A Brief Primer on the Best Denim Brands Right Now

Everyone wears jeans. Whether you wear your denim periodically, or rock a single pair for a month straight to create killer fades, denim is a linchpin of any guy's wardrobe. Considering that denim jeans have been in production since at least the late 19th century, and swung into everyday wardrobes in the middle of the 20th century, jeans have seen reinterpretations and reinventions that cross generations and international borders.

The goal of this primer is to briefly explain the brands that are dominating the denim market today (or are at least making their presence known). Production history does help keep a brand relevant across time, but that alone does not make it a major player today. Much of the denim market is dominated by the United States and Japan, but it's not exclusive to those regions. From designer denim, to niche labels in Japan's countryside, there are several brands that are worth your time, and we've done much of the legwork in determining what each label has to offer. Look at this as A Brief Primer on the Best Denim Brands Right Now.

Year Founded: 2003

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: SL-100x, ST-100x, ST-120x shadow selvedge

The founders of 3Sixteen, Johan Lam and Andrew Chen, knew what they wanted from their label: “a company they could believe in, whose practices exemplify both a pursuit of honesty and a commitment to excellence in their business.” The fabric is developed with help from Kuroki Mills in Okayama, Japan, exclusively for 3Sixteen. The pair also own and operate denimhead haven Self Edge, and use the shop to help promote not only their 3Sixteen brand, but plenty of their contemporaries both from the U.S. and abroad. Their primary styles are identified by the “SL” or “ST” acroynm, denoting “straight slim leg” and “slim tapered” respectively.

Year Founded: 2011

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: M3 Indy, M3 Collister, M3 XX70, M4 XX46, M5 XX70

Based on the knowledge of founder Scott Morrison. While “3x1” is literally a reference to the standard 3×1 right hand twill weave, the name also references that this is Morrison's third denim brand, the first two being Paper Denim & Cloth and Earnest Sewn. The brand's 15 Mercer St. location in NYC is both a storefront and workshop, with a manufacturing facility at its center, visible behind glass. The brand prides itself on its bespoke options, with patrons hand-picking the rivets and buttons on their custom jeans. The M3 style is the normal rise, slim leg option. The M4 and M5 are both low rise jeans, with the M4 cut straight and the M5 cut slim.

Year Founded: 1987

Location: France

Notable Styles: New Standard, Petit Standard

Jean Touitou, the outspoken founder and designer of A.P.C., started his label as his way to counter the bright, over-designed clothes of the 1980s. A.P.C. is considered by many to be a “gateway denim” as it is often someone's first taste of raw selvedge denim. The New Standard is A.P.C.'s version of the timeless Levi's 501 jean. The Petit Standard is a modern skinny jean (if you want something in between two styles, with the same taper as the Petit Standard, you should opt for the new Petit New Standard). For Kanye stans, you're probably among A.P.C.'s new fans, especially with the Kanye x A.P.C. collaborations adding even more hype to the denim mainstay. If you want to start your raw denim experience, and willing to pay a little (but not a lot) extra, A.P.C is where it's at.

Year Founded: 1997

Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Notable Styles: Ace, Max, Roc

The story of Acne denim begins in 1997, when co-founder Jonny Johansson gave away 100 pairs of raw denim jeans with red stitching to friends and family. When fashion magazines like Vogue Paris signed on and supported the company, the label grew in notoriety and demand. Its cuts are what many would consider to be “European”; the jeans are generally skinny with minimal branding. This ranges from the “Thin” to the “Town” with the Town having the most straight leg (though a look at the webshop would imply that denim is still cut fairly skinny, even when relaxed).

Year Founded: 2009

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: The Reed, The Henley, The 76

With roots tied back to the founder's home of Kansas City, MO, Baldwin is the (eponymous) product of Matt Baldwin. Starting out by opening the Standard Style Boutique in Kansas City, the launch of Baldwin Denim was the culmination of the Matt Baldwin's professional history. His experience includes several apparel-related positions that cycled Baldwin across the country, giving him an inside-out knowledge of the fashion industry. Stockists range from Baldwin's own boutiques in the Midwest to stores like Carson Street Clothiers, Barneys in NYC, and the 4RIDESTORE in Japan. The Reed style is a straight leg, The Samuel is a slim straight, The Henley is a skinny leg, and the 76 is a skinny.

