Levis x Madsaki - denim review

Now, incase you didn't know, I consider myself a denim connoisseur. I own too many jeans, and buy/sell too many jeans, to not know anything about them. I first started assessing the quality of denim late in '04 when I bought my first pair of Evisu's at GOODS, Seattle. Those guys can really steer you in the right direction when it comes to justifying a $600 jeans purchase... yadda yadda yadda, so I like jeans.

Anywhoo, just got these in from Hong Kong - Levis x Madsaki. They were a limited release from CLOT dealers (Edison Chen, if you don't know who he is you should check him out. He's the Hong Kong version of, like, Marky Mark) overseas, and I was fortunate enough to get my hands on a pair. This is just a quick review, expect more on posts later about assessing the quality of denim.

First: they came in their own box. This is rare. Evisu does this from time to time with their jeans that reach up into the $600 mark. You know this is going to be a limited/hot jean if it comes in its own box.



The pricetag: Limited jeans are more often than not very pricey. These were $265, which isn't too bad for such a limited release (not nearly as much as Neighborhoods, but still more than your generic 7 for all Mankind jeans). I was fortunate enough to get them for $90 in a trade. We'll see if they're worth the actual retail price...



Whisker-fade: These jeans rock the whisker-fade. Unlike your traditional BAPE denim, and other random Chinese/Japanese jean brands for that matter, the whisker fade on this denim is a bit more severe. It does not look as though it went through a denim wash and got painted on, for lack of a better term. The severe whiskers make the jean a one-of-a-kind piece of denim, as this type of fade is usually added on by blasting/sanding the denim while it is fresh out of the dye process, or it is hand done after the jean is sewn together. This means, then, that no two pair of this denim will have the exact same whisker-fade.
This jean also has a sandblast look to the front of the leg, as it goes from dark indigo to washed indigo back to dark indigo throughout the length of the leg. This compliments the whisker-fade, by making the indigo of the whiskering stand out more as it gets further down the leg.
The CLOT x Madsaki logo on the fifth pocket is also a unique aspect to this jean. The leather quality on it is not terribly high, but this comes as no suprise as Levis specializes in denim... I can see this element of the jean being the first to go if I were to ever get mauled by a Bear, or domesticated housecat. Wasn't too hyped on this, if you can't tell.



The back of the jean: You ALWAYS want your ass to stand out from the goober next to you unless you have poop hanging from it. Always. Girls like it, guys like it, it's hot. Since it makes you stand out, however, you must be content with how your derriere is going to look. This jean exhibits a gold-stitched Levis patented gull on both back pockets, which is pretty traditional EXCEPT FOR the indigo stitching around the rest of the pocket. This obviously makes the pockets stand out if you are not blind.
There is a sandblast finish to the seat of the pants with whisker-fading on BOTH, yes both, back pockets. You know the importance of the severe whisker-fade now, so I don't need to reassess that aspect of the jean. So far so good.
The jazz: Every piece of premium denim has some sort of jazz, or pazazz. This jean has painted Madsaki designs on the calves of both legs. Some people do not like this design, but I think that it is extremely unique. Since I am doing the review, I don't give a fuck what you think, I think they make the jean what it is - obviously. However, I am not too hyped that they came with indigo stains on the paint but this is probably just from moisture contact during the shipping.
The back of this jean = ill to congestify.



The denim quality: You ALWAYS want to feel the denim. Rough, rigid, raw, hard, etc. denim is my personal favorite because you get to wear it in; it's like having a baby and having the power to mold it how you want to. The denim on this jean is indigo, obviously, thus this denim WILL bleed, so you want to wear it with dark shoes or some one-time-only shoes (all white AF1's). You can also give it a cold ass rinse in the washer, too, to get some of the loose dye off the denim. Do make sure to hang dry the jean, though. Actually, here's a tip: WASH YOUR JEANS INSIDE OUT WITH A SHOT OF VINEGAR TO PRESERVE THE INDIGO, AND ALWAYS HANG DRY THEM! Also, try to wash your premium denim as little as possible to perpetuate the fresh look.This should be common knowledge to most of you readers, but this mistake is made too often. Drying your clothes fucks them up, simple as that. Fuck a dryer. Dry your underwear and socks, hang your premium laundry.

My rating: I rate this jean a 8 out of 10. The denim quality is a bit too soft for my acquired taste for raw, rigid denim. The indigo bleeds like fuck at first, which is common among Levis. The cut, which is a subject that I did not get into because it's late, is unique as well - not bad, unique. The jean is loose in the calves, tighter around the ankle (as to prevent shoe-draggage), and tighter in the thigh, and tighter in the seat - these jeans have a "non-gay bootfit" as I'd like to call it, but like hard denim, it is an acquired taste. They also aren't selvedge denim, yet ANOTHER topic I did not get into, which leaves me dumbfounded because most limited releases have jazzed up selvedge lines. Instead, this jean sports a stitched taper. It has a bit of red string sewn down the middle of the stitch, which is unique, but selvedge is too dope not to put on a rare release. These jeans WILL turn heads, either for good or bad reasons, which is always cool, but it is hard to find something to rock them with in order to maintain social domesticity. My best bet would be to wear these with a dark jacket or shirt, with either dark shoes or EXTREMELY crazy, vibrant shoes like the Puma Prismatron series.

Time for bed, bleh.