Raleigh Denim Review: 1 Year in Brad Pitt’s Jeans

Raleigh Workshop’s jeans have been spotted on a range of the coolest people in pop culture: indie star Win Butler of Arcade Fire, hipster folkie Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, hip hop artist J. Cole. But the best known fan of Raleigh Denim? Brad Pitt, who owns twenty-five pairs of them.

(We can’t afford the rights to pictures of him, but here he is in one pair.)

I’ve reviewed dozens of pairs of selvedge denim, but Raleigh’s combination of Hollywood royalty and eye watering price tag of $445 has had me obsessed with the goal of trying out their flagship Nihon Menpu denim. How much do they differ from $50 Gap jeans? Here’s what I found out after a year of wear.

Pros

• Handmade in the USA
• Sewn with dozens of vintage machines with very laborious methods and components
• Unusually durable construction (ie. triple stitching)
• Deliberately sourced and made to revitalize North Carolina’s fading garment industry
• Minimal branding, not ostentatious
• 5 different cuts for different body types
• Several touches, like two pronged rivets and single needled stitched pockets, will appeal to enthusiasts
• They’re Brad Pitt’s jeans!

Cons:

• Expensive, even for USA-made selvedge jeans
• No free repairs
• Raleigh’s priciest denims are pretty simple; no eye-popping slub or nep
• The laborious construction methods won’t matter to the average customer

Who Are These “Raleigh Denim Workshop” Guys?

The brand began in 2008 when eccentric-artist-slash-mad-scientist Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough made a career move from the world of French cuisine to small-batch luxury jeans — despite having no formal training in fashion.

Raleigh, North Carolina is not known as a hub of fashion brands (and plenty of folks tried to dissuade them from starting one there), but the town became a core part of the brand’s identity, and not just because they took the name.

Lytvinenko and Yarborough both grew up in North Carolina and because of their work in French gastronomy, they were making frequent visits to the state’s wine country in the Yadkin River Valley. The trips brought them through the state’s textile corridor in the Piedmont Triad (cities like Greensboro and Winston-Salem) where the clothing factories that once made the state famous lay dormant and boarded up thanks to the outsourcing of labor abroad.

Taking these scenes in, Lytvinenko began to wonder if the “farm to table” ethos of fine-dining could be applied to other things — like jean making. Their goal became to make jeans where everything was sourced locally, and today everything from the cotton farming to the the pocket sewing takes place within 200 miles of their Raleigh workshop. Small-batch, locally farmed, jeans.

Many of them can even add organic to those descriptors — yep, they purchased the first crop of certified organic cotton grown in North Carolina.

The couple began deconstructing jeans by tearing them apart to see how they were made. They purchased and resurrected old sewing machines. They consulted with former Levi’s pattern maker Christel Ellsburg to get the construction just right. They found vintage shuttle looms to make the denim selvedge. And Raleigh Denim Workshop was born. 

Instead of, say, a “jeans company,” Raleigh Workshop describes itself as,

an American enterprise/art project/romantic adventure

Another great example of their mindset is that when you click on their Sizing Guide, you get a window that reminds you:

Raleigh see their company as an art project that “explores the relationship between time and design,” which is a very elevated way of thinking about jeans, but I can see it as a way of phrasing one’s appreciation for the way denim fades and breaks in with wear, friction, heat, washing, and love. (See, I can be a denim poet too!)

The jeans — um, I mean, art projects — are hand-made in Raleigh by a group of 15 or so “jeansmiths” (an excellent word) and the founders sign the inside pocket of every pair with a sharpie. After printing an image of a hip bone on it, naturally.

The Nihon Menpu Denim

• 100% cotton
• 13 ounce
• Sanforized and raw
• Slightly greencast
• Slow to fade
• Selvedge (woven on antique shuttle loom)
• Exclusive fabric from Japan’s Nihon Menpu mill
• Relatively uniform, not a lot of slub or nep

Despite all that talk about locally grown organic cotton, Raleigh’s “hero” product that they’re best known for, and which is available in every one of their five men’s fits, is from Japan.

But this denim was designed to mimic a lost American denim. Denimheads have their own legends and lore, and none are talked about as much as Cone Mills White Oak plant. Founded in 1891 and closing permanently in 2017, you’ll still find many brands selling deadstock selvedge from Cone Mills, but nothing new will ever be produced again.

When Raleigh Denim Workshop launched, their hero jean was made with White Oak denim and when they ran out, they went looking for something as similar as possible. As they Victor puts it:

This jean is that the same weight, same feel, similar look (…) but when you look closer, the warp yarns have a little more slub, and the weave is a little looser, the selvedge line has one thread of red, and the dark indigo is a little warmer.

As it’s been worn, I’ve noticed more variation in the color that you might be able to notice here, but the denim is a slow fader that might not appeal to denimheads. The kinds of folks who are keen to spend $445 on jeans probably have a lot of very unusual, very irregular, and/or very heavy denim that’s bristling with nep or strange dyes.

