Denimhunters is a digital denim destination. Since 2011, we’ve helped denim lovers make educated buying decisions in the pursuit of timeless and adaptable wardrobes stocked with well-made essentials.
With our Raw Denim guides, The Rebel Essentials, and our Well-Made Essentials, we will help you find the best of raw selvedge jeans, leather boots, denim jackets, heavy flannels, and much more. Start your hunt with the guides below.
RAW SELVEDGE JEANS
Looking for the bar-none best pair of selvedge jeans? You’ve got options. We’ve cut it down to a dozen makers of the best men’s selvedge jeans.
DENIM SHIRTS
A well-faded raw denim shirt is a grail for most denimheads. But it’s tougher to fade than your jeans. Here’re 20 shirts worth the work.
DENIM JACKETS
If you need a jacket that can stand the cold and look great for decades, this buying guide is the perfect place to start your hunt.
The Selvedge Masterlist: Our Ultimate Jeans Guide
Looking for the bar-none best pair of selvedge jeans? You’ve got options. We’ve cut it down the best we can, but this list still has more than 20 makers of the best men’s selvedge jeans.
Raw and Ready: The Ultimate Selvedge Denim Jacket List
Whether you’re an expert or a first-time fader, you need a made-to-fade raw denim jacket. This list of 20 fade-primed jean jackets will get you started.
Small-Dollar Selvedge: These Jeans Are Worth Every Penny
Selvedge jeans don’t have to break the bank. We’ve rounded up the best budget raw denim—perfect for your first pair or your next daily driver.
Realign Is Built for Fades and Made in Japan (…where else?)
Realign is a small-batch denim brand born from Robin Denim’s fade obsession. Made in Kojima with Collect Mills fabrics, these jeans deliver modern fits and fades worth chasing.
Tellason Jeans Explained: Fits, Fabrics, and What to Choose
Choosing Tellason jeans comes down to denim weight and fit. This guide breaks down the brand’s Kaihara selvedge fabrics, key cuts, sizing, care, and buying details.
Secret’s Out: Secret Denim 20th Anniversary Moca Weft Review
This 20th Anniversary release is the juiciest secret Oni has ever released. For this Oni Secret Denim review, we got the lowdown straight from the master.
A Little Bit Extra: Big John XXXX-Extra Review
Big John have done it again! The Big John XXXX-Extra jeans prove that the Japanese pioneers do middleweight selvedge denim better than most.
So So Good: The Best Fade-Primed SOSO Denim
Fans know SOSO denim delivers on the brand’s promise of well-made made-to-measure at reasonable prices. Here are their best-fading denims.
Gustin Time: The Selvedge Brand Worth Waiting For
Since 2013, Gustin’s low-cost crowdsourced model has drawn crowds of denimheads. Patience is expected, but we think these jeans are worth waiting for.
Cuts Like a Katana: Samurai Jeans Fit Guide
A favourite brand for those seeking fast-fading heavyweights, Samurai Jeans boast some of the hardest and heaviest raws around.
Slice and Dice: Samurai’s Best Made-to-Fade Shirts and Jackets
Experienced faders know that Samurai shirts and jackets fade like nothing else. Here are six made-to-fade and rally-ready Samurai shirts and jackets.
Unsinkable Style: Who Makes the Best N1, Peacoat, and Duffel?
Naval jackets like the peacoat, the N1, and duffel coat offer the best (and most stylish) protection you can find against the elements.
Knit Picking: How Samurai Has Revived Japanese Cotton
Starting with a single pair of $10,000 jeans in 2013, the Samurai Cotton Project is taking Japanese workwear back to basics with a line of sweats, tees, and denims made with Japanese cotton.
The Best Loopwheeled T-Shirts Money Can Buy
The best loopwheeled T-shirts: With expert advice from Thomas, this guide helps you find the perfect high-quality basic for your wardrobe.
Flannel Roundup: The Best of Heavy and Well-Made Flannels
Up your cold-weather fashion game with one of the best flannels that money can buy. This list guides you to our favourite well-made flannels.
The Best Work Boots and Engineers Money Can Buy
Boots make or break the outfit. If you’re looking for the best heritage boots from the world’s best bootmakers, you’ll find them on this list.
Anchors Aweigh! The Best Naval-Inspired Outerwear of 2024
The falling leaves bring with them a host of new serious cool-weather and cold-weather outerwear from some of our favourite rugged brands.
Got Fades to Show? Join the DH15 Fading Competition
An idea from Denimhunters’ early days is making a comeback for the 15th anniversary. There’s also a Copenhagen get-together at Brund, and some new Weirloom jeans launching soon.
GIVEAWAY: Win an Iron & Resin Wardrobe Worth Over $850
Seven pieces from Iron & Resin, enough for two denimhead outfits. I break down the raw selvedge and workwear looks, and how you can enter to win the whole lot.
Is Selvedge Denim Really Worth an Extra Hundred Dollars?
What does selvedge really add to a denim jacket? Plus lessons from Year 5’s Top 20 and a Kingpins flannel coincidence I didn’t see coming.
