DO YOUR JEANS HAVE A SOUL?

Well, soulfulness is something to do with the way your jeans evolve - ripening and maturing with age and wear, moulding to the wearer’s gait, movement, lifestyle. 

Engaging in a dialogue with the wearer, the jeans are quietly doing what they can to assist, aid and abet the wearer in living their best life.

It's in the very nature of denim that it looks better worn, aged, and ripened. Whatever happens, denim softens and improves with age, and the way it matures is then connected to the wearer. As it is the wearer who is exerting pressure on the denim to age, ripen and mature it. And then this idea gets turned around and spun into the myth of the jeans doing the work on behalf of, or at least in cahoots with, the wearer- that there is some kind of symbiosis going on, that the jeans genuinely have a ‘soul’, which is most likely an exaggeration. But the sense of soul is still there. And it’s in the nature of the fabric that it softens, creases, tears and fades, characterfully almost however badly (or well) it’s treated. Denim is a resilient but supple fabric that needs to be weathered or beaten up to start looking, and performing, its best.

Then it's also true that some denims have a greater, or lesser, sense of having a soul than others. And so it's here that for us is the key to denim and sustainability: as this is then to do with how they're initially made, or manufactured. How the denim is spun- from raw, carded, cotton into denim yarn- and then dyed. And it’s in these two things, the spinning and the dyeing, that’s basically defined or shaped the true character of the denim. Durability is also key, as durability enables a truer realisation of its ageing potential, and ultimately soulfulness.

Then there is also, in addition to the spinning and the dyeing, a third key characteristic being the length of the individual fibers: whether the cotton is short or long staple (long staple cotton being finer and stronger than short staple). 

So it’s somewhere around here there lies, for us at DAgoulT, the first part of the key to denim and sustainability.

Denim that molds and ages more "soulfully" entices a deeper, emotional response from the wearer, and brings with it a different sense of ownership, and is likely to remain in circulation, for an extended life-cycle. And having intrinsic value as to its fabrication, is more likely to be re-purposed, up-cycled, and re-circulated or recycled. As has indeed been happening to vintage jeans from the ‘70s.

But it also so happens that denim that's spun and dyed in the above mentioned 'soulful' way (dual-ring-spun, and rope-dyed) possesses both core integrity (resilience, tensile strength) and inherent character from its very outset. i.e. It is both harder wearing and also more supple and more characterful than standard denim, even in its untreated virgin form, and that's something that's down to its weave- that's just what you get with dual-ring-spun, rope-dyed denim. Also one of the reasons surely for denim’s meteoric rise from its humble origins as rugged workwear in the 1800s, a workwear-only textile, to one of the most coveted fashion fabrics of all time, and why the world so fell in love with denim from the 1800s right through to the end of the 1970s and in a way never seen since, as it was all simply dual-ring-spun and rope-dyed back then (unlike today), even for the more competitively priced, mass market offerings. Looking ahead, this combination of durability (of dual-ring-spun, rope-dyed denim) with a profusion of inherent character right from its untreated, virgin form, means that in addition to the things mentioned above about its soulfulness, connectivity with the wearer, there is the less of a need to age and wear it down with chemicals at its early, industrial laundry stage, allowing that process of ageing, and the worn-in look to evolve naturally, organically, through wear- just as was done back in the '70s (and prior), and as indeed this kind of denim is suited to.

Or at the very least to make significant strides in reducing the need for chemicals at the initial wash house stage, still maintaining a sufficiently enviable looking product for the end user to buy into.

It also so happens that in today's marketplace the raw material, cotton, for this kind of denim (dual-ring-spun, rope dyed) tends to be sourced from cotton that's longer staple, and farmed more sustainably, due to the premiums involved. No doubt this is also a direction to which the industry, even at mass market levels, could in principle transition to- with time (i.e. produce less, but better). 

And so you could say this is another part of the key for us to denim and sustainability- which is the need to artificially age and wear down 'soulful' denim less during the industrial laundry process (and therefore the less of a need for the use of harmful chemicals), as this process would be better left be done naturally, through natural wear. As indeed this kind of denim lives best.

And conversely, if your jeans have a soul, or a true sense of having a soul, more than likely they’re made of dual-ring-spun, rope-dyed denim, and are therefore on this basis we would argue more sustainable.

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Long Staple cotton

Long staple cotton, where the length of the individual fibers is between 1 1/2” - 2 1/2”, is softer, silkier, and more durable than short staple cotton.

Long staple cotton is sought after but also more expensive to cultivate and in shorter supply.

Long staple cotton is still included in the denim offerings of a handful of premium denim mills today in Japan, Italy and Turkey.

The Spinning: Ring-Spinning (v. open end)

There are two industrial methods today of spinning raw (carded) cotton to make the thread that then gets dyed and woven into denim fabric.

Ring-spinning is the traditional method (and our preference), which is also the way cotton yarn was spun from pre-historic times right through to the mid-1980s.

