Brand Trial

Figure 1: The Logo.

I am really eager to try out something new yet not too extravagant nor too modern, yet selecting a pair of shoes different from my traditional brands is such a pain. I always choose a pair of shoes which has a slightly significant history through it, vintage and not too hype.

Knowing the history of the shoes makes me appreciate it's aesthetics as well as comfort. I eventually picked up a brand after a few days and Converse came into my mind, it is simple and also quite affordable. It comes in a lot of color ways and the soles looks promising.

The Converse brand symbol isn't a familiar one such as the swooshes in Nike or trefoils in Adidas, it is a star. I thought I've owned the oldest basketball shoes, the Adidas Superstar Vintage, yet I am wrong, the oldest basket ball shoes is the Converse All Star. The Converse All Star is then endorsed by basketball player Chuck Taylor.

I wouldn't bother writing much about the history here because just by typing "Converse History" on Google will direct you to your destination. I believe that all shoes in my collectibles should have at least a little hint of vintage history or I won't have them, this proves I'm not having Supra, Osiris, Macbeth or other newer brands.

So I ordered a pair from the net, a relatively cheap price of just $30 in my size. I wanted to try it out for a walk before venturing into the more expensive and limited editions of these shoes. Some pictures of the Converse CT spec OX just below. Grey colored textile and vulcanized soles. 

Figure 2: Side Look.

Figure 3: Front Look.

Figure 4: Hind look.

The color is so vintage and monochrome, that's one reason I took these pair so I would be more stealthy and less attention. I have a textile pair now instead of my buck-load pile of leather shoes. My first pair of Converse All Star, if this works out, I'll probably fish out those more expensive Converse pairs by John Varvatos for my collectibles. 

Something different

Figure 1: Nike Air Vengeance Plus.

Been looking at Nike's runners and dunk SBs these days, and as I've been looking around I found these vintage runners in very interesting colourway not to mention design, especially liked the neutral grey and black colours blend in the obvious neon and green accents on these shoes. Might be my latest kick for new year if I can find this pair in this colour with my sizing.

Still its on my wishlist... 

Extending my Collectibles

I am just thinking of any possibility to extend my vintage selvedge jeans collectibles horizons, time is so limited that I can't go around places much to search for collectibles, went recently to search for collectibles still didn't manage to search for those vintage Levi's Big E jeans that I've wanted to collect for so long.

My Levi's Big E collection consists of,
1) Levi's 702XX Big E, J22 Made in Japan, V-stitched.
2) Levi's 502XX Big E, J22,V-stitched.
3) Levi's 502XX Big E, J22, Bar-stitched
4) Levi's 503XX Big E, J22, Bar-stitched

I still have no USA Big E jeans which is quite disappointing for me as, wherever I went they either give me such a ridiculous price which I won't part my money with or it isn't my size. Still, I have a lot of more important tasks have hindered my attempts to obtain more collectibles.

Levi's Engineered

Figure 1: Levi's engineered tag

Another part of my Levi's jeans collection is a famed model called the Levi's Engineered. These pair of jeans are specially derived from different models of levi's fit to suit comfort of different individuals, especially those who move a lot, and prefers the comfort of their denim loosely.

Figure 2: Unique red coloured stitching and copper rivets.

Most of engineered jeans can be easily subjected to flex and stretch, which still depends on your experience, but for me, when travelling I definitely love to wear a pair of engineered jeans, as it provides me the flexibility to walk around comfortable not to mention it's stylings are definitely my cup of tea.

Figure 3: Levi's engineered red stitched tag line.

However, do watch out for fakes, as these pair of jeans are also a prey to conterfieters. Beware and watch closely to the authentic ones, I'll be showing few parts of the jeans which will show a few authenticity as well as stylings of the engineered jeans.

Figure 4: Pearl red top button and copper back pocket rivets.

For the quick and wise eye, the top button part of the jeans is one of the most important areas to survey for authenticity. The top button should be well designed and made as there are a engineered jeans which uses tacky ugly looking plasticky top buttons. The double stitching only approves the authenticity of the jeans.

Figure 5: Copper riveted back pocket of the engineered.

The rivets should be made of copper and engraved with the engineered symbol on the outside, with levi's with a dot in the inside. The denim should be super comfortable and even the pockets should be made using quality fabrics. The arctuates complements the pocket size even though it is a tad bigger.

Figure 6: The engineered logo stitched on the denim in red.

The engineered jeans should also have its logo which is stitched in red at the side of the denim. To finally confirm if there is no suspicion of a fake, the last thing is to finally check inside the jeans for the care tag, the back of the top button should have a number stamped on it which tallies with the number on the care tag.

Figure 7: The top button should tally the care tag.

This pair of Levi's Engineered jeans is made in Korea with a top button number of K32. This fully distinguishes the authenticity of these jeans, so make sure those who are interested to collect or wear these pair of authentic engineered jeans are concious of these few tips. Happy collecting, cheers!