What is Selvedge fabric
Would you like us to make a collection of jeans with selvedge fabric? Due to its tradition, its quality and its scarcity, this fabric is one of the top in the world of denim.
What makes it so special?
What makes it so special is its manufacturing process, since it continues to be made in the traditional way, as it was before the 1950s, with the old looms called “shuttle looms”. These fabrics are smaller and the looms narrower than those of today (about 75 centimeters compared to 130 cm today).
In the mid-1980s, the Japanese, one of the cradles of denim culture, rescued this premium fabric to make it fashionable among the most denim sybarites.
To check if your pants are made with selvedge, you simply have to turn the leg of the jean inside out and check for a colored double seam. The question is, what's so special about that edge? The important thing is not that detail, but everything that denim had to go through to get it. To make any type of denim, 2 crossed threads are placed at a 90 degree angle. The thread runs along the loom and they are crossed. When this action ends, an edge is created at the ends of the fabric, this action is called "self-edge" (or "finished edge" in Spanish) and hence the name "selvedge".
Why is it more expensive?
To make jeans with Selvedge, you need to use whole pieces of fabric, so more fabric is needed. Along with this, it must be added that the looms where this fabric is made are increasingly scarce. Therefore, it is not surprising that a piece as exclusive as jeans made with seldvedge, have a higher price than jeans made with common fabrics.
You could say that selvedge is like an anagram among denim fans.