Black jeans are the pair a man reaches for when he wants denim that will pass under a sport coat, and this is the version we would hand you first. It is the Everett, our slim straight, sulfur-dyed to a deep charcoal black and then worked over until it reads like seven years of your own wear. Tonal stitching, softened trim, a light patina along the seams and creases. Nothing loud. It just looks like it has a history.
The cloth is the reason we keep buying this fabric. An 8.7 oz bull denim woven as a left-hand twill, so the yarn relaxes and untwists as you wear it and the hand goes from soft to softer. The dye matters as much. Sulfur black sits on the surface of the cotton the way indigo does, so it wears down at the seams and knees instead of holding a flat, shoe-polish black. Everything is cut, sewn and washed in the company's own factories in Los Angeles and Mexico, on recycled water. The label started in 2000 when Adriano Goldschmied, the Italian most people credit with inventing premium denim, joined up with Yul Ku, whose South Gate factory had been sewing jeans for other labels since 1985. Ku bought him out in 2004 and it is still his family's operation.
Everett sits at a mid-rise, easy through the hip and thigh, then tapers gently below the knee. Take your usual waist. The 32″ (81 cm) inseam runs long on this fit, closer to 33″ (84 cm), so plan on a hem if you like a clean break. Wash cold and inside out, and expect the black to soften a shade over time. That is the point of it.
We also carry Antique Black in a cleaner, un-aged finish. This is the one that already looks broken in, and it covers the dinner out and the Saturday errands in the same pair.