Year Founded: 1965

Location: Japan

Notable Styles: RARE, KOIAI2, RURI

BIG JOHN has the pleasure of being the “first 'made-in-Japan' jeans in 1965, and developed the first Japanese denim fabric in 1972.” What initially started as a company that imported American jeans and tailored them for the Japanese consumer after WWII swelled quickly to become one of the pioneers of the Japanese selvedge denim movement that is synonymous with high-quality denim today.

The RARE style is BIG JOHN's flagship model, is made of unsanforized 15.5 oz RANSEI denim in straight leg, and one of the oldest the brand has produced. The KOIAI2 is a 12oz sanforized selvedge, meant to replicate deadstock selvedge denim from US Cone Mills Co. with a classic straight fit. The RURI model is based on the fabric of M1002 PROTO model, which was the first jeans made under BIG JOHN brand in 1967 using the fabric imported from Cone Mills Co. The color is modeled on the fabric's original vintage hue, which for the M1002 PROTO Model, is a lighter blue. It is redesigned with a modern taper.

Year Founded: 1968

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: N/A

Calvin Klein created a designer denim craze in the 1970s by not only placing his name on the back pocket, but releasing an iconic advertising campaign with a young Brooke Shields known famous for the slogan: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.” Klein's presence in the designer denim market swelled in the 1980s, culminating with Kate Moss and Mark Whalberg's Calvin Klein ad campaigns in the 1990s. While the brand is less of a heavyweight as it was roughly a decade ago, the company is relevant almost exclusively because of its history in the designer denim market. It provides common styles like slim, slim straight, and tapered styles.

Year Founded: 2000

Location: Stockholm, Sweden

Notable Styles: Tight, Five, High-Slim

The concept behind Cheap Monday is a rather common one. You had a crazy weekend and spent lots of your hard-earned cash, and now you have a literal cheap Monday. In 2000, founders Örjan Andersson and Adam Friberg, and a few of their friends opened a second-hand store named Weekend. Following the success of Weekend, the group opened up a larger shop named Weekday. While the shop did well, the denim the shop provided was expensive, and Andersson wanted to provide his clients with cheap, quality denim. This process was the genesis behind the brand's first jean, the “Tight” style, in 2004.

H&M acquired Cheap Monday in 2008 and operates the company to this day. That noted, the punk aesthetics that were there at the start of the brand have not gone missing even in the brand's current iterations. The “Tight” is the signature style and, as the name implies, is a skinny style that has a unisex appeal. The “Five” style is more traditional, with a medium waist, regular fit, and is meant to model the denim cuts of the 1990s.

Year Founded: 2001

Location: France

Notable Styles: 17 cm, 19cm, 21cm

Of course Dior is known for its high-end designs and runway shows, but it is also a haven for some of the best designer denim. Each style is given a number in centimeters, a designating reference to the size of the leg opening on the jeans. Hedi Slimane, once the brand's creative director, was the genesis behind the 19 cm and 21 cm styles—putting his slimmed aesthetic (and Dior denim) on the denimhead's must have list. Kanye West has been an outspoken fanatic of the 17 and 19 cm styles, something that would ultimately be reinterpreted in his collaboration with fellow French designer denim label A.P.C.

