EDWIN, WHAT'S IN STORE NEXT YEAR?

I had the change to have a sneak peak at the Edwin showroom in Holland. But who is Edwin?

Established in Japan 1947

Mr Tsunemi had a passion for denim, which inspired him to import them directly from the United States as no denim was manufactured in Japan at that time. Used, worn-out and dirty denim which had to be laundered and mended by hand in order to sell on to his customers. In 1951 domestically manufactured denim was available for the first time in Japan. This product was expensive and of inferior quality compared to its American counterparts. Mr Tsunemi was driven to create his own denims, with greater sophistication in fits, washes and quality. In 1961 Mr. Tsunemi crafted the first pair of Edwin denim jeans. Utilising the letters D, E, N, I & M (reversing the M creating a W) he created the brand name ‘Edwin’. You can find Edwin Jeans at the best Denim Stores in Europe like 14Oz, Burg & Schildt, The Globe, Tenue de Nimes, Country House and Mann just to name a few.

LIVING ON THE EDGE

Selvage denim (US) or Selvedge (UK) is a type of denim which forms a clean natural edge that does not unravel. The selvage edges are along the out-seam of the jeans, making it visible when cuffs are worn and visible or invisible at the pocket. In the early years of denim production the fabric was woven on shuttle looms, from a single thread, and with self forming natural edges at the sides (self-edge). Shuttle looms weave a narrower piece of fabric, and thus a longer piece of fabric is required to make a pair of jeans (appr. 3 yards / 2,75mtr). The selvage edge is usually stitched with colored thread. Fabric mills used these colors to differentiate between fabrics, Levi's was red, Lee was yellow and Wrangler was green. However, as denim became more and more popular in the 50s, and mass production became the focus of jeans manufacturers. The old shuttle looms were replaced by projectile looms. These new looms were capable of producing denim faster, and in bigger quantities, however the produced fabric was not woven from a single thread anymore, and lost the self-edge.

Today, selvage denim is valued for its irregularities and character, and is typically more expensive than regular denim. Selvedges in jeans usually denote high quality denim, albeit there are many factors to consider with denim quality.