Heddels Blowout

If you've perused any Fade Fridays, you may have noticed some of the most impressive fades come from Indonesia. But more recently, some of the most impressive boots are coming out of the country as well. We talk with Ben Robinson, Editor in Chief of Stitchdown.com and one of the foremost western experts and consumers of Indonesian footwear about how the Indonesian scene developed, some of the make...

Join Heddels+ to hear the full episode: http://heddels.plus The big sea change in the fashion industry appears to be that fur is going the way of the dodo. Just this week, luxe parka maker Canada Goose announced they would be joining labels like Burberry and Prada in ending the use of fur in their collections. We've got that plus the willful destruction of perfectly good product, Reed's takedown o...

Happy 4th of July, may all your limbs stay attached! We watched the quintessential summer movie Jaws , which just so happens to coincide with the restock of our Quint Caps . Hear our thoughts on the clothes, the characters, and how it feels like a way to prescient parable for pandemic living. Pick up a Quint Cap for 20% today and today only with the code AMITYMEANSFRIENDSHIP . Or become a Heddels+...

If you've followed the show for any time, you're aware that I (David) don't buy much. It has been over a year since I have bought any new garment for myself, until that streak was broken with a pair of Engineered Garments x Sebago moccasins...that I immediately returned due to low quality. However, the store I returned them to (Lost & Found) has a policy of only store credit for returns. Consi...

Join Heddels+ to hear the full episode: http://heddels.plus If you're American and you're listening to this episode, you probably own something Japanese. If you're Japanese and listening to this episode, you probably own something American. But you probably don't know the cultural histories of these countries nearly as well as Yumiko Sakuma ( @yumikosakuma ), a Japanese writer who has lived in and...

David waxes on about a recent trip to the mall and the future of retail, Albert discusses his new New Balance plug and a Saint Christopher medal, and Reed scored some ts(s). All that and more on this week's Blowout. If you like this episode and want to support the show, join Heddels+ for more episodes, exclusive discounts, and bi-weekly giveaways.

Do you know where your cotton came from? Probably not as the world of cotton buyers and sellers is about as murky as it gets. Blake Ulves, a clothing production vet who's made knits for the biggest retailers on the market talks to us about his new t-shirt project Sewn West, which represents his uncompromising idea of what a tee (and cotton) can be. Visit https://www.sewnwest.com/ for 15% off with...

Access the full episode by joining Heddels+ : https://www.heddels.com/join-heddels-plus/ You can own pants, but can you own all pants? Albert apparently does as he was recently gifted an NFT of the entire concept of pants as a whole. Listen to our uneducated discussions of NFTs, and our slightly more educated discussions of Converse potentially ripping off a potential intern, Etsy buying Depop, if...

Albert and David discuss North Korea's ban on denim and mullets and how it relates to denim behind the Iron Curtain in the Cold War as well as the reclaimed styles of French imperialism, long socks, and a breakdown of irregular denim. If you like this episode, be sure to join Heddels+ for discounts, giveaways, and more episodes. Also, here's our old piece on denim in the Soviet Union: https://www....

To listen to the full episode, join at http://heddels.plus Yes, I know Levi's got the patent on May 20, but they didn't even call it the 501 for like 20 years later. It doesn't make any sense. Aside from that, we chat about Nick Wooster's new NFT, Brendan Babenzien's move to J.Crew, weird shorts, and our personal history of mask usage in the past year. If you want to support brands and artisans in...

The weather is warm, masks are coming off, toes are coming out. David, Reed, and Albert discuss inexplicable English text on Japanese t-shirts, the possible comeback of Evisu, and the complexities of warm weather footwear. Plus Albert has an update on the abuse story at the Colorado franchises of vintage retailer Buffalo Exchange. Join Heddels+ for more episodes, exclusive discounts and giveaways,...

As much as we love to dress ourselves, we love to dress our pets even more. James and Reed discuss all the clothes and accessories, some from our favorite brands, and their canine equivalents.

Unlocked from our Heddels+ Blowout feed, the middle part of a Venn diagram that includes denim jackets, cults, and rampant abuse. We’re talking about Tony Alamo, and yes that’s spelled like Alamo as in “remember the” but it’s pronounced like Alamo. Regardless, he was about as despicable a human being as they come. From the late 60s onward, he ran a religious cult that separated families, forced pe...