Year Founded: 1969

Location: Japan

Notable Styles: 503, ED-55, ED-80

Edwin, an anagram of the word "denim" with the "m" inverted, is one of the earliest adopters of the Japanese selvedge denim craze. While the company was founded in 1947, it truly began denim production in the early '60s. Brad Pitt was also a spokesman for the brand, recording a series of bizarre (and very Japanese) advertisements for the label. The 503 is the most recognizable style, but the best place to purchase that style is via the resell market or eBay. Fortunately, you can buy other Edwin jeans online resellers, auctions, or at stores like Urban Outfitters. The Nashville is the brand's classic selvedge style, with a straight leg, high rise and button fly. One of the best selling styles is the ED-55 which is 14oz Red Listed Selvage Denim with a relaxed (very) tapered fit with a mid-rise and a button-fly. The The ED-80 is a modern slim fit with a mid-rise, tapered leg, donut button fly. The ED-88 is the brand's skinny jean, with an overall tapered leg.

Year Founded: 1996

Location: Japan

Notable Styles: 3001, 3002, 3009

Headquartered in a residential neighborhood of Nagano, Japan, The Flat Head's establishment outside of Tokyo in the more rural area of Nagano has allowed the brand to support a more relaxed ideology. According to the company, the jeans are only half as valuable when new, appreciating in value as they are worn and fade. All Flat Head clothing is made in one of seven small factories in Okayama known as “houses,” and the brand sells most (if not all) of it's wares in person, insisting that the consumer experience its product in person.

Founder Masayoshi Kobayashi has a love of all things vintage, but does cut and create with a contemporary customer in mind. The Flat Head 3001 is one of the brand's most popular fits from the Pioneer series, with a slim straight fit and low rise. The 3002 Jean is a slim tapered cut with 14.5 oz. 100% cotton selvedge denim. The 3009 is the brand's most popular style in Japan, with a traditional straight leg fit, "smedium" rise, and intense fading potential.

Year Founded: 2003

Location: Japan (worldwide distribution in U.K.)

Notable Styles: IH-666S Slim Cut, IH-634S 21 oz. Straight Cut, IH-634 25 oz. “XHS” (Extra Heavy Selvedge)

It's a brand for bikers, and the company makes no bones about saying that right from the jump. While it'll also admit that its customers aren't exclusively motorheads, they do note that the gear is heavy enough to protect those who ride on a regular basis, and still keep kicking. Iron Heart is generally seen as a “motorcycle brand” in Japan, as opposed to its presence in the luxury denim market in the West. The brand prides itself on the heavy cuts, the Japanese cotton and production, and focusing on creating modern denim, based on the needs of its consumers (by way of its internal-external forum) and paying homage (but not reproducing) classic styles from the '50s, '60s, '70s and '80s. The brand is notorious for its obscenely heavy 21 oz. and 25 oz. denim—if you decide to buy in, prepare for a truly difficult “break-in” process—you'll be wearing something that resembles leg casts more than denim jeans.

Year Founded: 1873

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: 501, 511, Orange Tab 606

Levi's is the reason you're wearing jeans right now, even if you're not wearing the brand's denim. What could be said that already hasn't been said? The brand's hallmark product, the 501 jean, is the benchmark for modern denim. It conventionally features a straight leg, shrink-to-fit, classic selvedge denim. Prior to the 1960s, this was the standard for blue jeans. As time went on, the company created its slim (though really, more of a slim-straight fit in a contemporary sense) 511 fit. This style has a narrow leg and low waist rise. Because of the market's clamor for vintage Levi's product, Levi's Vintage Clothing was created. The focus for that market is specifically on reproducing classic Levi's 501 jeans from across the decades, from the fabric to the cut of the denim. This line has also revived the '70s “Orange Tab” line, which was created to provide looser, and slim contemporary cuts for hippies.

Year Founded: 2006

Location: Japan

Notable Styles: 0205SP, G003-MB, G017-MB

With a name that refers to the Japanese folktale, Momotaro's name and logo represents the “boy found inside a peach.” Kojima, a town in Okayama, is a place that hangs onto tradition, something that not only explains the use of a folktale for the name of the company, but also the traditional style in which the company produces it. Much of the denim is created by hand, taking roughly three days to make the fabric for one pair of jeans, and about three months to actually finish a pair.

