The 5 Best Raw Denim Brands for Men (and Cheaper Alternatives)

If you’ve found this article, you’re interested in getting your first pair of raw denim jeans, and I want to be the first person to congratulate you. In all likelihood, I’ll also be the last person to congratulate you because most people don’t understand the beauty, intimacy, and achievement that will blossom from your relationship with a well-loved pair of once-raw denim jeans.

I’ve written a few other pieces worth reading at this stage of your journey, namely 8 Things to Know Once You’ve Bought Your First Raw Denim Jeans and The Difference Between Raw vs Selvedge vs Sanforized Jeans. 

But you’re here to decide on a brand.

How I Ranked The Best Raw Denim Brands

By not ranking them!

Not to hit you with a bait-and-switch, but I didn’t write this list as an Ultimate Ranking Of The Best Raw Denim Brands Anywhere Ever, and I’m not suggesting that any brand not on this list is not a good brand.

What I’m really trying to do here is give you a good spread of the different kinds of raw denim companies out there, and to give you a list of very good and widely celebrated brands that you should know about in each of these categories. I’ll also mention alternative brands within each section, and they’re great too.

I’ve been reviewing denim and visiting denim workshops and thought leaders for half a decade.

My understanding of the space (and my important-to-pay-the-bills understanding of what people Google for in this space) is why I organized the list in subcategories: the “best” raw denim for the money, for American made, for Japanophiles, for stretch jeans, and more.

But the point of this list isn’t to crown a Greatest Raw Denim On Earth, it’s to help you move from “I’d like to try raw denim” to “I’d like to try this raw denim.” 

Why I Know Enough About Denim to Write This List

This blog is about casual and durable menswear and footwear, and I’ve been covering the raw denim industry here for over five years. That doesn’t just include exhaustively researched articles on different kinds of looms and different ways of making denim stretchy.

I’ve also visited makers and brands all over the world to learn from them and to highlight their accomplishments on my YouTube channel. To see what I mean, feel free (please!) to check out my videos where I…

• talked to the man behind London’s last jeans workshop
• learned how they pre-distress jeans at a Californian factory
• handled the world’s heaviest jeans in Canada
• explored different fabric weaves in Amsterdam, and
• interviewed members of Vietnam’s raw denim community.

Raw Denim vs Selvedge Denim

I don’t want to spend a bunch of time on this distinction because I already wrote this whole article about it, but I want to quickly clarify what we’re talking about.

Raw denim means it hasn’t been softened or distressed with washing or abrasion before you get it. Sometimes called rigid denim (though that also means the fabric has no stretch), raw denim is stiff and crisp because the fabric still has the starch in it that they use to make it easier to cut and sew jeans at the factory.

It’s also a solid color: it’s not already faded around the knees and crotch. When you get raw denim, you are the one who softens and fades the jeans, not the factory. 

That said, there are plenty of mass market jeans that don’t look pre distressed or pre faded, but they aren’t raw because the starch has been washed out at the factory. Basically, if your new jeans are soft, they’re probably not raw.

Most selvedge denim is raw, but it’s not the same thing: selvedge denim means the fabric has been woven on a certain kind of antique loom. This loom makes denim some ten times more slowly than modern looms, and the denim is usually a little thicker, stronger, and more textured.

So while raw and selvedge aren’t the same thing, most guys who look for one also like the other. That’s why the best raw denim brands are also made of selvedge denim: they cater to enthusiasts.

1. Best Raw Denim for Beginners: Naked & Famous 

• Known for: Boundary-pushing fabrics, reasonable prices 
• Made in: Canada (with Japanese fabric)
• Standard, 13-ish-ounce jean: $165 (13.75oz)

Naked & Famous does not pay a dime for advertising, which means I can’t make any money by putting them first on this list, but the fact remains that they’re a big deal and you should know about them. I guess there are two big reasons why.

The first is that they’re priced pretty well. It’s not uncommon for jeans in this space to cost over $300, but their go-to denim is called Left Hand Twill and costs just $165 right now. Despite being made with raw selvedge denim from Japan, the price is kept on the lower end thanks to favorable trade deals between Japan and Canada, where Naked & Famous makes all their gear. 

