DailyLogGer: 45RPM UMii-908 Denim

45RPM UMii-908 Denim
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TFXm on 28/09/2011 05:07:00

UMii 908 is made of Suvin cotton, made into Lee cut with a slightly lower rise,
wider set back pockets in the shape of a shield, fifth pocket sewn on the
inside.

UMII 908 is made using Suvin cotton, which is a hybrid cotton combining Sea
Island cotton and Sujata cotton  from India. Known for it's extra long staple
cotton, Suvin can be spotted in haute couture and dearly called as Silk of
Cottons by designers. Growing this cotton can be quite difficult, and 
subsequently very rare to find. But 45RPM uses it in their own  rough-hewn way
to create the nice denim, UMii. Natural plant indigo Aizome dye is used for Umii
denim and the threads are dyed evenly so that  the color of the denim lasts for
a longer period of  time. And it has a bleached weft. The way the color  gets
washed off and how it ages is completely  different from regular  indigo denim.
Add up all these things and you will get another special piece from 45RPM, which
translates into a higher price as well :)
The dye is very nice and a really beautiful shade of blue.... The makers says
that the blue of  these jeans replicated old Japanese firefighters uniforms. 
These have  Lee styled back pockets and were even spaced farther apart  like the
old  pre 60's Lees.  Umiis are a bit slimmer, and noticeably different from
Jomons which follows Levi's repro style. On the other hand Umii is made as a Lee
repro style thus, no hidden  rivets on rear but have hidden coin pocket,  have
higher rise,  smaller waist and slimmer legs. Early  production models were
spotted with patchwork pocket bags and only even sizes were released. Rear 
pockets are much like old Lees and  are placed closer to the outseam, which
might look quite odd for some. Probably  because of the different cotton UMii 
loses that purple cast  that shares with the Jomon and Aihiko  quicker and fades
down to a very  even but very nice bright blue as a result of core dyed Ai and
it's white  weft. Umii are right hand twill like most other denims.
Distressed UMii - (courtesy to the original owner, the model was long gone
before I could get my hands on one of these babies.. Sigh)
The Lee style back pockets are easily noticeable here
Barn model distressed UMii-908
The UMii's fit is incredible. Don't really need to size down  in them due to
it's slim cut. The denim can be easily identified by their Ai dyed Suvin 
cotton, UMii buttons, patch pockets,  selvege and leather patch on the back.
Even though UMii is a right hand twill, the denim  develops great vertical fades
over time; traditionally a speciality of left hand twills, like many other
famous Japanese brands such as Joe McCoy, Eternal, The Flat Head, Skull etc and
Japanese people call it "vertically structured denim". UMii 908 denim is a
discontinued model as of now but it was able to drill a hole in our wallets with
a price of $726 while alive, little less than Jomon's price of $754 at that
time. One of the  favorite jeans from the 45RPM house and yes UMiis were and
still are much coveted for it's feel, color  and Lee styling. As of now, those
UMii  are scarce as a Pharaoh's teeth ;)