In order to pick out the perfect vintage pair of jeans or a repro pair, you need to know the basics, and we need to start from the very beginning. Sure you can say that "jeans are jeans" but not every jean is made equal and that stands true to jeans made on Shuttle Looms. They are the oldest form of weaving, a loom that pulls the warp (the blue part of the jean on the outside) with a great amount of tension so that the weft (the white inside thread that is slanted) can be woven between the warp threads. It's not too hard right? Moving on!
As the threads are woven together on the shuttle loom (it's a man-powered loom where spools of weft are unraveled in order to be woven between the warp) it creates a fabric; usually denim but sometimes thinner fabrics are created to make selvage shirts. Because shuttle looms were only used at arm's length in any direction, they were created at a maximum of 36" which is the same as a pair of selvage denim. Selvage denim came from the shuttle looms because the ends of the warp and weft self wove closed as the shuttle moved to the opposite end, they are closed-ended which creates this beautiful seam of white that contrasts with the blue.
Denim woven on these looms are considered superior to any open-ended denim (denim not woven on a 36" loom.) Shuttle looms are obsolete in the modern fabric-making world because of how slow it is to make fabric on it and many didn't survive over time, those that did required a lot of restoration in order to work properly; so selvage denim is sought after and often higher priced than regular denim woven on modern machines. But that higher price tag means you have a piece of history! It's well worth it to wear selvage denim (cuffing a pair of jeans to show off the selvage seam is just one reason!) and even though you might have a hard time differentiating selvage from non-selvage, don't worry, there is a picture provided to help you out! Remember not all selvage will be white with a red stripe, there are colors but once you've seen a selvage seam, you'll never forget it.
Many shuttle looms were purchased by Japanese, they began to make their own selvage denim and jeans. Big John's was the first brand in Japan to introduce selvage denim much like Levi's is the American company for it. They brought back the raw rigid selvage craze, we're thankful for it because it brought back history that should be shared with everyone. Japanese denim is superior because of the dye they use as well as the cotton, it fades differently than Cone but that's for next time!
As the threads are woven together on the shuttle loom (it's a man-powered loom where spools of weft are unraveled in order to be woven between the warp) it creates a fabric; usually denim but sometimes thinner fabrics are created to make selvage shirts. Because shuttle looms were only used at arm's length in any direction, they were created at a maximum of 36" which is the same as a pair of selvage denim. Selvage denim came from the shuttle looms because the ends of the warp and weft self wove closed as the shuttle moved to the opposite end, they are closed-ended which creates this beautiful seam of white that contrasts with the blue.
Denim woven on these looms are considered superior to any open-ended denim (denim not woven on a 36" loom.) Shuttle looms are obsolete in the modern fabric-making world because of how slow it is to make fabric on it and many didn't survive over time, those that did required a lot of restoration in order to work properly; so selvage denim is sought after and often higher priced than regular denim woven on modern machines. But that higher price tag means you have a piece of history! It's well worth it to wear selvage denim (cuffing a pair of jeans to show off the selvage seam is just one reason!) and even though you might have a hard time differentiating selvage from non-selvage, don't worry, there is a picture provided to help you out! Remember not all selvage will be white with a red stripe, there are colors but once you've seen a selvage seam, you'll never forget it.
Many shuttle looms were purchased by Japanese, they began to make their own selvage denim and jeans. Big John's was the first brand in Japan to introduce selvage denim much like Levi's is the American company for it. They brought back the raw rigid selvage craze, we're thankful for it because it brought back history that should be shared with everyone. Japanese denim is superior because of the dye they use as well as the cotton, it fades differently than Cone but that's for next time!