Green was the hardest color in the world to make, and then it was the deadliest. Josh Sirlin on arsenic, Victorian dye houses, and what a real green still costs.
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Rise decides where your leg appears to start, and a tailor cannot fix it afterward. Josh Sirlin on the one measurement worth taking before you order anything.
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Most people put their jeans away in June. I do the opposite. The white core inside a rope dyed yarn, the old looms in Okayama, and what a hot road actually does to a pair of jeans.
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It started as underwear and became the most worn garment on earth. Josh Sirlin on the plain white t-shirt, and how to tell a great one from a cheap one.
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Down is the best insulation on earth and the least understood. Josh Sirlin on fill power, cluster size, and the vest built for a Pacific Northwest winter.
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Flip your cuff. That pale thread is the weft, and it decides more than you think. Josh Sirlin on twill, slub, and the hidden half of denim.
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Harris Tweed is the only cloth in the world defended by its own Act of Parliament. Josh Sirlin on the Orb, the islands, and what tartan really was.
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Black jeans are harder to make than blue ones, and almost nobody says so. Josh Sirlin on sulfur dye, over-dyeing, and how to keep black denim black.
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You cannot buy these colors. Josh Sirlin on creating custom dye colors for Black Bear Brand, the garment wash that follows, and why no two pairs come out the same.
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Indigo is the only dye that leaves on purpose. Josh Sirlin on Japanese indigo, rope dyeing, and the reason blue jeans tell you where you have been.
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The pocket bags in our WOMAN jeans are rose red and nobody will ever see them. Josh Sirlin on hidden details, the Edo merchants banned from looking rich, and why the best part of a garment is the part you keep to yourself.
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The self-edge is a mark of how denim was woven. Sanforized means it fits true and stays there. Josh Sirlin on selvedge, the beauty of fit, and the story a great pair of jeans tells over the years.
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Not pink, not beige, a dusty worn-in rose that looks like it already has a history. Josh Sirlin on how we mixed the Black Bear Brand original, Vintage Rose.
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Almost all denim is dyed with synthetic indigo. Josh Sirlin on the plant-derived blue that came first — and the 13oz Okayama jeans built around it.
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Oxford, poplin, twill, herringbone, chambray. The words get thrown around like they mean quality — they don't, they mean structure. Here's what each one actually does.
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A collarless placket, three or four buttons, and somehow the most useful shirt a man owns. The henley's rowing-club origins and what makes a great one.
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Poor man's velvet, cloth of kings, uniform of rebels and professors alike. Josh Sirlin on why corduroy is the most underrated cloth in a man's closet.
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That subtle, hand-woven texture in a really good tee has a name: slub cotton. Once considered a defect, now the prize — here's what it is, how it's made, and why it has soul.
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Every pair of blue jeans owes its color to one of the oldest, most magical dyes in history. Understanding indigo is the key to understanding why great denim fades the way it does — and why we chase the best of it in Japan.
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Welsh hillsides, American logging camps, and a Seattle music scene all wove the flannel shirt into an icon. Its history — and what separates a great flannel from a flimsy one.
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