This denim is an unremarkable 13 ounces per square yard (maybe one or two ounces heavier than your standard mall brands) and it doesn’t look unusual, but it makes sense when you remember that it’s meant to replicate White Oak denim. (OK, Raleigh says it’s meant to be a “brother” to the original denim, “not a copy”.) Cone Mills made tough denim, sure, but it wasn’t the kind of experimental wizardry that shuttle looms and dye-masters create in Japan.

In this way, Raleigh does indeed maintain their ethos of making the ultimate American jean, while also adding some extra cachet by having the denim come from Japan. (Okayama, no less: the country’s headquarters of vintage denim.)

The appeal of Raleigh’s jeans is that they are understated and timeless. This is denim for a guy who prefers his fashion statements to be more subtle. The best two words to describe the aesthetic is “vintage Americana,” jeans for the guy who likes classic looks and doesn’t want to look like he’s trying too hard.

Plus, the 13-ounce weight means they’re breathable and can be worn year round.

So the denim is selvedge, meaning it’s woven on antique shuttle looms that make fabric about ten times more slowly than the projectile looms that make almost all the other denim on the market. Such machines are rare and hard to maintain, and there’s a certain satisfaction denimheads get when their fabric is made this way, even when the fabric itself isn’t especially unusual looking.

The fact it’s selvedge explains the price a little, but to really get to the bottom of that price tag, it we’ll need to look at how they’re made.

How Raleigh Jeans Are Made

• Rare and laborious touches like two-pronged rivets and single needle stitched pockets
• Hand-stamped leather waist patch denotes lot number
• Signed by founder on inside pocket
• Red chain stitching on inside and at the hem
• Selvedge ID on coin pocket and back belt loop
• Chainstitched with Union Special

These jeans are very minimalist, with no branding even on the buttons or the leather waistpatch. Even the back pockets, where most brands will stitch an identifying pattern that they’ll spend considerable time designing, are bare.

Raleigh’s zero branding approach to jeans is not unlike that of Common Projects’ approach to footwear: so minimalist that they make the customer wonder why they can get away with no advertising. What is it about these jeans?

To find any indication that these are Raleigh jeans you have to look on the inside, where you’ll find a label with the brand name and “handcrafted in North Carolina by non-automated jeansmiths,” and on the inside of the front pocket there’s a patch denoting the Okayama mill that made the Nihon Menpu fabric and a signature from one of the founders.

Much of the cost stems from the fact that the fabric is selvedge denim from Japan or America, in which case it’s typically sourced from Louisiana’s Vidalia Mills or deadstock Cone Mills. The manufacturing is North Carolinian, and even the threads and buttons are sourced locally. The state has a long history of growing cotton and the legendary Cone Mills White Oak plant, makers of America’s most beloved denim, was in North Carolina as well.

Why Raleigh Costs More Than Other American Jeans

There’s the fact they’re selvedge and that so much of the materials and labor are locally sourced in North Carolina.

There are also 25 machines for almost every part of the jean: attaching the label, the back pockets, the fly, the inseam, the buttons. None of them are new, and some date back to the 1920s. “A good bit of every day is fixing machines,” Lytvinenko said in a 2011 news segment.

They’re even hemmed with a Union Special 43200G that’s over a hundred years old, of which there are only forty or fifty left on Earth.

“It has a little flaw in it where it’ll twist and kind of torque the bottom of the hem,” says Victor. “Any other seam with that 45-degree angle it makes wouldn’t look good, but in jeans it brings out the beauty of the indigo.”

Other unusual construction methods that add to the costs include:

• Back pockets are single needle stitched instead of using an automatic back pocket setting machine, and are reinforced with crosshatch stitches.
• Rare, two pronged rivets: they pierce the fabric, pierce the metal of the burr, then curl back to hold it together, and each is adjusted with pliers.
• Waistband “chain and tuck” means they fold the ends as they’re sewing and chain stitch past the edge of the waistband.
• Many core areas receive three lines of stitching rather than two (one is blue thread so the jeans don’t look too busy)
• Lining up and hand folding in the cotton fabric of the pockets: this is done because the pocket and the denim are two different cotton fabrics and shrink at different rates, so this prevents the pocket from becoming too small and throwing off their look.
• Sewing the front and back pockets so that they curve out slightly to give them more carrying space and a more flattering curvature of the body.

