Giving Old Jeans a Few More Miles

This pair of jeans is around 20 years old.

When Miquel brought them to our workshop in Barcelona, they had already been through a lot. The denim was thin in places, torn in others, and covered with years of fades, repairs and wear.

He told us that when he bought them, he had to save up to be able to afford it. They were an investment, and he has worn them with pride ever since. That story stuck with us.

A friend recently told us that when you buy a pair of our jeans, they’re actually at their worst.

We totally agree. Clothes should get better with wear.

Raw denim starts as a relatively blank surface. From the moment you begin wearing it, it starts changing.

Indigo fades. Creases settle in. Pockets leave marks. Seams become more visible. The fabric softens and slowly takes the shape of the person wearing it. No two pairs age in exactly the same way.

This is one of the reasons we work with raw denim and other fabrics that are designed to develop character rather than stay looking new.

For us, wear isn’t something to avoid. It’s part of the process.

Repair, don’t replace

Eventually, though, wear becomes damage.

The areas that move and rub the most - knees, crotch, pockets, hems and seat - become thinner.

Threads break. Holes appear.

That doesn’t necessarily mean the garment has reached the end of its life.

A good repair reinforces the areas that need it while keeping as much of the original garment as possible. We’re not trying to make an old pair of jeans look new again. The fades, marks and imperfections are exactly what make them worth keeping.

Miquel’s jeans came into the workshop carrying twenty years of that history.

Our job was simply to help them carry on. Part of how we make clothes.

Repair isn’t an extra service we decided to add later. It’s part of how we think about making clothes in the first place. We use strong fabrics, solid hardware and construction methods that allow a garment to be worn hard and repaired when necessary.

And when a Cabra garment wears out through use, we’ll repair it for you for life.

Because if something has been with you long enough to wear out, there’s a good chance it’s worth keeping.

We like clothes with a life behind them. And hopefully, plenty more ahead.