(They’re also inexpensive because, as I said, they don’t pay guys like me to talk about them.)

The other reason you should know about Naked & Famous is that a lot of people get into raw denim because they like denim that’s unusually thick or unusually textured, and this company not only has a wide range of these sorts of fabrics, but they’re also famous for regularly pushing the boundaries of what you can make pants from. Consider this list of some of their weirdest jeans of all time, which includes “Scratch ‘n’ Sniff” denim, glow-in-the-dark jeans, yarn made of milk, and more.

Alternatives to Naked & Famous

No one does the same job of combining the elements of Western, Japanese, fabric innovation, and well-priced. But if you’re okay with subtracting “wild fabrics” then I’d suggest Nudie Jeans, a Swedish brand that does a lot of well priced raw denim.

2. Most Comfortable Raw Denim: Iron Heart Denim

• Known for: Unusually consistent and comfortable selvedge denim (especially at heavy weights), good customer service, slow fades
• Made in: Japan
• Standard, 13-ish-ounce jean: $335  

Iron Heart Denim is on the other side of the spectrum: while Naked & Famous makes the weirdest denim you’ll find, Iron Heart makes unusually smooth and consistent denim at a range of weights.

Some denimheads find the fabric to be a little boring, but guys in the know understand that producing such uniform fabric with chattering shuttle looms — the kind that are famous for making fabric that’s full of “flaws,” albeit desirable ones — is an achievement unto itself. It’s also a big reason why, combined with their expertise in pattern making, Iron Hearts are considered extraordinarily comfortable even at heavy weights.

These days, every raw denim brand has a heavyweight option, but Iron Heart’s is definitely the best known. Troy Barmore wrote a four-year review of four pairs of Iron Hearts and swears up and down that his 25-ounce jeans are a technical feat that reflects the way Iron Heart combines heavy fabrics with smooth textures and the kind of details and consistency that you can only find from Japanese masters of their craft.

That said, Iron Heart also stands out for being owned by Brits and for (therefore) having responsive, English-speaking customer service. That’s actually pretty rare in this space, and they deserve recognition for it.

Side note: a lot of raw denim brands offer shirts and jackets as afterthoughts, but Iron Heart’s are world-class. The cult following of their ultra heavy flannels (UHF) rivals that of their jeans, though I’m a bigger fan of their deck jackets.

Alternatives to Iron Heart

Enthusiasts will consider the idea of an Iron Heart substitute as heresy, but U.S.-made brands 3sixteen, Freenote Cloth, and Rogue Territory are a good place to look for high-quality-but-not-crazy-weird raw denim.

3. Best Japanese Raw Denim: Oni Denim Co

• Known for: Texture, mystery, and Japanese-ness
• Made in: Japan
• Standard, 13-ish-ounce jean: ~$270  

A lot of raw denim brands use Japanese fabric but aren’t run by Japanese companies. (The first two entries on this list are owned by Canadians and Brits, respectively.) For guys who have heard all about Japanese raw denim and want to know what kind of pants they come up with, I’d put Oni Denim Co at the top of that list.

So mysterious and American-customer-ignoring that they don’t even have an Instagram account or a website you can buy from, Oni, I think, is the best brand for representing just how Japanese this space is. They’re best known for their Secret Denim, which is the polar opposite of Iron Heart’s smooth consistency: it’s furry, neppy, and starts out a greencast aquamarine color before slowly turning deep blue with wear.

When it comes to unusual kinds of denim, Naked & Famous has the widest variety and the clearest branding, but they are, after all, doing it from a Western perspective. Oni’s “weirdness” is rooted a little more in experimenting with what the shuttle loom is able to create and in traditional Japanese practices like dyeing with persimmon or sumi ink. 

Alternatives to Oni Denim Co

Oni deserves the crown for this kind of denim, but there are a lot of similar brands you might vibe with: Pure Blue Japan (which are my own most-worn jeans), Samurai, and Tanuki hit the spot.

