Denim Guides
The Drake's Denim Guide
By Drake's
Apr 12, 2023
When it comes to staple items of menswear, no piece works harder than great quality jeans. We now offer a range of weights, washes, and fits of our premium denim, and what follows is a guide to help avoid any fit-based pitfalls and find the pair that you’ll want to wear every day, which is handy, as you’ll be able to do exactly that.
Principally, our jeans are designed to combine the proportions of a tailored trouser with the signature five-pocket silhouette of denim. Speaking of which, another key feature of Drake’s denim is the unique slanted (or slash) pockets, meaning you can actually get your hands into them.
Things are finished off with classic copper rivets and contrast stitching, resulting in an unbeatable everyday pair of jeans, unmatched in durability and timeless design.
Weight
Currently, our jeans are available in three different weights, 14.2oz being our heaviest. The selvedge fabric is woven on an extremely rare shuttle loom and naturally dyed in Okayama, Japan, the world-renowned home of high quality denim.
Next up is our mid-weight denim, weighing in between 12.7oz and 13.2oz, and ideal for year-round wear. This variation is sanforized, and as such will not shrink with washing, as is the case with selvedge denim.
Finally, our 10.7oz lightweight denim, the latest addition, also sanforized, and woven in one of Italy’s most esteemed mills, appropriately suitable for warmer weather.
Fit
Our original fit denim is cut with a slightly higher rise, and made to sit just above (and not around) the hips, with a little more room in the thigh and calf, while still tapering gently through the leg. Designed to compliment traditional items of menswear, and paired proportionally with our shirting, knitwear and Games tailoring.
We also offer a (slightly) more tailored fit, with a mid-rise for a more contemporary, sartorially-inflected cut. Crafted in the same range of weights, and designed to pair well with loafers, jersey and tailoring.
Colour
Indigo Rinse
The most traditional shade of denim, and the perfect blank canvas for creating your own bespoke fades with wear. The rinsing process helps to soften raw denim (which can often have a handle not dissimilar to cardboard), and removes residual dyes to prevent colour run, while maintaining a cleaner style.
The original, this style is perhaps the most versatile of the various shades of denim, and pairs as well with tailoring as with a staple sweatshirt.
https://www.drakes.com/products/indigo-rinse-14-2oz-japanese-selvedge-denim-five-pocket-jeans-1
Stone Wash
Americana incarnate, stone wash is so named for the tradition of brushing the garment with pumice stones to fade the cloth and provide a broken-in look, as well as a brushed soft hand to the denim.
Whilst made famous alongside fringed suede jackets and ten-gallon hats, the wash compliments casual tailoring in darker shades of corduroy and tweed, chukka boots and canvas vamp footwear.
https://www.drakes.com/products/stone-wash-10-7oz-lightweight-denim-five-pocket-jeans
https://www.drakes.com/products/stone-wash-13oz-denim-five-pocket-jeans
https://www.drakes.com/products/stone-wash-14-2oz-japanese-selvedge-denim-five-pocket-jeans-1
Bleach Wash
The lightest shade of indigo dyed denim we carry, this wash is achieved through the use of heavy oxidative bleaching agents to partially remove the indigo from dyed cloth. The most informal shade of denim, this is ideally suited for wear with jersey and casual footwear, but helps darker, tonal tweeds and knitwear to pop, and can be worn nicely with darker denim up top, without feeling like a Canadian tuxedo (although we endorse that, too).
https://www.drakes.com/products/bleach-wash-13oz-denim-five-pocket-jeans
https://www.drakes.com/products/bleach-wash-14-2oz-japanese-selvedge-denim-five-pocket-jeans
Ecru
Paying homage to the sleeker, more ivy-inflected styles of the 1960s, our ecru denim is lightly washed for a crunchy handle, with a peppering of cottonseed husks for added texture. Pair with navy blazers, striped Oxford shirting, and Chelsea boots for a touch of mid-century styling (think David Hemmings in Blow Up).
https://www.drakes.com/products/ecru-selvedge-denim-five-pocket-jeans