The Canadian Olympic team announced their outfits this week and their closing ceremony jacket is a doozy. David, Reed, and Albert Muzquiz discuss that as well as the Met Gala's "American Fashion" theme, the benefits of Kapital basics, the new Aime Leon Dore New Balances, Albert's article on blazers, as well as ripping into a Federalist essay that claims overseas sweatshops are for girlbosses. If y...

In our last episode we talked about the earliest experiments of humans with aviation, which mostly included people covering themselves with feathers and jumping off of tall buildings. However, that lineage eventually got us to the Wright Brothers, who pioneered the first powered flight in 1903. They sold the first plane to the United States Army in 1909, but that would be far from the last plane b...

Strap in and put on your oxygen, we're taking off on another ambiguously long historical series! Aside from jeans, I can't think of another garment that tracks the history of the twentieth century better than the flight jacket. Starting in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina in 1903 and leading all the way to putting a man on the moon, the garments of aviation had to advance just as quickly as the aircraft...

To listen to the full episode, subscribe at http://heddels.plus When you think of the legendary Cone Mills White Oak plant, you should also think of Ralph Tharpe. Ralph was one of the longest serving individuals at the plant, working in textile development there from 1975 up until near the mill's closure in 2017. He's now started the White Oak Legacy Foundation, a non-profit group focused on not o...

We're running down the posts of the past week with the Heddels team featuring Albert Muzquiz, James Smith, Reed Nelson, and David Shuck. Hear about our product picks, a history of abuse at a Buffalo Exchange franchise, and the story behind recreating the Quint Cap during Covid. To support the show, you can pick up a Quint Cap for 10% off with the code BLOWOUT, or 20% off with a Heddels+ subscripti...

The history of America is often one of oppression and exploitation, and the stories of American clothing are no different. Even more important than the details and the fabrics of uniforms and work clothes is who was allowed or forced to wear them. We had the chance to talk to Miko Underwood whose new denim label Oak & Acorn shines a light on the Black American experience of denim and indigo wi...

Join Heddels+ to listen to the full episode: http://heddels.plus We review and discuss the elusive tale of denim and teen pregnancy, Blue Denim from 1959 (thank you Phillip from Denmark for sending us a copy!) Hear about 1950s morals on teenage delinquency, family values, and abortion.

On March 11, 2011, a massive earthquake rocked the country of Japan. It moved the entire country over two meters west and reset the Earth's axis and caused a subsequent tsunami that hit the east coast of the Japanese region of Tohoku with a 133 foot tall wave. The influx of water lead to a failure and meltdown of three reactor cores of the Fukushima nuclear power plant, sending nuclear radiation t...

To hear the full episode, subscribe at https://www.heddels.com/join-heddels-plus We’re talking about Tony Alamo, and yes that’s spelled like Alamo as in “remember the” but it’s pronounced like Ah-lah-mo. Regardless, he was about as despicable a human being as they come. From the late 60s onward, he ran a religious cult that separated families, forced people to work without pay, beat and sexually a...

Shameless plug here for our new membership program Heddels+ that'll get you more Blowout episodes, more written content, up to 2 product giveaways a month, a Discord forum where you can show us your pants, and discounts all across our niche. Get a free month trial with the code EXTRABLOWOUT: https://www.heddels.com/join-heddels-plus C'mon! C'monnnnnnn

We all know her, we all love her, we all follow her. Amy Leverton, aka Denim Dudes, has been at the bleeding edge of the denim business for almost two decades now. Much of it working as a "trend forecaster", which is basically the person who interprets culture and the world at large to determine what looks are going to pop and when so manufacturers can get the wheels in motion to meet the moment....

This is the end, my denim friends, the end. After over 7 hours of denim history, the beginning of Japanese denim will be our last stop on our 13-part denim history series. Learn all about why Japanese people became culturally obsessed with American jeans, early pairs of knockoff 501s, how Okayama became the denim capital of Japan (and arguably the world), and more on this final installment. This i...