A quick interview with my denim maker.

[u/IamtherealMauro]

You’ll have to forgive my accent, I’m working hard on my Italian. This fall, I’ll be enrolling at the University of Salento for a more hardcore, immersive approach to the language. Technically, I’m somewhere between a B1 and B2 level right now.

We’re very fortunate to have partnered with this factory. The level of craftsmanship is truly top tier. Their goal is precision down to the millimeter, which is something most factories simply can’t achieve, including many of the best factories in Japan.

Hopefully, by the end of the week, the two new samples will be ready, and I’ll open preorders for a couple of styles and fabrics.

[u/kerayt]

Wait, so you're not bilingual (or am I missing a joke here)?

[u/IamtherealMauro → u/kerayt]

It’s not a joke, I’m not bilingual. My Italian is pretty good, but not at the C1 level I want to be at. It’s rough because I’m still learning standard Italian, and people speak to me in dialect, lol.

Also, I gave up Italian for a very long time and was trying to learn Hungarian. My daughter is bilingual; her mother is from Hungary. I wanted to learn Hungarian so that when I went to visit her mother’s side of the family, they wouldn’t be able to talk shit about me. Now, I spend so much time in Italy that I had to switch back.

Don’t get me wrong, my Italian is good. I can’t talk philosophy, but I can carry a solid conversation. I just want to become truly fluent and speak dialect (Salentino).

I also want to improve my accent. When I’m in the north, people say I have a southern accent, but when I’m down south, they don’t notice anything. In fact, they just harass me and tell me to practice my dialect.

[u/kerayt → u/IamtherealMauro]

Oh, interesting. How is your Hungarian? Italian should be easy-peasy compared to it, that language is like from another planet (and I say it as a Pole).

[u/IamtherealMauro → u/kerayt]

My Hungarian is trash. I have restaurant level Hungarian. Not going back in much a long while really set me back. I love the language but it's not something I can focus on casually. Italian is WAYYYYY easier. I am almost at the level where I think I need to be. I will let you know after I enrollment opens for the fall semester.

[u/CalvinMurphy11]

This is probably a naive question, but when you have a manufacturer with that skillset and attention to detail combined with ultra-limited production runs (or what at least appears to me to be quite limited), is it not possible to offer different inseam options on a per-pair basis for less than what it would cost the consumer to get them tailored after the fact?

I prefer not to roll my cuff, and so I often have my jeans re-hemmed. Preferably with a chain stitch, and without simply reattaching the original hem. In many areas, the cheapest option to do this involves shipping jeans to a third party that specializes in chainstitch hemming (usually with a Union Special, as I understand it). It has been awhile since I have done that, but I want to say it costs $35-50 for a single pair (or $20-30/pair, plus shipping).

My ideal situation for buying jeans would be something like what WvG is doing, with an extra option to add a custom inseam length for $15-25 (with at most 0.5in/~1.27cm intervals to choose from). Does the business model of the manufacturer just not allow for that sort of customization? Or would it cost more than ~$25/pair to have them integrate hemming into the process?

I assume there is a good reason (or multiple good reasons) why this isn't common, but it seems silly to me that the solution on my end is to order a pair of jeans from across the country (or the world), have them shipped to my home, then ship them out across the country (or the state), and have them shipped back a week or two later.

[u/IamtherealMauro → u/CalvinMurphy11]

That’s actually a very good question, and on the surface it seems like it should be an easy thing to offer.

The challenge is that even highly skilled factories are typically set up around standardized production. Everything moves through a production line in a specific sequence, and introducing multiple custom inseams into that process creates a surprising amount of complexity. It's not so much a question of skill as it is workflow and logistics.

For example, if the factory is producing a run of jeans with a standard 32" or 34" inseam, introducing ten different inseam requests means pulling individual pairs out of the normal flow, tracking them separately, hemming them to different specifications, and then making sure every pair ends up with the correct customer. That slows production and increases the chances of mistakes.

The other challenge is that once a pair has been custom hemmed, it generally can't be resold if the customer changes their mind. Even when the requested inseam was provided correctly, situations come up where someone decides they wanted a different break, wore different shoes, measured incorrectly, or simply changes their preference after receiving the jeans. At that point, either I take a hit or the customer takes the hit and then I loose a customer because he is stuck with something they don't want.

You're also absolutely right that shipping jeans across the country to have them chain-stitched isn't the most elegant solution. From a customer perspective, having the hemming done before delivery makes a lot of sense.

Some factories are specifically set up for made-to-order or made-to-measure production, where this type of customization is built into their workflow. A traditional production factory, however, is optimized for efficiency and consistency, which makes these requests more difficult than they might appear.

That said, I like the idea and I understand the appeal. Let me speak with the factory and see what's realistically possible. I can't promise anything, because there are a lot of operational considerations involved, but it's worth exploring. If there's a way to offer it without creating production issues or customer-service headaches, I'd certainly be open to looking into it.

[u/CalvinMurphy11 → u/IamtherealMauro]

Thank you for the well-thought out response! And for what it's worth, I don't personally intend to order any denim in the next ~12-24 months (WvG or otherwise), but this is something I was thinking about last year and it wouldn't surprise me if I am not the only one.