A Guide to our Selection of Denim – Edwin
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For the next instalment in our guide to our selection of denim at size?, we turn our attention to Japanese jean stalwarts Edwin. Examining three of their most popular styles, we take a look at what makes Edwin one of the premier denim manufactures operating today.
Edwin was first founded in 1947 by Shuji Tsunemi, a Japanese entrepeneur with a passion for denim. Upon the companies inception, the jeans Edwin were producing were having to be imported from the US, as factories in Japan hadn’t begun producing denim at the time. Production started in the country 4 years later, but the process was very expensive, and quality of the finished product and denim weave was nowhere near that of the American product being imported. The very first pair of Edwin jeans for sale finally arrived in 1961, production methods had massively improved, and by 1963 Edwin were producing the heaviest ringspun denim jean in the world. This pair came with Edwin’s now recognisable ‘rainbow selvedge’ detailing along the inside seam, a sign that the best form of denim was being utilised.
Over the course of the past 5 decades since then, Edwin went on to pioneer the ‘Stonewash’ look as we know it, and denim brands in their hoards have replicated that look ever since. As the interest in vintage fashion grew, Edwin began replicating specific washes from archive pieces predating the companies creation to specially cater for this select market.
In the early 2000’s, the European division of Edwin was introduced to create more exclusive product for the western consumer. Nowadays Edwin is one of the first names you’d instantly think of when questioning the best quality selvedge denim on the market.
Let’s take a closer look at three styles from Edwins latest range currently available online and in selected size? stores.
One of Edwin’s most popular styles, the ED-55 is one of the more versatile jeans from the range. A relaxed fit across the board, you wont be encountering any unexpected tight areas around the knees or thigh area. This considered shape means it gives you a lot of options to work with when wearing with different garments, easily fitting into your personal style. Produced in 11.5oz Compact Indigo Denim, a light wash has been applied down the front of each leg, with visible stacking behind the knee, a worn detail which will gently exaggerate more over time. Finished off nicely with Edwins signature back pocket stitch detail and leather branding patch.
The next style we’ll take a look at is the celebrated ED-80 Selvedge. If you’ve seen any on-foot shots of trainers on your instagram feed, and always wondered what that white line was appearing on the seam of their denim, that’s a primary example of identifying a Selvedge jean. The name comes from the process of using the outer edge of the sheet of denim to create the leg section of the jean (the ‘self binding edge’) which is finished off with a clean white seam to contain the edge of the weave and prevent it from unravelling. This helps to maintain the strength of the denim, giving an overall higher quality product designed to last years. The ‘Red Listed’ line you can see on the seam edge on this pair was originally used to denote which factory denim was being produced in, but nowadays it’s purely used for aesthetic reasons.
The ED-80 comes in a very flat tone of colour with zero wash ‘effects’, it’s designed to have character added to it over the course of a few years of wear. It’s worth taking note of advice passed around by various denim specific blogs online to work out the best way of taking care of your jeans, and how to go about wearing details into your denim without the need to wash it regularly. Denim by nature is a very hardwearing fabric designed to take a beating. This pair in particular fit’s slightly slimmer than the ED-55, with a slight tapered fit around the leg.
The skinniest fit in our Edwin selection, the ED-85 is much more suited to those who prefer a form fitting jean. A very clean presentation with very minimal wash effects aside from the addition of a slight stacking pattern behind the knee. It’s definitely the sort of jean you’d benefit from doing a bit of research into to guarantee the correct fit as this may be tighter around some areas more than others. Overall a nice classic colourway which will last a longer lifetime than your average skinny jean due to Edwin’s considered production methods.
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