Fit Pics and Progress

Well, last night my Levi's 514x finally reached the point of needing to be cleaned. The Bean had decided to rub her vanilla wafers deep into my leg, and even with a washcloth the stain wasn't coming out... so after being purchased in March/April, they denim is finally going to go for a little swim in the washing machine. I've taken some pics this morning to document their progress so far. The lap whiskers, honeycombing, and wallet fades are pretty prominent. What's more, I have the opposite pocket going a bit too from carrying my cell phone.

What's more, here's the back and some close ups. I hope it can be seen from the images just how... umm... what's the correct adjective? Just how "oily" the denim has gotten. Any trace of rigidity is gone, and it's really loose and... yeah. Not loose in a fit sense, although it definitely has gotten "looser" through wear, but I mean it more like a texture as opposed to "rigid." Too, the color has started to fade to lighter shades of indigo and blue, beginning at the crotch and moving out to the stress points from there. The knees have also bulged incredibly and short of crouching are never tight at all.

What's more, I've also managed to finagle some fit-pics of the various GAP denims that I've picked up. This first selection is of the "skinny" fit in a 34/32. These I've actually already worn for 3-4 days so I'm sure they're not as tight as when I donned them for the very first time. I think the fit is decent, although I can feel my thighs getting bigger as I take on squats more and more at the gym. But, I think the leg taper is decent, and it gives a different aesthetic than anything else I've had in the denim department. Especially when paired with my Clark's Bushacre boots - it's a tapered silhouette going down the leg, and then all of a sudden there's this clunky boot. It's just cool to me. The thigh probably still has some stretch to give before they fit better, but they're a work in progress. The other two though, the Straight and Authentic, haven't been worn at all and still have the tags attached.

Those pictured here are the straight cut - about the same tightness through the thigh as the skinny, but untapered lower down on the leg. You can see how from about the calf down the denim maintains its width, and there's a much wider leg opening. Apparently Blogger won't let me post any more photos on this blog, so the Authentics will just have to wait for my next post, but at least y'all can get an idea of the difference.

November Update - GAP Premium

Well, it's certainly been a while - I have to apologize for not getting anything up. School and papers and work. That's been my life over the last two months. So, I've not really been up to anything new fashion wise. At least nothing that merits documentation online.

One bright spot I did want to talk about was a recent purchase from GAP.com. In the last year they've really been pushing their denim line and have recently released a number of "premium" offerings in all of their men's cuts. See here for their complete premium line.

They've got their cuts organized from slimmest to most roomy as follows. Skinny, Straight, Boot, Authentic, Standard, Easy, Loose: many of them with a premium version. I guess the "Easy" cut is too old-mannish to merit a premium release, and it's relatively impossible to maintain a selvage line in a boot-cut jean. But anyways - these jeans have been a relatively big hit in the premium denim market, inasmuch as their pricepoint (>$90) is much lower than the general competition, and they're just plain old well-constructed jeans.

They're a rigid one-wash jean, so shrinkage is pretty much out of the way at purchase. They sport a pretty deep, even indigo color. The selvage coin pocket is, I think, a really classy touch - although some reviews say it's too "trendy" an inclusion. And of course they're red-line selvage denim. Selvage is usually a sign of higher quality denim, meant to last longer and wear better, although it is important to note that that's not always the case (lest I be crucified on Superfuture or Styleforum). Anyways, from my experience thus far, the jeans aren't fast-faders by any means. They look to be staying dark and fitting well for a long time. In the abuse inflicted on a pair of straights since mid-summer, they hadn't yet really faded yet at all. I've since donated that pair to Jon to help his dating life, and I purchased for myself pairs in the skinny, straight, and authentic cuts. Those ones were too big anyways.

Yeah - they run a bit big. I'll normally wear a 34-waist, and to get a decent fit it's pretty necessary to go down a size in these. The 33-waist straights and authentics fit remarkably well, and while a 33-waist skinny was fine up top, through the thighs it was just too bloody tight. I was able to exchange the pair for a 34 at the store that had the same waist size with the lower half just slightly bigger. I currently don't have fit pics, but I'll be posting them in an *edit* later in the day after the camera finishes charging.

Overall, they're nice jeans - dark enough to pair with a blazer or something slightly more formal, but not beyond their workwear roots either. If I had to say offhand, I think my favorite cut is the "straight" although the rise is a little bit low than I prefer. The "authentic" is similarly cut, although with a higher rise. The "skinny" is just that - although not emasculatingly so. I haven't had any sort of tapered denim before, so the aesthetic is different in that pair, especially when paired up with some chunkier boots. The denim, as I've said before, does not fade quickly at all. Don't be expecting APC-like fades in anything less than 6 months of everyday wear. Too - the quality can't be expected to rival any of the Japanese brands that make their living producing denim: Eternal, Samurai, Sugar Cane, etc (the typical Blue in Green offering). But for their price (and the fact that GAP is consistently running 40% off coupons) they definitely pull their weight.

So, as said, fit pics will be posted within the next day or so. In the meantime, Happy Almost-Thanksgiving!