Tenue de Nîmes

Today we will start with the first (of two impressions) of the Inspiration fair. The show took place on a ship called 'Queen Mary' (what's in a name?) and hosted the most bizarre selection of denim, boots, leather jackets and even dead-stock wanna haves that literally made us seasick. We had never witnessed this bizarre amount of treasures ever before. Unfortunately the prices were as dazzling as the products themselves, but it was great to be able to attend the epic centre of Americana heaven.

More 'Inspiration' later this week.

Our denim trip to Los Angeles, CA has been the most intense jeans tour we made so far. Over the past couple of days we met with the most extraordinary denim brands of the world, we saw the best denim vintage out there and we visited the best retail concepts of the United States. And, as if that was not enough, we had the pleasure to meet the creme-de-la creme of vintage Americana at Rin Tanaka's Inspiration LA, a gathering of the most respected denim and vintage tradesmen of the world.

So although the food is something we can hardly get used to, the amount of kilometers we travelled in a week were just crazy - we collected enough treasures to write about for the next month.

Image taken at the Inspiration LA. More tomorrow.

We at Tenue de Nîmes proudly stock the best jeans brands in the world. Typically these denim brands share a few fundamental elements: A great fit, a lovely fabric, an authentic means of production and last but not least the extraordinary people behind every brand. With this new series of video's, called 'A Few Minutes of Denim', Tenue de Nîmes aims to shine the spotlight on each of them. Not only to give you exclusive 'behind the scenes' peeks, but also to emphasize what we at Tenue de Nîmes believe makes these brands truly one of a kind. This first chapter is all about Tellason's slim, tapered jeans: Ladbroke Grove. Enjoy the show!

Have a look at this product in our Webshop

While the entire country of the Netherlands is in the mood for 'De Elfstedentocht', an ice skating race of nearly 200 kilometers through eleven Northern cities of the country, we received this amazing picture. This pure example of 'denim action' shows Ka-Tjun Hau, a Tenue de Nîmes friend enjoying some real Dutch winter action in Naked & Famous denim.

Ice skating on original Dutch 'Ving' skates with a magnificent pair of Naked & Famous Skinny Guy Broken Twill. We are in love!!

We were aware of the fact that Nigel Cabourn's office was filled with the most incredible vintage clothing one can wish for. Closets full of stuff from the USA and of course the British Army. What we did not know is that Nigel also collected an impressive collection of denim and chambray pieces. Drew was kind enough to show the tip of the iceberg when we were in New Castle to have a look at the Autumn-Winter 2012 collections. In between the regular old school denim jackets and shirts Drew showed us some amazing pieces by Hercules, Sweet Orr and unbranded U.S. navy denim.

I guess you'll understand it took us a little longer than expected before we actually started with the new Nigel Cabourn collection. Enjoy the images. Part II will follow shortly.

We are proud to announce Tenue de Nîmes teamed up with Japan's oldest jeans brand Big John from Japan for a limited edition natural indigo denim. The 'slim-tapered' collaboration refers to the legendary Big John M1002 from 1967 made from a 14.5 oz fabric. By reducing the dyeing of the Kaihara fabric by 25%, the factory emphasized the traditional bright blue color that is referred to in Japanese as 'Ruri'. The color (Lapis lazuli, after a gemstone of intense blue color) is considered one of the seven treasures of Buddhism. The yellow selvage is a tribute to the traditional 1960's fabric made by Cone Mills.

The duo logo patch is made from heavyweight navy blue leather with the Tenue de Nîmes and Big John logo embossed. The pockets of the jeans are lined with original, blue and white Dutch farmer's cloth referring to the world renowned 'Delft's Blauw'. It also references the early Dutch-Japanese trade relationship. Every pair of this edition has a 1st century BC Roman Empire Nîmes top-button.This limited edition consists of just 24 pairs, all of which have been made in Japan.

Have a look at this product in our Webshop

We have been traveling many miles over the last couple of weeks. We met with great brands, many lovely people and saw the best cities of Europe in very little time. Last week we met with our friend Katsu at the Capsule show to have a look at his new Momotaro denims for the winter season of 2012.

He showed us an incredible follow-up of the iconic Momotaro E007-2b jeans. Momotaro made a double indigo blue 0702 jean that is even darker than the E007-2b they released last year. On top of that Katsu showed us the smallest selvage denim ever made. This pair (appr. 15 cm's high) was presented next to one of the most incredible denim wear outs we have see for a long time. Katsu's 'Go to War' jeans were not for sale unfortunately. But they were most defenitly something we did not want to keep away from you guys. More soon.