5 of the 10 Best Denim Brands Every Man Should REALLY Know (The Final 5)

[@LeadLeftLeon]

My fav Iron Heart Momotaro and Samurai. Iron Heart and Momotaro have a distinct premium look. Samurai for crazy fabrics when you’re denim nerding.

[@TheGraysain]

the Oni secret for when you don't need to fit jeans around a boot, and the new Iron Heart slubby 634 for when you do, has been a dream slubby combo of mine.

[@RalphJacob]

I know all too well, the awesomeness that is Oni Denim. The Kiraku and Shiba (a Denimio exclusive) have served me well. Looking to complete the trilogy.

[@rjacob06]

I was hoping that you would mention Tanuki jeans. Oh well, it's still a solid list overall and I have owned a pair of jeans from each of the 5 you mentioned in this video.

[@CeeAreDee]

Weirdly I don’t think they got a mention at all.

[@Heinester]

Love Tanuki 👍

[@markfox6786]

Technically, if you count the Oni tanuki collab...🤔

[@tyt5216]

Your pronunciations were great imo! I love your videos btw. Greetings from Japan :)

[@keithjones4702]

Just received my first pair of Three Kingdoms Overalls. TK903. Zimbabwe cotton. Thick denim. Perfect jeans. Full of details

[@mattjones1512]

Love the breadth of brands. Struggle to see Full Count, The Strike Gold and Warehouse not on the list ;)

[@chrisalexander6307]

I was hoping to see Left field NYC in this list.

[@forrestkenworthy2357]

Wasn't expecting Hiut Denim to be on this list at all, but have been curious about them forever and would love to hear your take.

[@markopolo9936]

Been waiting for this 👍

[@geoffkennedy3923]

I wasn't expecting Rouge Territory on here BUT I would love to hear you talk about them 😊

[@james-broderick]

The slim-straight Stantons were my first raw selvedge denim, and they're amazing, 8 years later. :)

[@FilmaticProductions]

Great video!!! I've been following your channel for a year and you've given me so much knowledge! So far, the only brand I have on this Top 10 list are two pairs of Iron Heart jeans: Self Edge x Iron Heart 21oz 634S and Iron Heart 25oz 888s. Thanks to your insights, I have my eyes set on a pair of 25oz Samurai jeans for my birthday, which is only weeks before the Year 3 Indigo Invitational, which will be a great chapter in my selvedge journey!

[@SteveBIRK]

I miss my pair of Samurai's. One day I'll get another pair but until I lose the weight I want to I'll be happy with my unbranded jeans. Great video!

[@camerondarlington]

Tellason!!!!!

[@TheLostHobbitTour]

I was looking for Nudie Dry Ace Selvedge edition

[@LeadLeftLeon]

My fav Oni Aizumi but with white or grey weft

[@CAFEAE319]

Loved all the metaphors

[@yasardoganay2889]

Momotaro and Oni Denim maybe did this collab Momotaro 666st line jeans i think you should check it.(But i am not sure it is colabration with Oni denim.However it is monotaro jeans)

[@CeeAreDee]

Hmmm. Never heard of Momo doing a colab with them. I need to check that out.

[@chawenhalo0089]

Thank you for giving us a short history of those key denim brands that are today such a important part of denim culture. One we rarely hear about but that I would compare to USA's Levy's is "Big John". Not a small workroom artisan denim jeans manufacturer by any means, but certainly the one brand that enabled all others to exist. Let's not forget that without the industrial muscle to import then produce denim and machinery, none would exist. So we can all thank Big John lol. Not suprised Naked & Famous are not on the list. Love the brand for it's sense of inovation and fun...but too much lightweight and silly series. Would love to see their serious side comiting to some own made home grown Canadian yarn or something. You know, for N&F to stick their foot where that very large mouth f theirs is!

[@mickporter84]

Thoughts on budget selvedge brands like Uniqlo for example?

[@ngopibareng17]

Oldblue Made Indonesia can be seen, please try to see its beauty

[@jasonmitchell5219]

Well eight out of ten is not bad. No Bravestar and I've still to buy Ironheart, yet. No great rush at the moment as I've still a few pair of others that need worn. The ONI type three is awesome Matt. I bought it after buying and loving their heavy 'secret' black jeans for winter which including their' normal 'secret' jeans are pretty much all I've been wearing in the cold. I keep forgetting to ask you for speed, as I know you mentioned it in an older video, what's the name of the company where you bought that solid 'smack in the face' ring called again. Cheers and regards, Jason.

