For those of you who do not know my wonderful and loving husband, Mr. Kimes, he can come across as a bit of a denim snob. It's not because he only wears and brags about Kimes Ranch jeans, he is also incredibly passionate and educated about jeans in general. From the history of denim, to different brands and how they have evolved, he is all about jeans. Perhaps snob is the wrong word, let's use denim connoisseur.
Today he is studying the past. He is in design mode, which he is most of the time. For the past three days I have been listening to him, watching him, and ignoring him talk about jeans.
He is very intrigued with jeans of the past. At this very moment he is quite consumed with 1940's and 1950's. He is taking painstaking measurement after painstaking measurement of garments from these eras. He loves the fit, the rise, the raw selvedge denim and the simplicity of the trimmings. He is determined to re-create this in modern day times. Before you snub this comment, it is done all the time.
Style, denim in particular, is never really reinvented. Instead, it is re purposed. If you follow the trends thru the past 130 years, the life of jeans, they have stayed pretty similar. The rise goes higher and then lower. The fit stays looser or slimmer. The basic design and concept has stayed pretty true to the original pair of jeans, made over 130 years ago.
Mr. Kimes is a very persistent and determined man. He is a dreamer. When he gets a vision, he see's it thru from inception until creation. He doesn't make hasty decisions. He loves to learn and obtain knowledge. He can often be found reading the encyclopedia. So, when he decides he is going to re create a style from a specific era, much research has to be done. This is where we are today, Research mode.
The garments he is creating today will then be sampled, criticized and then either archived or brought into our line. This, however, is where is all begins for Mr. Kimes. Research.
