Orslow 105 Jeans
We visited Seattle this week and I made the pilgrimage to Blue Owl. Technically, I went to try on the loafers I wrote about two weeks ago and to lust over them in person. But the second I walked in, the loafers were background noise and I was sucked into their, more epic than I remembered, denim wall. A full ten feet tall, stacked floor-to-ceiling with jeans, staring you down the second you walk in. It's impossible to miss. More in-your-face with the denim than the old spot, and all the better for it.
Since I no longer live in Seattle, I’m stuck scrolling Blue Owl's site, making wild guesses about fit and fade from tiny product shots and model measurements (to be fair, their measurements are way better than any other denim shop). So, when the opportunity came to be there, running my hands over the fabric, I didn't waste it. I tried on an irresponsible number of jeans. My far more fashionable wife suggested I go for something wider. Why not I figured and found the widest cut they had. Big mistake. I threw them on, added an oversized shirt, and looked like I'd wandered out of Zuckerberg's latest rebrand. You know the vibe-desperate to be cool, destined for cringe. I was a gold chain away from next year's Halloween costume. That experiment ended quickly.
Eventually, I landed on a pair of Orslow 105s, their ‘2 year wash’ denim. And that's when things got really weird--in a good way. See, for the last seven years, I've only worn raw denim. No Levi's or whatever other jeans I wore before. I like the work of breaking in raw denim. Convinced no amount of pre-washing could replicate the fades you earn, the creases molded to you. Yes, you pay for it upfront. The first few weeks? Stiff. Painful, even. But that's all just part of the game. There's no way some fancy pre-wash can replicate that.
Slipping into the Orslows was... shocking. They were soft. I'm talking maybe-they're-secretly-sweatpants soft. I kept thinking, this isn't denim. Can't be. This is a trick, a scam. But no, they're just that good. The distressing is dialed without being try-hard. The hem looks like you've owned them forever, and the whiskers on the thighs? Chef's kiss. Even the copper rivets look a little tarnished. Like they've lived through something. At $315, I wouldn’t be surprised if they actually paid someone to wear them for two years before putting them up for sale.
I was shook. As a self-appointed raw denim purist, I normally scoff at pre-washed jeans. But these? I would have caved. I was ready to buy them on the spot. Fortunately, I was bailed out because they didn't have my size in the finish I wanted. This is maybe the first good news from the nonsense going on with our government these days. The jeans were ordered, shipped, and sitting in a warehouse. Held up by customs with no explanation. So I walked away empty-handed.
But, I haven't stopped thinking about them. If I had bought them, I’d pair them with the softest tee I own and a hoodie, and I'd walk around looking put together while basically wearing pajamas. Wayfarers? Absolutely. I'm still not over the Western belt thing, so that's staying Window Shopping rotation. Probably a pair of high-top Chucks to finish off the effortless look.
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