September 2023 marked the 10-year anniversary of BENZAK. To celebrate this milestone, we partnered with Candiani Denim to create a special proprietary selvedge denim, the 15 oz. brown cotton golden selvedge. We used this fabric to produce a batch of approximately 550 jeans, covering all men’s fits available at the time. To make it extra special, the selvedge featured a golden ID, and we applied a genuine gold-plated finish to the buttons.
When developing an entirely new fabric, a fair amount of testing is required. It’s nearly impossible to produce new denim without some trial and error—several stages in the process demand tweaking along the way. This can result in a few test rolls—sometimes amounting to a few hundred metres—that may contain weaving flaws, shading variations, or other minor imperfections, before the final production run takes place.
To avoid letting this test fabric go to waste, we had already used some of it to create a denim banner—last pieces available here. However, we still had more of the unused test fabric left over.
The main issue was a slight shading difference, which isn’t ideal when working with raw denim. As our jeans are unwashed, this fabric wasn’t suitable for that purpose. But what if we washed the garments made from this particular batch? After a few tests, we found that by giving the fabric an industrial rinse—using only water, with no added chemicals—the shading differences disappeared.
Since the garment required washing, another pair of jeans didn’t make sense for our lineup of unwashed styles. A jacket, however, seemed like a perfect alternative. Jackets typically take longer to break in compared to jeans, so many people already choose a pre-washed version or soak their raw denim jackets beforehand.
We had previously released a pre-washed jacket, and by reusing this existing pattern, we were able to save some time and development costs. More importantly, this particular TYPE II JACKET would have been our first choice regardless, as the vintage character of the fabric pairs perfectly with the style of this classic silhouette.
This specific roll of fabric was enough to produce around 60 pieces—and so we did. Just like the jeans, the jackets were finished with our signature gold-plated buttons and feature a style-specific leather patch. Because these jackets have already been washed, they fit slightly more snugly than our unwashed jackets. However, you won’t need to worry about any further shrinkage—so you can choose your preferred size with confidence, right from the very first wear.
