Why want Kiya Babzani import, a DJ from New York to shoot for the opening of his old school denim business? It is not as if there are no DJ. Incidentally, there are many denim. San Francisco was the birthplace of Levi Strauss denim-heavy work pants, in 1873. This is also the home of Gap, a different brand casual known in the whole world. But Babzani is very specific about his music - and even more on his jeans. The Japanese craftsmen denim, he sells in his small shop Mission District, Self Edge, as your father 501s, or maybe even your grandmother's - which means probably not much like your. For the boys, mostly in their 20s, the port serigraphiees T's, hoodies and jeans slung low, while nodding in Queens emcee and producer of hip-hop J-Zone, which is clearly a glance value of nearly a week of pay . Throw Back equal parts cool and future, Japanese denim line is completely different than the einlaufresistent artificially most people in distress tissue wear. But in one way, the circle. The thought, not repeats washed denim jeans Levi's was, Lee, Wrangler and other US companies produced by the end of 1960. The imitation is all on the way back to the old plane for this product, and can in the pocket stitching, riveting and closures lightning deaths of stock companies. Selvedge refers to its own "auto edge forms the fabric is woven, as it is based on a narrow shuttle occupation. It is also harder - no matter where from 13 to 15 oz weight of square yard, the highest in some cases, although most of the commercial denim is 12 ounces or less. Think Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", or cowboys, the same pair of jeans for months. Or Levi's celebrates in shrink-fit 501s, which the purchase of a size or two, but without the bathtub. Some brands, such as samurai, the only auto Edge, is well known as they are rigid, like paper in a glass, "says Babzani." They should not be home. "The best results, you should not wash, which for the first two months - if at all - as you break po This is the attractiveness of Japanese gross denim. He folds the whims of the owner and life. Self Edge January Galang has used cycling and with its 15 oz Sugar Cane Okinawa, as he was recently struck by a car. It's fine, but the jeans have suffered damage. Not everything is good: "With the denim for the moment, it is a question of how they fade," he says. Everything from these jeans in the $ 13 billion denim industry - the history, the integrity of the tissue and the way in which they carried out the form and the hidden details - is also what makes them irresistible to early adopters . Ralingue Japanese denim was a phenomenon in Japan in the years since 1980, with quests, both to reproduce and to acquire, the last pair of jeans residents of coercive interference. Some supporters have the same journey thousands of miles to Japan specifically, these jeans in a limited edition. But they have largely a cult in the United States, followed daily in the blogs and Superfuture.com 's Super denim board. To try really to a couple real denim in a Japanese department store before the sale was not possible, in addition to some shops in New York and Los Angeles, until recently. Now, Samurai, sugar cane, Iron Heart, Flat Head denim and other Japanese brands are here for the first time aboard the autonomy, which was opened for two months. Babzani expected, "50 to 100 of the largest denim freaks in the world", for a special collection of denim Super Saturday evening and was demanding answers. "Denim leader in the person and freak out," says Babzani, customers have from Austin, Texas, and in Vancouver, British Columbia, among other things, opportunities for hiking in his showcase, a former longtime resident of Leather Tongue, another Video business. "They have in the last six years of her life to look online - they will buy at least one pair." Stars Mark of San Francisco, works in video and computer science has, as soon as he heard the memory. "It's very selective," said the Stars Babzani. "It handpicks brands, which he loves. There are perhaps one or two other locations in the United States, the stuff he did." Stars denim Japanese began to collect, and about half a year later, there is, on the jeans on Super denim. It was called, in a classic denim and admire the colourful history of obsessive, hardworking, in the detail to reproduce these styles. He now holds 12 pairs. A favorite is his eternal 811s, he chased been disappointed after a "Holy Grail", the pair had fame, online since its Japanese owners. Really Star has agreed to have it as a "beat-up pair of jeans," reflecting a year of wear and tear. But how many craftsmen Japanese brands, they have a homage to the rigidity of Levi's Style, for the Gold Rush-era San Francisco company famous. He was surprised when a colleague fashionista congratulated for his "Levi's beautiful." "Not only are they not Levi's, there were mutated reproductions, where she stroked adjustment," he says. "J'adorais." The button-fly 501 of 1966 is particularly fetishized, Babzani said. It is a sugar cane into bestsellers, and Iron Heart is a version. Other formats are often copied on the "on-the-fly 1947 and zip-front in 1955. "All the designers will tell you that Levi's has been the gold standard," says James Sullivan, author of "Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon". "I guess, Levi's, that the imitation is the form of the sincere Flattery, but you can not, as hitherto." One of the first brand jeans vintage Japanese, at the beginning of the 90s, Evis, Levi's was a little too tight. It's a Evisu developed and now has a signature gull swoosh on the back pocket, says Sullivan. Japanese denim traces his deposit back