My creative love for Matt and Carrie Eddmensons' brand Imogene+Willie is well documented here and here. I became fast friends and a fan of their amazing style two years ago when they first opened their denim shop in the then growing 12 South district in Nashville, Tennessee.
While hanging with Carrie at El Cosmico's Trans-Pecos Festival of Music & Love in Marfa, Texas last September, she custom-fitted me with a pair of their handmade Barton rigid jeans. I haven't taken them off since.
For the past couple of months I've been on the road, finishing photo shoots for the upcoming issue of Refueled, and I love the way my Bartons have begun to break in. The raw, premium selvedge denim, from Cone Mills in Greensboro, North Carolina, has given and formed perfectly to my body - creating a soul of their own. The Barton's moderate slim-straight with the lower rise was definitely the right fit for me, and Carrie knew it.
Selvage denim is made on old-style shuttle looms rather than modern, projectile looms. In simple terms, this means during the fabric weaving process, the cross-thread goes back and forth as one continuous thread, rather than as individual threads for each cross weave. As a result, selvage denim has a clean edge. Modern, single thread weaving has a frayed edge.
Traditionally the fabric made on shuttle looms was so narrow, a pair of jeans required approximately 3 yards of fabric. To maximize yield, jean-makers used the fabric all the way to the selvage edge with a straight outside seam. When the cuff is turned up, the two selvedge edges, where the denim is stitched together, can be seen. The selvage edge is usually stitched with a colored thread and on vintage jeans, you'll find red, white, green, yellow thread running down the edge. Imogene+Willie's Barton features their signature orange.
Slimmer from the knee down, Barton works great with my Red Wing boots to my Vans. Check out a pair of Barton jeans or other Imogene+Willie goods online, or drop in and let them custom fit you with one of their handmade, premium selvedge denim jeans.
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