THE BLUER DENIM PROJECT: Authentic Genes In Your Jeans

Not sure where your jeans came from? No, we don’t mean the murky history behind that thrift shop pair you picked up—you’re better off not knowing there. We mean the DNA. Is it USA? BLUER DENIM (jeans start at $95) prides itself on being a transparently sourced American premium denim brand. With guidelines of strict corporate responsibility and a reduced environmental impact, each pair is designed in Portland, Oregon, contains cotton grown in Georgia, Cone White Oak denim milled in North Carolina, and YKK buttons, rivets and zippers forged in Kentucky. The jeans are cut, sewn, washed and hand-finished in Los Angeles. The only drawback is the depression you might feel knowing your jeans have seen more of the country than you have.

Gustin Selvage Denim: Radical Rithmetic

It always seemed strange that the three R’s of education – reading, writing, and arithmetic – featured a very loose interpretation of what constitutes the letter R. But that’s not the case when it comes to jeans, where it’s all about the three F’s; Fit, Fabric, and Finish. For their new pants, Gustin is going with All-American selvage denim from Cone Mills, one of the few remaining domestic denim manufacturers. These are jeans you’d normally find for $205 at retail, but now through Kickstarter, Gustin will ship them to you directly for $81. That’s a savings of $124, if my rithmetic is right.