After almost 5 months of wearing my Ooe Yofukutens nearly every day, I washed them at the laundromat and they shrunk to a point that made them uncomfortably tight. Ugh. So, I decided to retire them and I went back to a rotation of some of my older pairs of jeans.
The pictures here show my Studio D’Artisan 25th Anniversary jeans that I bought back in 2005 on a trip to Japan. They were a limited edition of 300 pairs, and they came in a cool box with an awesome banner made from the same denim that jeans are constructed from. Details like exposed dome rivets, the leather patch on the top of the back right pocket with “D’Artisan” written in Wrangler’s classic “rope” font, and a uniquely shaped coin pocket all making reference to some specific pair of Wranglers (I don’t know what year or era).
I’ve worn these jeans on and off for 5 years. They spent about 8 months in the possession of my friend Cathal (owner of Folk), as part of a trade we made. I then traded him a new pair of Real McCoy’s because I wanted my D’Artisans back. These have been repaired in the crotch by our trusted friend Mari (I highly recommend Mari’s services: chainstitchnyc@gmail.com) and more recently I enlisted Chris from Stanley & Sons to give me a hand-stitched knee patch. Once my Ooe Yofukutens became unwearable these jeans quickly rose to the top of my rotation, and it was a lot of fun while it lasted . . .
. . . they have served as a bridge between my Yofukutens and my next pair of Denim Debate jeans — Tender’s SS11 Type 103 Jeans. I recently received a sample pair from William Kroll, Tender’s founder, and I will be sending initial photos shortly.
(And the Ooe Yofukutens have not disappeared for good. I gave them to my friend Quentin, who has been wearing them for a few weeks now. Hopefully we’ll have some photos soon. They should be at about the 6 1/2 month point by now, between the two of us.)