There are four main labels within the company. The “Gold Label” is the highest level of product, 100 percent hand made, dyed with Momotaro’s natural indigo dyeing process. They are hand-woven and washed in the marine essence of Seto-Sea water. The “Vintage Label” is more relatable to the classic Americana denim styles. Made of the brand's thickest, long-fiber yarn, 15.7oz, and a dark indigo dye. The “Copper Label” is more of a traditional Japanese style denim. The denim is washed with mineral rich Seto-Sea water mineral essence with a long fiber cotton. Its closest to the denim created near the start of the homegrown, Japanese denim production era of the '60s and '70s. Finally the “Going to Battle Label” is dyed only with darkest type of natural indigo, and made of 15.7oz rigid denim, but is sanforized with a one wash finish. The most noticeable detail for this label are the double white lines on the right back pocket—an homage to the folktale of Momotaro has he went into battle against the Oni.

Year Founded: 2008

Location: Canada

Notable Styles: Glow in the Dark Denim, SkinnyGuy, WeirdGuy

Japanese denim, made in Canada. That's the profile behind Naked & Famous. Sure the name is a way to poke fun at labels for using celebrity endorsements, not quality, to sell their product, but Naked & Famous' strange naming is a hint at some of its more creative denim designs. One of the label's most notable designs is the glow in the dark or reflective denim. It also has a Japanese mint scratch-n-sniff denim and the world's heaviest denim weighing in at 32 oz. (the denim can literally stand on its own). The fits include the SuperSkinnyGuy (regular rise, skinny legs), the SkinnyGuy (regular rise, slightly less skinny leg), the WeirdGuy (low rise, straight slim tapered leg), and the newer StackedGuy (high rise, with skinny pencil leg and extra length for stacking). Each style comes in a wide variety of fabrics depending on the fit, from corduroy to left hand twill selvedge.

Year Founded: 2001

Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Notable Styles: Skinny Lin, Thin Finn, Straight Alf

Starting as a humble Swedish brand that has grown in strength and popularity alongside its other fellow denimhead countryman Acne, Nudie is a global player in more ways than one. Sure the denim is a favorite of denimheads and rappers alike, but the important aim of Nudie is its commitment to sustainability and recycling its product. According to the website, Nudie "[does] not envisage a trade-off between profit and people, or between manufacture and environmental responsibility." In other words, it cares about the product it makes, and has been willing to do what it takes not to cut corners in both production and delivery. If nothing else, the design of Nudie is something that is effortlessly modern and European.

The fits range from the “Tight Long John” and “Skinny Lin” at the tightest, to the straight leg “Straight Alf.” If you're in the market for selvedge denim, the range gets smaller, with the “Thin Finn” as the tightest shape, and the unwashed “Straight Alf” or pre-faded and washed “Lab” styles at the most straight-leg style.

Year Founded: 2002

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: Fit 2, Fit 3, Fit 4

While Rag & Bone's founders, Marcus Wainwright and David Neville, are both British, the label is distinctly New York City. Rag & Bone started with (by Wainwright's own admission) a “very bad pair of jeans” but has since become a full on designer name with accolades from the CFDA and Vogue Fashion Fund. While it does have an emphasis on denim with Rag & Bone /Jean shops, the majority of its denim is sectioned off for the ladies. However, you can find some simply designed denim that is inspired by SoHo downtown cool.

This fall, they re-launched their men’s denim and within Standard Issue collection they have four types of fits. “Fit 1” is a low-rise, slim skinny with an 12-inch leg opening. “Fit 2” is a low-rise, slim skinny with a 13-inch opening. “Fit 3” is a mid-rise, slim straight with a 15-inch leg opening. “Fit 4” is a classic straight leg with a mid rise, and 16-inch opening. If you're in the market for a classic selvedge go with “Fit 4.” If you want a jean with a more universal and contemporary shape, you're looking at "Fit 2," with "Fit 3" being a better choice if you like just a touch more room. A modern skinny would be closely related "Fit 1." Something else worth noting, all of the Standard Issue collection is Made in the USA and remains as it does currently from season to season; if you realize you like a certain "Fit" from the brand, there's a solid chance it's going to be there when you wear out your old pair.

