Selvedge refers to how the fabric has been woven, whereas raw refers to the wash or lack thereof on the fabric itself. In order to understand how manufacturers make selvedge denim, we first have to understand a little bit about textile manufacturing in general. Almost all woven fabrics are composed of two parts with two parts: warp yarns the ones that run up and down and weft yarns the ones that run side to side.
To weave a fabric, the loom holds the warp yarns in place while the weft yarn passes between them. The difference between selvedge and non-selvedge fabrics is all a matter of how the weft yarn is placed into the fabric. Up until the s, almost all denim was produced on Shuttle Looms. A shuttle loom is a weaving textile loom which uses a small device called a shuttle to fill in the weft yarns by passing back and forth between both sides of the loom.
This leaves one continuous yarn at all the edges so the fabric self seals without any stray yarns. How warp and weft fabrics intertwine on a shuttle loom.
Most shuttle looms create a textile that is about 36 inches across. This size is just about perfect for placing those selvedge seams at the outside edges of a pattern for a pair of jeans.
An example of how the quarters of a pair of jeans conveniently line up along the selvedge of shuttle woven denim. The demand for more denim after WWII, however, soon forced mills to adopt mass-production technology. Very few factories in the world still use shuttle looms and for a while the Japanese had a near-monopoly thanks to that nation's fascination with all things immediately post-war American though the most famous denim mill in history was Cone Mills in Greensboro, North Carolina that produced denim for Levi Strauss - so yes, this denim will be more expensive.
While most selvedge denim tends to be raw there is no actual connection between the two terms. Raw simply means the denim has not been pre-washed - which is why if you wear white sneakers with new raw denim jeans you will seen find they have turned blue. Real denim heads will tend to swear by raw denim as well as to refuse to wash their jeans as with wear and tear rather than with detergent it develops a unique look that - in their opinion - gets better over the years.
You might think the same might not be said for the smell but a true aficionado would say an overnight session in the freezer will sort that problem out. Your jeans that is, not you Robert Johnston. In the world of fast fashion, it is refreshing for some to buy a piece of clothing that will be with them for years to come, gracefully wear and evolve.
One way to identify selvedge from non-selvedge is what is called the selvedge ID. Selvedge ID color varies with the brand and producer. For instance, colored thread was used by Cone Mills to identify the particular fabric used by it's major manufacturers.
Vintage Levi's jeans were originally an all white strip and later had a single red striped selvedge. Lee's had a blue or green strip along one and Wrangler's was yellow. Nowadays, many selvedge denim brands get creative with their selvedge IDs because they know that customers love to show them off. As you can see below, KATO' enjoys this detail of expression.
Also known as dry or unwashed denim, raw denim has not gone through any washing or distressing processes as is typical with other jeans.
As you wear the jeans, the denim will fade at crease points and mold to your body. This essentially creates a moving art piece that showcases your life and active lifestyle that caused the wear. The longer you go before the first wash, the more prominent fading will be.
For this reason, some denim-heads go months or even years before the first wash. Quality raw selvedge is a piece of clothing you don't have to feel strange about wearing nearly every day. In fact, many pride themselves in how fast they can get wear marks on their jeans in the least amount of time, which is done best by wearing them daily and forgoing that first wash for as long as possible.
At one point in time, most of the world's denim was produced in the United States. As time passed, the quality suffered as mass production took priority over more time intensive traditional methods. So where does Japanese denim come in? In the s, Japan entered into the denim business. As Japanese craftsmen began producing denim, some decided to stay true to the traditional methods and dedicated themselves to produce higher quality denim than other regions.
Japan is one of the only places to stay committed to the vintage shuttle-loom produced denim manufacturing process which is costlier and more time intensive.
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