We have been stocking Natural Selection denim jeans for a year now and have been extolling their virtues to one-and-all. Natural Selection is built on a Darwinian concept of constant evolution and with our latest collection of jeans now on the shelves you can witness a change to a cleaner style without any noticeable branding. These jeans are all about the cut and the denim. American jean making in the 1940's is widely seen as the pinnacle of the craft, Natural Selection's range of Origin of Species jeans make the most authentic reference to this era possible, uncompromising on choice of denim and craftsmanship. The rest of the Natural Selection collection stocked at Regent all feature some of these key details, if you want to know the differences come and ask us. If you have ever wondered what all the fuss can be about with a pair of jeans, here are a few of the details that mark out a pair that have been lovingly made over those mass-made high street offerings.
The back pocket attached with
hidden rivets
Selvedge denim is a phrase that everyone seems to use but no one really understands. Woven on narrow width vintage shuttle looms, you can see the contrast colour of the fabric edge on the outside leg seams. The imperfections of the shuttle moving in an old machine and often on old wooden floorboards lead to "Loom Chatter" giving the quintessential and individual character of this beautiful denim. There's a lot of material you can read on the internet about denim, we would recommend shitdenim.com as a great place to start.The coin pocket, cut from the edge of the fabric, you can see the selvedge inside the top edge of the pocket. This means that the grain of the coin pocket is perpendicular to the rest of the jean, more evident as you wear the jean in.
Hidden rivets, an innovation by Levi's in the late 1930's, the rivets were used in the corners of the pocket for reinforcement. The pocket was then finished with denim covering the rivet which had previously been exposed. The rivets can now only be seen from inside the jean.
Back pocket attachment, after riveting some very skilled stitching is needed to attach the back pocket smoothly, joining the thick rivet-holding top corners of the pocket to the body fabric of the jean.
 Triangular stitch pattern around the center button |
 Five thread overlock stitching on the inside seam and selvedge detail |
Chain stitched seat, look inside the jean from the top and all of the stitching should be neat felled with all of the fabrics rolled into each other and the waistband attached by chain stitching that is neatly tucked into the ends of the waistband.
Triangular stitch pattern, centered around the center front button this is now purely a cosmetic detail but is the neatest method and a sign of craftsmanship.
Five thread overlock, the inside leg seam of the jean has a clean single stitch line visible from the outside, disguising a complex seam technique of overlock, chain and single needle stitching that the early pioneers found to be durable, flexible and versatile.
Not all of these details are visible but they were all originally developed for a reason. Modern factories may have found cheaper methods that can circumnavigate these features but in the long run the original ways are sometimes still the best and you'll have a pair of lovingly made jeans for many more years.