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Guys! Our sample yardage fabric arrived today and OHMYGOD it was love at first sight.

Bobbin is totally enamoured with the super-saturated, dark, beaten-look, natural indigo warp and weft, 14.5 oz red selvedge denim. And me with the ridiculously quirky, hand-loomed khadi denim with all its perfect irregularities, strong linear character, bright natural indigo and surprisingly supple hand which we have named our 'river denim' (the fabric is washed and beaten in the river to sanforize it WHUUUT)

FIRST pictures below - we welcome your thoughts!

And for those who have emailed us for swatches we'll be sending them out early next week (once I've OK'd Bobbin's packaging proto)

Khadi 'river denim'


Natural ixi

We're totally blown away by the response to this, on C-T and reddit! You guys are AWESOME

just recieved my samples, sign me up!

river denim looks like something I'd happily fondle all day long

Pics of packaging

Going to send a mailout to everyone who mailed to get a sample/jump on the mailing list tonight or tomorrow. Im really glad swatches are turning up - though I wonder if any of the indigo lasted? We put a little indigo powder stencil of our logo on the reverse in the hopes it'd rub off onto carriers fingers and re-mark the envelope.

So art.

i await a fit with a 12.5+ inch upper thigh with bated breath. that's the only thing holding me back from robocopping a pair.

they'll fit like new standards

i hope the pockets are bigger tho

Can confirm actual useable pockets will be a feature.

will you be doing coin pockets?

Yep! The original had this kind of coin pocket, and I really like it. I'm generally not a fan of them because I find them useless, but this one's pretty useful and looks really nice - it'd be invisible if it didn't have the stitching at the top.

The two new fabrics look amazing!!!!

I'm not sure I'll be able to decide which one to get.

Smiles, they're even nicer in person! I was saying to Katy that you'd like the 2-dip. KT and I are in an internet cafe in India right now and we've been cut off from the internet for DAYS. Haven't been able to take our site live or upload content for it.


On the plus side, we've got so much to be excited about!

Mad jealous of your indian adventures and can't wait to hear all about it. Germ and I went to Brick Lane and that was almost the same thing I guess.

I lived on Brick Lane for almost 3 years, I still miss it. House was a deathtrap - but it was our deathtrap.

How did you leave your house at night without being cajoled into every restaurant on the street?

A teaser? For a collection? Say whaaaaat?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

How long until you have a finished product in your hands? i'd love to see it in person (and hang out with you both)

It's looking like end of Jan for a finished sample - fancy meeting up then?

Where are you planning on marketing? I know you've got c-t (obviously) and rapgenius.com/rawdenim.

I've posted it on Reddit and here, other than that nowhere. Don't want to push it on anyone so I'm hoping someone will post a topic on other places so I can start up a convo.

www.storymfg.com is live!

i saw that you said the cotton is organic. are there any plans to source cotton, fabric, or parts more locally than india/the u.k. or u.s?

The cotton is local to the mill (in India) and we're located in the UK (no cotton here sadly). We did very earnestly try to get denim made in the UK, but we quickly realized that it was a bad idea (leave it up to the experts).

Chatted with Paul from SEH Kelly when I was in London and he said getting cotton in the UK is absurdly hard - they have one supplier of basic shirting cotton but really struggle with cotton. I've no idea whether denim in the UK is even a little feasible. Hiut get denim done in Japan or Turkey.

Also what kind of 'organic' practices does the farm use? Obviously it's not USDA certified organic, so there are different standards. Is it regulated in India? A lot of times terms like "natural" etc. don't correspond to actual practices so I'm just curious. Do they use synthetic pesticides? Fertilizers? Or GMO cotton? Do they compost/cycle nutrients or rotate crops?

I'm just now learning about all of this so I'm asking from both a pure curiosity and a concerned customer standpoint.

The organic cotton may not be USDA, you're right, but it is certified by the Control Union Certification in the Netherlands. We were given a quick lesson in the procedures, and there are no synthetic pesticides, and the waste is organic. Crops are rotated as you say and the only additive is manure.

I have no notes in my book about GMO/Non GMO, though in all honesty I think I'd have to do a little more research to discover where I would personally fall on that particular line.

This information relates to the cotton from our Northern Denim (River Denim/Natural indigo x natural indigo). The cotton from our Southern Denims (Hank 2, Hank 8) are also organic, though we were not able to do a farm visit. I will find out more, but I have to confess that I believe that India is pretty up on these issues. A huge amount of their economy comes from textiles, and more than any country they have had to not only adapt to the changing market but in many ways they pioneer. Farms that purport to be organic but use non organic practices simply won't survive in the face of the kind of scrutiny the industry comes under.

You can probably imagine how we feel about this too. We're both fanatics about detail and the story - and I think I might drive Katy bonkers constantly worrying if we're creating unnecessary waste. I'm a stickler for words, and you're right that the word 'natural' can be used willy nilly when actually the placement is important. For example:

1. Natural indigo dyed.
2. Dyed with natural indigo.

1. means the product was dyed naturally, without the use of chemicals, and 2. means dyed with natural indigo (from a plant) but does not mean the process was natural.

Our northern denims are dyed with natural indigo, making them already extremely special, but the process uses chemicals in the reaction to dye the yarns. This means the yarns only need to be dipped twice to get a deep, rich colour. It's easier for the dyers (or the machine), and is less time consuming while still being artisan and lovingly cared for.

Our southern denims are natural indigo dyed, in a pit which uses a fermentation method to dye yarns. No chemicals are added, and the bacteria strain in the pits is the same strain that was introduced 20 years ago when the pits began. These pits are some of the last left on earth, and the process leaves nothing but completely organic waste that can be put back into the land (this post is not on our site yet). To get the same colour on the yarns as 2 dips gives on the Northern Denims you'd have to dip and dry the yarns around 12 times on the southern denim.

After visiting and seeing the processes, we're happy with both these methods for the respective fabrics. Everyone involved in what we're doing has a similar vision of creating beautiful things in ways that are kind and natural to the environment and all involved.

Thank you for the response -- I really admire how much you guys are involved in the process. How other brands produce everything can be such a mystery, it's really great to be able to see it all happen. I'm of course also glad to hear that the farm is certified and that the family cares too!

I never thought to look at the website haha! Very cool stuff, I love the pictures. I also noticed on one post that there are two different price points. What's the difference between the natural indigo x natural indigo and the River Denim?

edit: nevermind that last question, I think I've got it now!