Selvedge denim fabric-Affordable now?
Selvedge denim is considered the epitome of denim craft and loved by connoisseurs and longed to be understood by the novices. The vintage manufacturing process of making this fabric on old shuttle looms – which are not maufactured any more – by master craftsmen adds to the mystery and enigma of the fabric. Connoisseurs wear it raw for as long as possible without washing and let the jeans create the story of their life on it with individualized patina . In short its just pure love for the denim heads . Japanese selvedge denim is famous for its quality and used by niche and boutique brands who create their masterpieces and retail at high prices – often going upto $300 or more. The price levels ensured that the normal consumers – who did not understand selvedge properly- kept away as they found it difficult to understand why these jeans should be sold at such prices when intricate dry and wet washing processes were also not applied on the jeans. Also there is limited supply of such fabric ensuring that the highest price consumers could get the fabric and maintain the price levels and the ‘selvedge brand value‘. Thus the enigma of selvedge denim sustained and ensured that only real denim heads would go deep down into their pockets to shell out the price for such jeans. But apparel industry has often been turned upside down by aggressive retailers who want to serve the masses with high fashion at most affordable prices. Selvedge denim being a small niche remained away from the radar of such mammoths and ensured it remained accessible to few. However, there is a paradigm shift when you find that mass retailers can lay their hands on such premium products and sell them at their normal retail prices. We give below prices from few different retail brands who are selling selvedge denim in Europe (Spain and France) at prices which were unimaginable before. Most of them have tried to introduce different versions of selvedge including blacks, stretches and other variants. We just mention one or two variants from each.
