I've always wondered about how much the quality of the manufacturing matters. I've had probably a dozen pairs of jeans in as many years, and on average they fail after wearing them for 100-200 days of light usage (e.g. office, not gardening). However, despite them not being particularly high quality manufacturing, the part that always fails is the fabric itself, not the seams/edges. Is that the expected lifetime of denim? Would jeans that are 2x the cost have denim that lasts 2x as long? Does the quality of craftsmanship matter if the fabric is what fails first?
Denim in $150-300 japanese levis stye reproduction jeans is 50-100% heavier duty than department store jeans. 12-25oz per square yard vs 6-10 in department store. I get 3-5 years before I start getting holes. I do white collar and home improvement in mine. I imagine the toughest users would get 18 months-2 years before crotch or wallet/phone holes appear. Holes can be darned or repaired anyways.
The construction isn't always better depending on brand. Some maintain reproduction details like 100% cotton thread. But the denim is definitely better. The price is in the denim, details, and 3rd construction for most brands. Some brands have extremely high end in all 3 and those are the ones at $325+
i've worn my 13oz raw denim everyday for 2 years and they still look new and are incredibly soft. the only tares are along the cuff where i folded them and where my buckle corner rubs against the jeans. conversely most levis or similar will fall apart within 6 months for me.
Big John (mentioned in article) uses Levi's old selvedge denim looms and their jeans are fantastic. Also, I believe William Gibson referred to them in Pattern Recognition.
This reminds me of a video I watched about a jeans maker in Japan.
TIL Kojima isn't just a surname (of a famous game designer), but also a town.
For those interested in this, I highly recommend the book "Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style" by David Marx. It talks about how Japan appropriated American prep fashion, then exported it back to the USA.
Has Hideo confirmed this?