4. Best USA-Made Raw Denim: Left Field NYC 

• Known for: American-made, good value, and great fits
• Made in: USA
• Standard, 13-ish-ounce jean: ~$240

This is my pick for the best value, American-made, raw denim jeans — and look, that doesn’t mean they’re the absolute cheapest. Brave Star do that as well, and their standard, 13-ish-ounce jeans cost about $150.

But Left Field is my favorite brand stateside, and my reasons are simple, widely shared, and uncontroversial: Left Field makes much better fits with much better denim, and they’re just a more transparent brand that engages a lot more with the community and sells a better selection of apparel that isn’t jeans. 

Offering a good mix of jeans that are cut and sewn in the United States with fabric that’s sometimes from Japan and sometimes from America (Louisiana’s Vidalia Mills), all the comments on my visit to their flagship store in Queens agree that the balance of fit, fabric, service, and supporting American garment making is unmatched.

And if you’re looking for something to wear with a denim jacket (without going Canadian tuxedo), their canvas pants are my all-time favorites.

Alternatives to Left Field NYC

Tellason is another American made brand that’s about the same price and vibe. Brave Star Selvage is another one that’s cheaper, though the fits and fabrics aren’t at the same level.

5. Best Stretch Raw Denim: Hiroshi Kato

• Known for: 4-way stretch selvedge denim
• Made in: USA
• Standard, 13-ish-ounce jeans: $248

A lot of guys who love raw denim will never wear anything with stretch in it — it’s just not traditional — but it’s hard to deny that stretch can have its advantages (especially when traveling). 

The issue is that there’s more than one way to make jeans stretchy and it’s easy to wind up with a pair that doesn’t look or fade the way people want it to. That’s what Hiroshi Kato focuses on, and they’ve done it successfully: making stretch jeans that don’t look like stretch jeans.

By using core spun yarns instead of filament twisted yarns, Kato’s stretchy polyurethane is completely covered in indigo-dyed cotton so that your jeans will fade and wear in just like your favorite vintage pair. 

That’s one of their two big differentiators: the other is that they use selvedge denim that has stretch in both the warp and weft yarns. That means you get the kind of “four-way” stretch usually reserved for workout clothes — and it means Kato are the only brand we’ve ever seen that pulls off four-way stretch selvedge. 

And with the release of their 17.5-oz Mammoth denim, they also have the thickest stretch denim you’re likely to find.

Alternatives to Hiroshi Kato

Most brands have stretch fabrics these days, but two brands that are at a similar level of quality and also made in the USA are Shockoe Atelier in Virginia and Blue Delta, who are pricy but they’ll make ’em custom.

Honorable Mentions: The Best Value Raw Denim Brands

For folks who are purely concerned with keeping the cost of their new raw denim jeans as low as possible, here are three good options.

Best Value USA-Made Raw Denim: Brave Star

Based in California, Brave Star’s denim isn’t the most interesting in the space, and their fits are a little inconsistent, but there’s no denying their insane value: they currently have 14.75oz jeans for under $130 and 21.5oz jeans for under $180.

Best Value Japanese Raw Denim: Japan Blue

Part of the same company as the better-known Momotaro, Japan Blue Jeans has a solid rep for offering good value for fabrics that aren’t super “out there,” but they definitely feel Japanese. Their 12oz jeans are under $275 right now.

Best Value Raw Denim Anywhere: The Unbranded Brand

Unbranded is actually a part of Naked & Famous, but the jeans are made in Macau, and we think the denim is from Mainland China. Somehow spending even less on marketing than Naked & Famous (I guess they don’t have any storefronts, after all), Unbranded has the best variety of fits and fabrics for a “budget” raw denim brand, which includes 22oz jeans for under $140.

Wrapping Up

That’s my list, and it’s one that I’d feel very comfortable handing to someone who wanted to dip their toes into the world of raw denim. From weirdest fabrics (impressive!) to least weird fabrics (actually also impressive!), there’s an option here for any budget!