Now, if your tastes are more traditional, check out the Rag & Bone "Archive" collection, with denim made out Japanese selvedge here in the U.S.A. The Fit models in this collection include the "Fit 2," "Fit 3," and the super traditional (somewhat baggy) "M13"—a style that includes a back buckle and a truly archival leg shape.

Year Founded: 1993

Location: U.S.

Notable Styles: Rigid Low Straight

The Crowned King of American fashion design, Ralph Lauren created RRL (pronounced “double R” L) as a tribute to workwear of the old west and early America. While Lauren's work is associated with a preppy upscale look, due in part to the wild success of his “Polo Ralph Lauren” line, the introduction of RRL allowed Lauren to actually embrace the historical aspects of the design culture he was already pioneering. It's not even just the denim, the flannels feel like they survived a brutal winter in the late '30s. The shirts are soft, and the denim jackets are ready for actual work on actual ranch.

Each pair of RRL denim is made with classic Cone Mills selvedge denim, but tweaked exclusively for the brand. Weights range from 11.5 oz. to 15.5 oz. Slim Fit, Slim Boot, Low Straight, Straight, Slim Straight and Button Tab are the six styles that the label offers, but the Low Straight is a front runner in being not only the most popular, but one of the more classic styles (the Button Tab's '40s reinterpretation is also a fairly classic cut).

Year Founded: 2012 (When Slimane became creative director of Saint Laurent)

Location: France

Notable Styles: N/A (15cm, 17cm)

The influence of Hedi Slimane at Dior Homme was translated to YSL (now just Saint Laurent) when the designer jumped to direct the brand in 2012. Like his work at Dior Homme, the denim is clean, modern, European, and generally quite skinny. Considering Slimane's current position as creative director, his denim at Saint Laurent is now just as coveted as his Dior Homme denim from roughly six to eight years ago. In terms of the offering, there's nothing out of the ordinary for a designer denim brand: skinny and straight leg styles, generally in a low rise waist, with both raw and stretch denim. In classic Hedi-style, the denim is generally a styling foundation for some of his more memorable “rock-n-roll” runway looks, so it's certainly a runway-recognized item.

You're buying for brand here. While you're not going to get the durability of some of the raw denim scene's Japanese counterparts, you really can't beat the bragging rights that come with copping some Slimane designer denim.

Year Founded: 2009 (When Uniqlo's premium Japanese denim line launched)

Location: Japan

Notable Styles: Slim Fit Straight, Regular Fit Straight in “68 Dark Wash Blue” or “69 Dark Navy Blue”

Japan's fast fashion giant essentially perfected the art of providing cheap (but wearable) raw denim. $50-60 (occasionally $40 on sale) is all it takes to cop a pair of Uniqlo raw selvedge denim. Where some would consider that A.P.C is the start of many denimheads' interest in denim, the release of Uniqlo's option in 2009 has revolutionized the way people purchase and enter the raw selvedge market. The company sources its denim from Kaihara Denim Mills, a storied Japanese mill that uses expensive U.S. Pima cotton and traditional rope dyeing techniques, but cuts costs by producing in China and Bangladesh.

If you're trying to buy something that's more consistent with upscale (a.k.a. more expensive) denim labels, make sure you're copping the “69 Dark Navy Blue.” It's only available on the selvedge denim. Otherwise, go for the “68 Dark Wash Blue,” a shade that closely resembles Levi's tumbled rigid—just a bit darker; it's one of the most consistent shades Uniqlo offers.

While not all of Uniqlo's denim is actually raw, generally speaking, this color has the highest potential of creating the fades that you'd expect from other raw denim. Most importantly, make sure you keep your eyes peeled for an extra tag that denotes “Kaihara”, “Kaihara Premium”, or (in the case of selvedge denim) “Kaihara Selvedge Denim.” This lets you know straightaway that you're getting the Kaihara mill product.