Me wearing 06 Lightening Savage
So what makes Neighborhood Jeans so exquisite and expensive? Well, like many other over-priced things in this world, there are many reasons. Though in my opinion the jeans they make ARE severely over priced for the quality, there truly are only a few brands of denim makers that produce washes and effects that can match those of Neighborhood's.
1. Levi's (primarily the Japanese Label LVC)
2. DiorHomme
3. Undercover
In terms of quality, till this day, I STILL don't know what exactly determines the quality of a pair of jeans, I've tried Diesel, A.P.C., Seven, Banana Republic, DKNY, Gap, Levi's, Express, Tough Jeans, some weird brands, and finally Neighborhood.
However, from my personal research on my spare time and my own experiences wearing these jeans, I've come to a few points that determine a good pair of jeans, and I will try my best to incorporate these points with the 06 Lightening Savage that I have.
1. Fabric
First and foremost, the jeans are made to be tough and durable, not some thin, sissy cottons that breaks and tears with a few stretches, I don't even wear them THAT tight for this to happen.
But how do we determine the fabrics though? Honestly I can not tell for sure, but this observation NEVER failed me.
According to reliable sources, good fabrics are weaved tight and neat to produce a stronger durability for the jeans, the quality of the cotton matters a lot too; to determine BAD cotton, simply rub the fabric of your jeans vigorously to see if the little cotton balls appear; good cotton fabrics are less likely to produce cotton balls, unless the threads used are ultra tiny and thin that breaks easily, but that isn't the case for denim jeans.
Secondly, just take a look at the color and overall appearnce, good stuff just have that good look, here is a picture of AUTHENTIC CONE MILL XX DENIM(unwashed):
Thirdly, if you can, just put your hands on the fabric and feel it, compare it to other jeans that you like; the differences are ESPECIALLY apparent when you rub and squeeze the jeans that are raw but broken in versus cheaper denims. Good denims generally have a solid, dry, firm feel to it whereas cheaper denims have a papery, loose feel to them (If that makes any sense).
Now, NBHD is notorious for its savage and destroy effects; for this reason, I can't help but feel that if I work them hard like I do with the A.P.Cs and Levi's the jeans will stay healthy; the destroyed jeans are named "destroyed" for a reason, they are supposed to appear as exploited and damaged severely.
However, NBHD jeans still stand quite strong in this department, I am not the type of person that will wear jeans like they're suits, I treat the NBHD jeans like they don't exist at times and stretch, work, even played basketball in them before, I would say that in terms of quality, NBHD jeans aren't really up there for the price, but they ARE definitely durable.
2. Details
Though a very very detailed pair of jeans does NOT suggest higher quality, it does suggest higher cost, labor, and creativity. Neighborhood wins in this department by implementing all kinds of details that many other denim makers fail to make; Neighborhood IS NOT a jeans company to begin with, but you can tell that the designer had put much effort to his products from the massive amount of details. Below are a few pictures that proves my point, all pictures are of 06 A/W Lightening Savage:
The buttons, not only this one but ALL the buttons have a washed and vintage look to them.
Threads and stitches are a major detail too, most real old school jeans like Levi's had ALWAYS used more than 3 kinds/colors of threads, I don't know for what purpose, but it brings out the existence of the threads, which play very important role for the quality of the jeans.
The patch and the lightening effect, both are known to be very time consuming to create. NBHD didn't really hesitate on these effects as they are strikingly beautiful.
Chain stitch derived from the old school jeans, it symbolizes "classic", it is only with chain stitches that a wave-like wash at the bottom of the jeans can be created, however, it is easily broken and too much unnecessary threads are used so abandoned by most jeans makers; NBHD used it to suggest that they stick to traditional denim making.
The broken part is just a sidekick that most jean makers already do (or only know how to do to create vintage effect.)
3Here is just some nice details NBHD put in; the cross strengthen stitches and other decorative but functional stitches.
Another unnoticeable detail that NBHD put in, a purposely broken lines of threads that suggest the vintage feel.
There are other things such as the selvedge lines, stains, tears, star stitches, but they are minor and easily imitated, so I won't put too much effort on mentioning them.
Keep in mind that all these effects are hand made, not machines!
From these we can see that NBHD is significantly supeiror in terms of the effort to put as much necessary details as they can. What I love about the Lightening Savage is that it has just the RIGHT amount of destroy effects, unlike the Wolverine or Flash which is seriously abusing the stitching and patching to the extreme; making the jeans unrealistic in a way.
3. Washes
If we abandon the perspective of quality and just look solely on the washes and fades, I will spend $150+ for a Gap jeans that have the same washes as NBHD, because the washes NBHD produces are simply DOPE. There will not be example pictures, I've posted a long list of NBHD jeans before and you can compare on your own, my point is, the designer really knows the physical attributes that create logical and realistic fades and whiskers, on top of that, he incorporated unique shapes and images such as the lightening and patches on the jeans.
Most popular brands TO DATE still produce washes that simply DON'T MAKE SENSE. I don't understand why somebody will spend more than the raw material costs for jeans like these:
...All of which are attempting to recreate the stress and destroyed effects but with NO legitimate understanding of basic human anatomy and denim structures, it's almost like they just threw a few strokes as "whiskers" and a few patches to make it look used.
Anyway, here are some example of real nice and realistic washes:
And of course the main topic, Lightening Savage:
Of course some will still speculate that there's no way anyone can naturally see these type of washes; but then do understand that these manufacturers KNOW but then they are only being creative about it, because these washes do appear natural, the whiskers and fades are carefully calculated and implemented by hands.
4. Rarity
The most important factor forcing the price of NBHD jeans to sky rocket is probably its rarity; just as any other rare, hard-to-find items, be it cars, houses, or purses. However, this is only true when the item itself IS valued as high quality standards; no one will spend $400+ for a pair of "rare" Old Navy Jeans.
Exactly how hard it is to obtain a pair for a reasonable price of NBHD jeans? picture this, the day the line of jeans are released, 200+ people had already camped outside the stores three days before. Unless you are willing to put that much effort, you will not likely to obtain a pair given your identity is just a normal human being.
The limited amount Neighborhood produced its jeans causes dramatic price increase; and the fact that Neighborhood never really recycle its same washes and models, causes even higher rarity for their jeans, take the legendary 04 ripper for example, it was priced at $250 for retail and sky rocketed to around $1200 today, showing NO SIGNS of decline, because we can not get another pair!
Oh well, these are about as much as I know about my jeans; I would say that the NBHD jeans are some of the BEST jeans out there in terms of looks and feels; the design and detail is crazy; you can feel the effort that the company puts in it, I appreciate greatly for people wiling to create their own stress effects by ordering and even designing these little details one by one.
I think the price is still too high, however, I wish this sets up a standard for all popular brands out there to really encourage their designers to create base on the true attributes of jeans in stead of throwing bunch of tears and stains to convince the consumers that they are unique.
Don't get me wrong, I am not hogging on NBHD jeans, I am just saying that they are one of the few brands out there that actually DO THE DENIMS RIGHT!
Alright I'm tired, hope this post had been helpful, peace out!
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