to the years 1950 and 60, when the US-producers, such as Levi's, Lee, have been updated since the shuttle shot occupations with skills to adapt to a new culture of youth, requires jeans. If it is the interest of the vintage denim in Japan exploded in 1980, the maker Cone Mills, who has worked for the leash denim Levi's, Lee and other companies and others, was "happy to receive (the old professions), their hands" , said Sullivan. Vintage Japanese fans snapped them up The oldest professions even closer but sustainable, that the substance was found for the completion of "car" shows sewn with a yarn. Levi's head is red, pink Lady Levi's, tour-up shows that the bracelet witness detailed modern jeans deficiency. "Denim products in occupations with shuttle is, of course, illegal, and these irregularities to leave, as the jeans fade, make each pair in the development of a unique structure, and how beautiful they fade," says Evisu MySpace page. This personal patina is also known as wabi-Sabi, "the old idea that the Japanese were the natural world, the time things just right. There is a beauty in the natural things, be it a building or a forest garment, "Says Sullivan. But most consumers do not want to forget months or years of waiting for this to happen. Scott Morrison, the founder of the Paper Denim & Cloth jeans, and now also as "Earnest Sewn, accelerates the natural aging process - sandstrahlen jeans, I do not have to wash," says Sullivan. In other words, is the work for you. It is a sign for the industry from strong competition, the premium denim companies like Earnest Sewn "have a story for their brand to sell to the image of the brand," says Sullivan. Most are handmade, and rinse special "artisans" the finishing touches to the lettering of the high price. But Babzani rather directly to the source to import and some special offers limited, and applies to the smaller producers out of the denim fate in the hands of the owner. He even has a special negotiated iron Heart Foundation, whose thin figure was by Dior Homme designer Hedi Slimane. There will be over 100 pairs of auto Heart Iron Edge X-style black and 25 couples. "The market is so fully in denim premium, but it is at best mediocre," he says. "Very few brands are currently of" premium "." So far, the thing in the vicinity of the Japanese denim available in San Francisco, the APC Nudie France and Sweden, both from the Japanese model denim, whether in the philosophy or materials, processes in the azaleas, a clothing shop in Hayes Valley . Catherine Chow sold about 30 pair of jeans APC per month. Villains Vault, Rolo and AB adapts to different eras have American brands for the use of denim Japanese, but some are also finished. When it comes to the craft, made from sugar cane is the mark of the buzz. Edge's current car still has some couples from outside of the law with the Orange brand rear seam. "Nobody else in the Bay of San will never forget the sugar cane," says Babzani. It is also the retention of some partners Buzz Rickson line of shirts for men and work, "everything Wacky street wear," he jokes. Denim trailer Cross and among countries. Babzani, which also owns the Turf shoes and transit countries, the shops in San Mateo, which specialize in a limited edition of sports and street wear, predicts sneaker cross and denim skirt markets in the next few years. "Sneaker culture is at the forefront," says Babzani. "Many of these people are trying to denim." All the elements are now in self Edge large opening in November, where the cold cans and bottles of Budweiser beer Rolling Rock seduced, as soon they were on a silver platter-and J-zone yarn "ignant" rap for the occasion. Stars, a former skateboarder, was there, but he concedes that it is "older than most people on Super Future, and old enough to some of their parents." Babzani fetched denim Japanese during 10 years, some of which appear to be supported, and as a sort of mini-museum in the shop. It includes the Taxman, and the mentality of the average consumer, and he knows that for $ 200 - $ 300 per couple, customers need a broad selection before going to the tough stuff like the samurai. "We come as a gateway Nudie denim jeans," he said of the Swedish brand, which sold well in Azalea. Army iron, produced in Los Angeles, is "ultra-premium, but it is easier to bear, with a modern interface," says Babzani. It is also carrying Sling & Stones, a premium of women online Seattle designed, manufactured in Japan, but with Japanese denim. A asked whether his co-owner, Demitra Georgopoulos fiancee asked him, it actually says Babzani door Sugar Cane's Lee-inspired style boot-cut for women. "With the Japanese brands, it is difficult to predict what will happen, sell," says Babzani. "Since it is an unknown." Sullivan agrees. "People are a little strict on the sale of high-quality antik denim jeans, the women. For him for the next stage, where you are really a very exclusive selection, it will be interesting to see how it can be so successful." Premium jeans are a little more than 3 percent of the 13 billion dollars denim industry, says Marshal Cohen, chief analyst for the NPD Group, a company in the market research. "The vast majority of denim is from $ 18 to $ 20," he says. However, the premium in the category "is an important thing," collector mentality encouraging to imply that the handbags. Japanese denim is not for the whole world, particularly the numbers-conscious. "They are not sexy, in the way that people came in jeans thinking," says stars. "It is a fairly esoteric thing. You have the concept purist jeans. I think that many people who try, but I do not see many people who want in the months of interruption in their jeans."