated with fading a pair of raw jeans, yes there are terms that need to be known as you can seem quite novice without knowing what they actually mean. There are three common fade terms that you'll come across in any forum that talks about raw denim. These three terms are not used interchangeably, they mean what they mean and that's it.
Whiskers: This is something you'll find first in any forum because whiskers are the types of fades that will always come first on a pair of raw denim. Now when you put on a pair of jeans, the first thing you do is squat in order to stretch them out a little bit. When you stay in a squatted position, the lines formed around the button/zip fly of the jeans are called whiskers. They radiate outward from the fly of the jeans towards the out seam, they will always set first than the other two because there is more squatting and bending done. You see when you bend and squat, the denim scrunches up, and releases; when that happens the outer layer is slowly flaking off the indigo dye which, in time, causes the weft to show through and then it produces a fade. Whiskers will always look like a cat's whiskers because of the way they move sharply out from the fly towards the outseam.
Honeycombs: Not the kind that bees make but the kind that form when you bend your knees in any direction. Honeycombs can be a bit difficult to attain as the jeans need to be tight, they need to hug your knee as if they're suffocating it, and then you need to bend, bend, and bend. The more you work the knees the more pronounced your honeycombs will get and, sometimes, if you wear the jeans long enough you're honeycombs will have combs! (Yep, combs is honeycombs for short!) You might not want to try out super tight jeans unless you really want to, they can be uncomfortable the first time around as the fabric will dig into the back of your knee and possibly bruise the tender skin there but it's well worth the trouble. Honeycombs are always tighter lines formed together with connecting lines that are in the shape of a honeycomb from a hive.
Stacking: This is probably one of the most difficult fades to achieve as you need to have a lot of extra fabric near your foot to start off. If you're a 32 inseam and you buy a pair of jeans with a 34 inseam, you're going to be looking at about 2" of stacking. The longer the inseam, the more stacking there will be but remember that stacking fades require more work because there really isn't any flexing going on down there so work hard on 'em! Stacking fades will be a more lenient form of combs, they will have a wider center and will be few but it's awesome when they appear, it means you've worked extremely hard on your pair of jeans to get that look and you should wear them proudly!
Now that these three terms have been explained, you just need a pair of raw rigid jeans to get started. The fit is up to you so choose carefully based on what fades you want and what type of body you have. Because, obviously, if you have big calves there is NO WAY you're going to get into a pair of super skinny jeans but straight/classic fits will get the job done. Also, very important, DO NOT WASH YOUR JEANS FOR A MINIMUM OF 6 MONTHS! That's right, 6 months you need to wear your jeans, the longest we've seen is 15 months because, the way indigo dye works, is that the longer you wait to wash your jeans the more pronounced your fades will be the first time. Everyone aims to have the most awesome fades so try to go as long as you can without washing them and when you do wash them; turn them inside out, wash in warm water with mild detergent, then hang dry or you could wear them out while their wet so they shrink to your body.
The next thing you'll want to recognize are the different seam types, identifying a seam can immediately tell you what kind of fabric you're dealing with. There are four main types of seams to discuss and that's for next time but until then study these terms and you'll be well on your way to becoming educated in the rigid denim community.
Whiskers: This is something you'll find first in any forum because whiskers are the types of fades that will always come first on a pair of raw denim. Now when you put on a pair of jeans, the first thing you do is squat in order to stretch them out a little bit. When you stay in a squatted position, the lines formed around the button/zip fly of the jeans are called whiskers. They radiate outward from the fly of the jeans towards the out seam, they will always set first than the other two because there is more squatting and bending done. You see when you bend and squat, the denim scrunches up, and releases; when that happens the outer layer is slowly flaking off the indigo dye which, in time, causes the weft to show through and then it produces a fade. Whiskers will always look like a cat's whiskers because of the way they move sharply out from the fly towards the outseam.
Honeycombs: Not the kind that bees make but the kind that form when you bend your knees in any direction. Honeycombs can be a bit difficult to attain as the jeans need to be tight, they need to hug your knee as if they're suffocating it, and then you need to bend, bend, and bend. The more you work the knees the more pronounced your honeycombs will get and, sometimes, if you wear the jeans long enough you're honeycombs will have combs! (Yep, combs is honeycombs for short!) You might not want to try out super tight jeans unless you really want to, they can be uncomfortable the first time around as the fabric will dig into the back of your knee and possibly bruise the tender skin there but it's well worth the trouble. Honeycombs are always tighter lines formed together with connecting lines that are in the shape of a honeycomb from a hive.
Stacking: This is probably one of the most difficult fades to achieve as you need to have a lot of extra fabric near your foot to start off. If you're a 32 inseam and you buy a pair of jeans with a 34 inseam, you're going to be looking at about 2" of stacking. The longer the inseam, the more stacking there will be but remember that stacking fades require more work because there really isn't any flexing going on down there so work hard on 'em! Stacking fades will be a more lenient form of combs, they will have a wider center and will be few but it's awesome when they appear, it means you've worked extremely hard on your pair of jeans to get that look and you should wear them proudly!
Now that these three terms have been explained, you just need a pair of raw rigid jeans to get started. The fit is up to you so choose carefully based on what fades you want and what type of body you have. Because, obviously, if you have big calves there is NO WAY you're going to get into a pair of super skinny jeans but straight/classic fits will get the job done. Also, very important, DO NOT WASH YOUR JEANS FOR A MINIMUM OF 6 MONTHS! That's right, 6 months you need to wear your jeans, the longest we've seen is 15 months because, the way indigo dye works, is that the longer you wait to wash your jeans the more pronounced your fades will be the first time. Everyone aims to have the most awesome fades so try to go as long as you can without washing them and when you do wash them; turn them inside out, wash in warm water with mild detergent, then hang dry or you could wear them out while their wet so they shrink to your body.
The next thing you'll want to recognize are the different seam types, identifying a seam can immediately tell you what kind of fabric you're dealing with. There are four main types of seams to discuss and that's for next time but until then study these terms and you'll be well on your way to becoming educated in the rigid denim community.