Raleigh Denim Sizing and Fits

• Vanity sized; 31″ label is 34″ in real life on my Graham fit
• Stretched a bit under 1″ with wear

As a guy that likes to squat, I find that a roomy cut in the top block with straight or slightly tapered legs works best for me. If you’re after a high rise and relaxed thighs, look for the tapered Graham, straighter (but relaxed thigh) Alexander, or wide leg Rowan cuts. Here’s how all the fits are described:

• Martin fit – their slimmest fit with a strong taper from calf to ankle.
• Jones fit – Raleigh’s most popular fit, described as “slim, straight, and classic.” Similar to Martin, but with no taper.
• Graham fit – described as their “work taper” fit with extra room in the waist, seat, and thigh intended for “muscular” (or just thicker) builds. Tapered from knee to ankle. Fits larger than their slimmer cuts.
• Alexander fit – Another athletic or more relaxed fit like the Graham but with a straight leg.
• Rowan fit – their loosest fit with extra room in the top block, plus a wider leg than their other two relaxed fits. Gen Z will like it.

I found the Graham to be just right for me. I went with a size 31, and these are the current measurements:

• Waist: 34.4″
• Back rise: 16″
• Front rise: 11″
• Thigh: 12.5″
• Knee: 8.2″ across
• Ankle opening: 7″ across (after being hemmed to 31″ inseam)

When they arrived, the waist was about 34″ so keep in mind that Raleigh vanity sizes aggressively and don’t stretch a huge amount.

Raleigh Denim Jeans Price

• Most, including my Nihon Menpus, cost $445

On Raleigh Workshop’s website my Graham fit Nihon Menpu jeans are still listed for $445, and other jeans made with American selvedge denim are the same price.

Some stretch jeans can be found for between $250 and $300 on average. We’ll discuss a $100 line in the next section.

Raleigh, overall, are very expensive, high end jeans — pricier even than some of the hardest to find Japanese brands.

When you ask why these are so expensive, re-read the “Extra Heavy Labor” section above: they’re made very slowly, very skillfully, and very locally.

Most guys know that selvedge denim takes more time to make and that it’s done on vintage machines that need a ton of upkeep. In addition to making them in small batches in the United States, Raleigh also uses a lot of cost-increasing touches like two pronged rivets, “chain and tuck” waistbands, and single needle stitched back pockets.

In addition to making them in small batches in the United States, Raleigh also uses a lot of cost-increasing touches like two pronged rivets, “chain and tuck” waistbands, and single needle stitched back pockets.

These are factors that guys who are really into jeans and their history might value… or they’ll at least appreciate that this makes a more expensive jean.

Of course, not everybody cares so much about these uncommon construction methods. But perhaps the extremely local approach does enough to sell you on them. (The Brad Pitt touch doesn’t hurt, either.)

The Better Value Raleigh Jeans

• The new “r100” jeans cost $100 and are still American-made.

There is good news for anyone who can’t see themselves spending $400 or more: Raleigh recently introduced their r100 line of jeans.

These are 100% American made: the cotton, the threads, the rivets, the zippers, and the cutting and sewing are all done in the USA. The best part: they only cost $100.

The difference is the denim isn’t selvedge, the jeans aren’t made in-house (they’re from California), and they’re 2 percent lycra, which gives them a stretchier feel. The r100 jeans come only in their Alexander (relaxed straight) fit so far, but that could change.

The r100 jean is certainly priced right for anyone who wants American made jeans but doesn’t care so much about old fashioned looms.

Raleigh Denim’s Competitors

Do you need to pay $445 for American-made jeans? Let’s run through some competitors, sticking to the niche of selvedge denim.

• Naked & Famous: These are made in North America, but not the United States. Because of a very friendly trade agreement between Japan and Canada, the Quebec-based brand makes a wide range of selvedge jeans that start well under $200, so long as you don’t need them to be made in the US.
  
• Brave Star Denim: Always cited in discussions of good value American jeans, Brave Star’s jeans are selvedge and American-made. They almost all come in at under $150 and while the denim is even more boring than Raleigh’s, it’s thicker for less.
  
• Shockoe Atelier: My favorite US brand, everything is made by a small workshop in Virginia, they offer lifetime repairs, and they’re mostly between $210 and $275.
  
• Railcar Fine Goods: a California jeans maker sells American made selvedge that are almost all under $250, though you need to wait a month or two for them to be made for you. (That model keeps the price down.)

If you’re looking for American made, raw, selvedge denim, I think Shockoe Atelier is the best value, with a good balance of US and Japanese fabrics.

Raleigh costs more because of the extra North Carolinian sourcing and the more labor-intensive production techniques described. So their higher price is justifiable — if those touches matter to you.

To be honest, I also prefer the fit of my Raleighs more than my other jeans: the rise is higher and the thighs a little looser than the similar Ivy fit from Shockoe, and Raleigh did indeed design the pockets to be more comfortable and flattering.

I recognize that the preferences of most guys who have read this far will stop at “American-made” and “selvedge,” and if that’s you, you might be more interested in Shockoe.

But to be honest, while I prefer more unusual fabrics, I also prefer my Raleigh jeans over my other American brands because of the better fit and the more niche and laborious construction methods.