[@Greybuiltracing]

Maybe someone be can help me . I want to buy a good pair of jd and where them to work . I work as a stone technician which is a fancy way of saying stone restoration guy . I sand and polish marble floors and natural stone tile in general . With the price and all, should I wear them to work? The work does tend to get mess at times but not always. This means i would have to wash them . But I would be wearing them everyday and hopefully getting cool fades .. what should I do? I don’t want to wear the indigo out too much … help por favor

[@jrock5830]

Love my goddamn Iron Heart 634. The slubby thing was something that I never fully appreciated this aspect until now. And I really love SOSO and their bespoke support - I don’t care that these are not purist manufactured in Japan. We create what we want. Lots of range.

[@johnnyregs2378]

Soso is definitely a cool concept and I appreciate the bespoke aspect but the build quality just isn't there. The fabrics offered are great but there's endless accounts of them just falling apart in a few weeks or months. There's tons of highly skilled denim workers in Thailand, no reason that Soso cant utilize some of them and up the build quality but still keep costs reasonable.

[@muhammadrifkiali2030]

no fullcount?

[@CeeAreDee]

The showed up at 14 or 15 I think.

[@brandonmcneil3555]

I'm a big fan of about half of the brands that made the cut. I've got a couple pairs of Iron Heart, Oni, and Big John (THE OG of Japanese denim, but no way they are making the list, unfortunately). Was in Japan last summer and go to swing by a bunch of these places in person, and TCB stands head and shoulders above for just being accessible and generally super into their product. Ryouta showed me around the shop and factory (2nd floor and 1st floor of the same building) and walked me through the history and process behind each of their pieces. It was a crash course in the history of denim. I ended up with a type one jacket, and the level of detail is crazy. They sourced period pieces (jackets AND machines) so that the stitching would be identical, down to all of the quirks of the original pieces: the triangle onigiri where the stiching changes direction, the asymmetry of the two sides when buttoned up because of the original sewing process, the material for the rivets and buttons all the way down to sourcing the same grade of cotton. During the war, jeans companies were given restrictions about materials and amounts so things like 5 or 6 buttons was excessive so they were told 4 was enough, ditto the pocket flap which is why it's open, but also the grade of cotton. The military got the highest grade of cotton for their uniforms, jeans had to make due with a lower grade comprised of shorter threads. Most companies don't even supply this anymore apparently, so TCB had to go out of their way to source this lower grade to get the authentic feel and period fades. Wild stuff! If you don't appreciate level of attention to detail, I don't know what else I can tell you. Keep up the good work, man!

[@CeeAreDee]

Ton have to be one of my favourite brands. I go back a long way with the guys. Amazing attention to every aspect of denim.

[@couchsofa2977]

BANZAK looks good and feels good.

[@lowkeybredhead8083]

Japanese vowels - A - ah I-ee U - oo E - eh O - oh 1 or 2 consonant + 1 vowel. Say it in sections. You'll get better! Ganbatte!

[@Crewdbal]

Great video ! Fullcount and Resolute are definitely up there !

[@simonwilson1211]

The jeans channel!

[@mrlolmaster1019]

you need to check out the trailer to this new movie coming out calledbullet train with Brad Pitt, it has a main character or antagonist wearing a type ii and selvedge raw denim

[@mateotrono]

Nice video! Tbh, these brands would have all been closer to a top 5 for me than the first 5. Granted, even picking a top 10 is like picking which of your children is the favorite, never-mind attempting to rank them. One brand which I think deserves a mention is Indigofera.

[@couchsofa2977]

still hunting for momtaro and ironheart

[@alanward4671]

Totally agree with all the good things said about TCB, I love my 50s regular fit. One more compliment I think should go their way for the paper (jacron?) patch. A huge thing for vegetarian or vegan customers, and something I'd like to see more of. Also, as mentioned below, Indigofera are fantastic and I'm a big fan of Pike Brothers. And thanks for another great video!

[@clydebrusca9294]

Lol

[@cootooloo547]

Warehouse?

[@RLSteffler]

I could see 10 brands being above Naked & Famous, but not Nudie and certainly not Brave Star haha

[@roccoVAL]

wait isnt Nudie made by Naked&Famous?? either way they're both blahhh when it come to premium denim

[@LeadLeftLeon]

Tanuki is Oni’s cousin but doesn’t look so good irl

[@LeadLeftLeon]

Strike Gold?!

[@carlwest5936]

Bro have you ever tried uniqlo jeans? I have a $1000+ selvedge collection (N&F, Unbranded, Nudie, APC, Bravestar) and my slim uniqlo kaharia mills jeans are among my favorites for $50 FREAKING BUCKS

[@LeadLeftLeon]

Pbj great slubby denim for skinny guys. If you can stomach tiny leg openings. Pbj is the fashion forward look in Japanese raw denim game

[@couchsofa2977]

either their denim is ugly or they have really bad photographers. i could not bring myself to order ther jeans.