What It Takes to Create Winning Raw Denim Fades
What does it actually take to create great raw denim fades? We asked leading Year 5 finishers how they chose, wore, washed and repaired their jeans—and turned their answers into seven lessons for any raw denim wearer.
Why These San Francisco Denim Jackets Skip Selvedge
Tellason Stock keeps the San Francisco cut-and-sew and raw-denim character of the brand’s selvedge jackets, but uses wider modern-loom Cone denim to bring both jackets below $200.
Flannel Season Is Finally Here—and I Want Another One
Why SOSOBROTHERS’ heavyweight ombrés have caught my eye, plus 40 Indigo Invitational spot prizes, American selvedge on historic Draper looms, and DH15 at Brund.
Heavyweight Ombré Flannels, Made to Order Your Way
SOSOBROTHERS lets you choose between Western, Work and Mechanic styles, then you can adjust the measurements. This article looks at the 13.5 oz. range, and the softer new 12.5 oz. brown.
Best of the Rest: Indigo Invitational Y5 Spot Prizes
Indigo Invitational Y5 faders who missed the main showcases still earned recognition for standout fades, repairs, style and contributions to the community.
3 Popular Raw Denim Care Myths That’re Totally Busted
When it comes to raw denim care, there’s no shortage of false assumptions and myths. In this member resource, I bust three of the most common ones; freezing your jeans, washing them in the ocean, and waiting six months before you wash.
Sashiko for Selvedge: A Step-by-Step Beginner’s Guide
No sewing experience needed. This covers everything you need to start doing sashiko repairs on your jeans—even your heavy selvedge ones.
How To Make Raw Denim Last Longer [Video Guide]
When you wear raw denim for months without washing it, you often wear out the denim much quicker than what you might expect.
After a lot of trial and error, I discovered that I could make my raw denim last longer AND get great fades with this super simple denim care trick.
How Denim Is Made: Fabric Finishes
This final episode of my “how denim is made” series discusses how the two kinds of fabric finishes impact the way denim looks and behaves. The trick is to use this knowledge to your advance a make it part of the story you tell.
How Denim Is Made: Weaving
In this fourth episode in the series about how denim is made, you’ll learn how denim is woven and why denimheads prefer shuttle-loomed denim.
How Denim Is Made: Indigo Dyeing
In this third episode in the series about how denim is made, you’ll learn about natural and synthetic indigo, and the differences between rope dyeing and slasher dyeing.
How Denim Went From Workwear to Fashion Statement
Storytelling is a great way to get your customer excited about what you’re selling and to demonstrate your competency. The hard part is not telling the story, it’s how you tie it together with the specific features and benefits of what you’re selling. That’s what this article helps you do.
How Designer Jeans Broke Through the Mainstream
In this part 2 of my history of jeans overview, you’ll learn how ‘designer jeans’ broke through the mainstream, plus how to tell the story when you’re selling.
How the Japanese Pioneered Heritage Fashion
In this 4th part of my series about the history of jeans, you’ll learn how the Japanese built a cult around Americana, which evolved into heritage fashion.
The Durable and Practical Defining Features of Jeans
In this first episode of the series about the defining features of jeans, I look at four features that originally served practical purposes, and how those purposes have changed.
The Innovative Features That Define the Modern Jean
When you know how the defining features have evolved, you can build better narratives about the jeans you’re selling by putting them into a bigger picture.
The Defining Features That Help Us Keep Our Jeans Up
In this free guide, I will look at all of the features that jeans makers use—and have used—to make our jeans fit right, and more importantly, not fall down while you’re wearing them.
The Denim Encyclopedia by Denimhunters is a knowledge base with answers to frequently asked questions about denim and jeans, as well as explanations of how denim and jeans are made.
The Encyclopedia is divided into sections, each with its own homepage where its entries are listed with brief descriptions and links to read more. The Encyclopedia is continuously updated with new entries.
DENIM EXPLAINED
This section of the Encyclopedia is home to everything that relates specifically to the denim fabric. You’ll find answers to all your questions about denim and how it’s made.
JEANS ANATOMY
Many of the features that define blue jeans started as pragmatic solutions to the problems. Here you’ll find answers to questions about the details of jeans and how they’re made.
VOCABULARY
Every business has its own vocabulary. This section lists and explains the most common and frequently used terms from the world and jeans and denim.
A-Z
Here you’ll find all entries of the Denim Encyclopedia in alphabetical order. Each entry is explained briefly – you can read more by clicking the link.
Cuffing is not only a practical way of making your jeans shorter without having to cut and sew, it also looks great.
This guide explains the eight most common ways to cuff your jeans.
If you need to wash your jeans, but you don’t want to change the way they look, wash them by hand.
It’s the most gentle way you can wash your jeans because there is less agitation, which less risk of unwanted creases.
In this section of the Denim Encyclopedia, we investigate and debunk the myths about how to wash raw denim, including not washing for 6 months, ocean washing, dry cleaning and more.
