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What’s Up, Snailiens! Let’s Talk Graph Zero Denim
What’s up, everyone? Today, we’re reviewing Graph Zero denim jeans. They come from a brand called Denimio – they’re some of my favorites. Anyways, let’s get it!
In this world, there are many beautiful blue jeans that you can buy. There are some, like the ones we’ll be looking at today, that come in under $200 and are completely made in Japan, and then there are some that are completely made in Japan and cost over $800, and they give you a wooden box with a naked woman on top of it. Let’s take a look at some of the most affordable Japanese denim.
Breaking Down the Competition
Hello friends! Welcome to the Iron Snail. Denimio reached out to me and said, ‘Hey Michael, we’re going to send you…’ Well, actually, they didn’t say that at all.
My job today is to translate what these jeans are into English, a continuation of the series of best Japanese denim pants.
The special part about these is that they’re under $200. Japan Blue comes to mind, TCB comes to mind, and there are a bunch out there, but today, we’re looking at Graph Zero.
We will be looking at Sugarcane and TCB and Japan Blue and all that stuff at a different time. Today, we’re looking at Graph Zero.
Let’s Talk Fit and Sizing
Okay, so we’ll go over fit first. These are rather tapered. I usually don’t wear tapers anymore, I wear pretty straight pants, so they feel weird for me. I’m sure they look normal, but I feel like a carrot.
If you go true to size, you’ll be fine. These are unsanforized, which we’ll talk about in a second, but they’re rinsed so they should shrink like two percent in the wash. Go true to size, never go too small with denim jeans because people always try to size down thinking they’ll stretch – they will, but not in a comfy way, so don’t do that.
Go true to size. Also, I am 5’9″, 140-135 pounds, and these are 30s by 30s.
The Denim Deep Dive – What’s This “Greige” Thing?
So, we’ll go over the denim first. That was probably the hardest part to figure out. It’s 16-ounce denim, so it’s definitely not light denim, but it’s not the heaviest denim. That’s like slightly above medium weight.
And then there was this word “greige” which I don’t know what that means in the denim world. I thought it meant unbleached, but this is definitely a bleached weft.
But then I put the words “greige” into an English-to-Japanese translator, took the Japanese characters, put those into Google, and it pulled up a bunch of women’s hair, and I thought, what? And then Malcolm, my friend who I was with, said, “Well, it definitely means hair,” and I was like, “Oh!”
Here’s what I think this denim is – it’s 16 ounces, I think it’s unsanforized and unsinged, so it doesn’t go through any process to basically correct the denim or to change anything.
Mass market denim gets singed, and it goes through these like rings of fire that burn off all the little hairs just to make it cleaner and neater. And then nep is all those knots in the actual thread when cotton fibers are getting woven into denim.
So, really, it’s unsanforized and then rinsed by Denimio to get all the shrink out, so it won’t really shrink on you, but it keeps a ton of its natural character, which is good for me.
Let’s Talk Price Point and Value
The interesting thing about the denim is that for under $200, it’s crazy. I even feel like for $250-$275, this would be the level of denim I expect. When you get to this price point, you’re not too far off from getting some like absolutely crazy denim.
There are jeans that go for like $300 something dollars, but there are also jeans that go like $225, which I guess is like an eighth of the price of these. So, by percentage, it’s still a lot, but you just get a lot more options, not even to mention things that are on sale.
So that’s the tough part, but the good part is that even when things are on sale like I said, I think this punches way, way above its weight class, so they’re a good deal either way. Okay, so you’re thinking, “Well, the denim is insane and punches above its weight class, but what about the sale thing?”
Well, that is negated by the fact that these jeans have every feature fancy Japanese jeans have, or pretty close – almost every single fancy feature that a fancy pair of Japanese denim jeans would have, and they’re still under $200, not on sale. So that’s why it’s a little bit insane.
Before we’re going to go over the non-essential details first, and then we’ll go over the most important detail of these jeans, which is very important that you know if you want to get these jeans and you want them to be long-lasting.