Ring-spinning originally started off as a manual process using spindles, the individual cotton fibers roll-twisted into yarn on spindles rotated by hand, and was successively semi-automated via innovations such as the Spinning Wheel, to the Spinning Jenny, to the Throstle Frame, to Arkwright’s Water Frame (of 1765), and then fully automated via the Ring Frame of 1829, with successive upgrades to the Ring Frame continuing through the decades (and century) right up to the 1970s and beyond—- all of which were based on the same basic principle of spinning the thread by roll-twisting the fibres into yarn via rotating spindles.

Rotary, or open-end, spinning was innovated and commercialised in the late 1970s to early 1980s, could deliver yarn 7-9 times faster than ring-spinning, and was also significantly cheaper. And by the mid-’80s was adopted industry-wide for spinning cotton yarn for mass-produced denim globally.  

In ring-spinning the fibres are rolled into shape by being wound around a rotating spindle, whereas in open end (rotary) spinning the fibres are air-twisted and effectively pressed into shape through a centrifugal action, by currents.

Ring-spinning produces a stronger, more compact yarn, and - in addition to its higher durability and tensile strength - a softer and silkier hand.

Ring spinning also introduces ‘slubs’- natural imperfections created through the process, that in denim give what is deemed character and beauty and- then also- a certain sought after ‘authentic, vintage denim’ look in terms of appearance, right from the outset.

Rotary spun/ open-end denim tends to have a more open, fuzzier appearance and a coarser hand.

And so, to be specific, it's in the spinning, in our view, the main key to creating beautiful and ageing worthy denim.

And it also follows, with the industry-wide change in the spinning (to open-end) in the mid-1980s, from the mid-1980s onwards it was now a different kind of denim that was being produced and distributed into the global marketplace, with effectively a change in its core or you could say ‘molecular’ structure.

The strongest, most beautiful denim is dual-ring-spun (“ring x ring”), where both the warp and weft yarns are ring-spun.

Against a backdrop of mass produced denim today which is either open end (rotary spun); or ring-spun where just the weft yarn is ring-spun and the warp is open end.

The consequence of this transition to open-end spinning in the ‘80s wasn’t quite understood or forseen by the consumer or even within the industry at the time, and still today it remains a big question mark to many (who still aren't aware there is close to a binary difference in the type of denim created by the two different spinning methods), although the frustrations for the consumer are, and the reverence for vintage is, very much ever present.

Dual-ring-spun yarn, the sine qua non for bona-fide ‘soulful’ denim, is indeed produced today via a handful of Japanese mills, and a select few in Italy and Turkey. And generally only found within the higher bracket of premium denim. And again, is probably the key area which the industry should be looking towards, in the interests of sustainability in the long term, and prices would no doubt adjust to some degree with economies of scale, over time. 

The Dyeing: Rope dyeing vs. Today’s Slasher or Sheet dyeing

In 1915 Rope-dyeing was automated and established- a kind of next stage progression of hank or skein dyeing (the go-to method of dyeing denim since the 1500s).

It was based on similar principles as traditional hank or skein dyeing, involving dipping bundles of yarn (now ropes) into successive dye baths, followed by skying (oxidation) after each dip.

Only with the ropes you now got the bonus of a ‘ring-dye’ effect (varying degrees of penetration of the dye where the surface area of the ropes is more- or less- exposed).

This ‘ring-dye’ effect that you get from rope-dyeing is now sought after today for its quirky, dynamic and a kind of multi-dimensional finished look it gives to the dyed yarn, and this is one of the factors which contributes to rope-dyed denim inducing that precious sense of your jeans having a ‘soul’.

Rope-dyeing has however for the most part been since replaced (again post mid-’80s) by the 7-9 times faster and cheaper modern day ‘slasher’ or ‘sheet’ dyeing. 

Rope-dyeing introduces a greater sense of depth to the weave, as well as a deeper, richer hue and better fade characteristics, as compared to the modern day slasher or sheet dyeing method.

The modern day “slasher” or “sheet” dyeing involves beaming the yarn onto large sheets, then dipping the sheets into successive dye baths.

This process creates a more basic, uniform, even look to the dyed yarn- without the “ring dye'“ effect, or depth of hue and richness of caste that you achieve with the ropes. And crucially- the modern day slasher or sheet dyeing results in a less characterful fade propensity to the dyed fabric.

So, other than in the spinning (ring-spinning), the 2nd, or you could say "ancillary" key to creating characterful, soulful denim is in the dyeing- rope-dyeing.

And while rope-dyeing was the go-to method of dyeing denim throughout the industry, globally all the way from around 1915 to the mid 1980s, slasher or sheet dyeing is what virtually the whole industry switched to in the 1980s- and in parallel with ring-spinning rope-dyeing is today maintained by only a handful of premium denim mills in Japan, and one or two Italy and Turkey, generally also only available within certain higher echelons of premium denim.