Huckberry’s Best-Selling In-House Jeans Get a Japanese Shuttle Loom Upgrade

Huckberry maintains one of the best-curated selections of wholesale accessories and apparel on the internet. While the Austin-based company is a go-to source for cool products and respected brands, it has quietly built a substantial in-house roster that covers the full spectrum of wardrobe needs.

Most of the brands, like Proof, Wills and Luca, are small and specialized, but Flint & Tinder is the flagship and could easily stand on its own as a full-service apparel brand. One category it does really well is jeans, and its selection just got even better with the addition of a Japanese stretch selvedge denim.

Huckberry

Flint and Tinder’s new Japanese Stretch Selvedge Denim was a pet project for the brand’s Design Director, and noted denim head, Nick Kemp. His goal was to create something that retained the look and feel of well-loved vintage denim with just enough stretch baked in to negate a break-in period.

To execute his vision, Kemp went to Kaihara Mills, one of Japan’s oldest textile manufacturers. Its vertically integrated facilities produce close to half of all Japanese denim annually and supply premium lines for big brands like Levi’s Blue Label, Lee 101 and J.Crew.

Huckberry

The result is a 12.5-ounce selvedge denim made from 98-percent cotton and 2-percent elastane, woven on vintage shuttle looms.

It is constructed with extensive chain-stitching and features details like punch-through metal rivets, bar tacks, reinforcing “pocket bags” and selvedge detailing on the ticket pocket.

Kemp stopped short of including a rivet button fly, which is a personal preference of mine, but it is otherwise a spot-on vintage-inspired design.

Three fades

The Japanese Stretch Selvedge Denim debuts in three distinct washes, each standing in for different stages of a pair of jeans’ lifespan. Notably, there is no raw, unwashed or “single wash” option.

Huckberry

In order of fade, the Dark Wash has the appearance of jeans that have been thoroughly broken in over a year or two. Next comes the Medium Wash, which resembles a typical thrift shop find that has been lovingly worn for a decade or so. Finally, there is the Light Wash, which has a look that would require years of near-daily wear to achieve.

Tapering off

Flint and Tinder only offers its new slightly-stretchy Japanese selvedge in the HB Athletic Tapered fit. Huckberry conveniently maintains a universal fit system across all of its in-house brands, and this particular one fits the “athletic” category, blending a loose seat and thigh with a tapered leg.

Huckberry

HB Athletic Tapered is designed to create a slim silhouette without a constricting feeling from the thigh up. It has the narrowest leg opening of any Huckberry fit at just 14 inches.

Off the cuff

Of course, the critical detail of any selvedge jean is the exposed end. Used to mark the end of a spool of denim, the iconic red stitch running through a white ribbon of fabric has gone from a niche flex to a common preference.

Kemp’s design represents how far the demand for “old-fashioned” denim has come, even if it is augmented with some stretch for a modern audience.

Huckberry

Availability and pricing

Flint and Tinder’s Japanese Stretch Selvedge Denim is available now from Huckberry for $178. I hope this is just the start of a relationship between Kemp and Kaihara Mills, and a lot more great jeans come of it.

Huckberry

Flint and Tinder Japanese Stretch Selvedge Denim

• $178 at Huckberry

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