IT'S ONLY A PAIR OF F***ING JEANS

Rudy Budhdeo, CEO of Son of a Stag, shares his experience and viewpoint on the value of denim.

Our store Son of a Stag is a watering hole for all the denim heads and designers who shop for inspiration as we very likely carry the widest choices of selvedge denim jeans - certainly top-tier Japanese brands. However, we welcome absolutely everyone who is genuinely interested in buying the best pair of high-quality jeans and needs specialist service. On a Sunday, we will occasionally get someone in the store who will protest about the prices charged for these special jeans, which mostly retail between 200 and 300 GBP, and say, "Why are they so expensive - it's only a pair of f**king jeans''.

Actually, NO - it's much more than that from different points of view. So, let's dive into the conversation and avoid being too geeky. The price is built up of many things, from the place where the cotton came from, as that has a bearing on the quality of the fabric, to where the fabric has been woven and dyed (and add to that should you want a vintage finish) and also where it is put together (cut, make, trim).

Let's discuss the making of the fabric, where the most sought-after fabrics are from Japan, especially since Cone Mills White Oak (USA) has ceased trading. Japan is known for producing high-quality manufacturing in all fields, and denim is a particular strength. Most of the best denim in the world comes out of Japan since the old vintage shuttle looms found their way there when the USA moved to modern machinery around the 1950s. These old looms produce a fabric with its own edge (self-edge - abbreviated to selvedge or selvage denim). It is usually woven with contrasting colors on the edge and therefore doesn't need the overlocking that the cheaper, faster production fabrics have to have (listed as openend fabrics). You can normally see the selvedge on the outer edge if you were to cuff the bottom of the jeans. The production is very slow, and these machines need a lot of care; as each breaks down, there will be more limited productions of the narrow-width self-edge denim, making it even more scarce.

I have visited many denim mills, dyeing plants, CMT factories, and Industrial laundries in various countries. I have to confess that Japan has the best production I have personally seen anywhere. I think it is because Japanese people are very proud of producing the best, and pricing is eventually costed as an afterthought, while things in the West are often produced with a price structure in mind.

To the person with the question relating to the pricing, I would like to point out that you get more than what you pay for with Japanese selvedge denim, especially since margins at this level are restricted by keeping the price structure tight to make it affordable. In contrast, the margin on cheaper production jeans mainly attracts much better margins for the retailer. Denim factories, like other factories, can sometimes have extremely poor conditioners for the workers, and child labor has been noted in many. Having visited many manufacturing facilities in Japan, I am pleased to confirm that I have always been very proud to stock the Japanese production in our Son of a Stag store.

A quick browse on our website will show the array of specialist hard to find Japanese brands and also the biggest width within these specialist brands as we are biggest traders of many Japanese brands.

I am proud to say that I have an amazing team that can look after most people's denim dreams.