The Special Features That Make These Jeans Unique
Okay, so the first detail is reinforced back pocket bags because that’s something I’ve never really seen. I never – it’s so that way if you put things in your back pocket like keys or something, it doesn’t poke through the denim.
There’s like a layer in front of it first, and it’s really just a flex to say, hey, we’re paying a lot of attention to these jeans and making sure they’re really nice. I have never had an issue with blowing the back out of my jeans, I never have an issue with blowing the back out of anything, but that is a very nice feature.
It’s the same material as the front pocket bags, which are herringbone. Another detail is that – it’s not functional at all, it doesn’t add any extra things, it’s just very cool – there’s a patch sewn onto the left pocket.
I think it says Made in Japan, and then I think below that, my phone wouldn’t translate it, but I think it says Pride of Japan. Very cool for some of the most affordable Japanese denim!
This isn’t anything crazy, but there is something crazy – all the rivets are copper. It’s a little aged, beautifully over time, they’ll change colors and start to have like blues and greens and purples in them, which is very beautiful. But in added detail, those pocket bags again – we really don’t want to be blowing any butts out!
The corners of the pocket bags are reinforced with rivets, which goes a long way in making sure that they don’t rip off the edge. I’ve never had an issue with pocket bags ripping off, but they certainly won’t this time.
The last two things before we get into the most important functional part of these jeans is actually – for some people they’re really going to like it, for other people they’re gonna hate it, but I’m gonna group the last two because it’s not that crazy. The first one is the buttons – I can’t say for sure, but I think they are iron-capped.
Now, if you look at the Naked and Famous MIJ line, those are full iron buttons, which is crazy. Bahzad said he has to go through one specific manufacturer that makes them, it’s very difficult to get, but iron cap buttons are very cool because they will also age over time.
Again, I’m not 100% positive on that, I didn’t see anything on the site description; it just looks like it, and then the rest of the buttons look like they’re copper. I can’t give you too much information on those, but that is cool.
And then, finally, shout out to Levi’s! As always, a lot of brands have patches that look like Levi’s, but very few add a little tab on the back like Levi’s does. And in the US, at least, it is very heavily copyrighted.
Levi’s will find, mind you, and hunt you down if you add a red tab to the back of your jeans. But that’s cool.
The Stitching Situation – A Deal Breaker for Some
The last detail has to do with the stitching of these jeans because if you like the stitching on your jeans to last forever, these are not the jeans for you. If you like to repair your jeans no matter what happens to them, these are the jeans for you.
The stitching on these jeans is made out of cotton when usually most modern expensive denim jeans are poly-cotton fiber, and then I feel like standard run-of-the-mill jeans are just polyester fiber. It’s way stronger.
It stays forever, and the fabric is going to rip before the thread even gets remotely messed up, so that’s why everybody does that. And then poly-cotton fiber is the best of both worlds – the poly core is in the center, the cotton is on the outside, so the thread still ages, it can fade, it can change color, but it won’t rip off as easily.
And then cotton does the entire thing, but that’s really how garments were constructed for a very long time. So that is the original way of doing that. That’s how you get more patina because the stitching will literally come off over time, it will all kind of go away, gives you a bunch of reasons to, you know, restitch your jeans with a different color.
It’s all about repairability and making it look cool and stuff like that. So some people like that, some people don’t. If you like durability, I don’t recommend them. If you like aging your denim jeans, which I think a lot of people do, then I do recommend them. You can also just, you know, constantly reinforce them, and it will be fine.
Just want to clarify they’re not that weak, they’ll hold up just fine, but compared to poly-cotton or just straight polyester, they’re not as strong.
Watch This Review
Final Thoughts
So, all in all, I think these jeans are incredible for under $200. They’re an insane deal and some of the most affordable Japanese denim. Denimio is based in Japan but they ship very fast, with amazing quality.
I highly recommend them if you’re looking into that specific character-y Japanese denim feel. My seal of approval – I don’t know if that means anything, but I hope it does!
This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.
The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered.