This one, this is some Japanese denim that I really like.
I have no idea where this came from or what it is, but I love it.
It's impossible to have a favorite.
Here's another great one, this one's totally awesome.
Every roll in here has kind of a little story.
Oh, here's the old, this is a chambray, this is like, shirting.
I know who gave me this, you know, I know who gave me this, you know,
and I just sort of collect these things up.
So that's what this shelf is.
I had a home sewing machine that my aunt had bought me
and she'd helped me make, you know, as embarrassing as it sounds,
this is here with little clothes from my stuffed animals.
In the beginning, all I needed was a little encouragement.
It evolved with me doing it, 10 hours a day, every day.
At one point, I had 10 machines and a cutting table in a 10 by 13 studio apartment.
There were machines in the kitchen. I slept in the closet.
It was crazy and there were more machines I wanted to get and I didn't have the space.
That's why I moved here.
When I moved in here, I was not selling jeans.
This was strictly my hobby shop.
I didn't have a clue how it was going to be a business pursuit,
but I got so into it that I just, it became like an obsessive hobby.
It seemed to go so great and then seriously, within three months,
I was making custom jeans.
So this is the first pair of jeans I made?
I don't know. Pretty bad.
It took me two weeks to make a pair.
So it wasn't like I was making money, but I was getting paid to learn.
So I put up a little, it's just a little budget website and it's crazy.
People started ordering right away.
It was the craziest thing ever. I couldn't believe it.
I didn't think these were going to be strangers from Maine.
I thought it was going to be friends from Oakland.
The layout of the machines isn't, you know, like production oriented.
It's where they fit.
There's a flow to it all, but it's accidental.
So we'll just take this sample that we've made.
And like this one here, this is called a Bartak machine.
Basically what this is for is for reinforcing things.
And so my belt loops are kind of thick and I need a really heavy-duty machine
and this seems to do the job real nice.
And there's your belt loop.
I realized that when your average person looks at a pair of jeans,
it's almost like they're out of focus because they don't see everything that's going on.
There's a lot going on stitch-wise, you know, different types of stitches,
different, you know, where the fabric goes.
They just don't see it.
They see a fuzzy block of blue.
Right next door to us is the buttonhole machine.
You know, jeans require a special buttonhole.
It's called a keyhole. Ready?
This machine was patented originally in 1882.
So this is like, this is not new technology.
The newer machines are much faster, but the old machines are great
as far as, you know, they do go a little slower
and I feel like the stitch quality is better.
You know, it certainly looks better.
So this thing, essentially the job it does is overlock the edge
so that it doesn't unravel.
But it does it in a decorative manner.
See, that's why they call it a shell stitch.
When I get a new machine, I want to work it into the garment.
I come up with things because I'm excited about that machine
and the stitch it makes.
All the way I design is machine-driven.
It's not necessarily style-driven.
So this is an old embroidery machine.
The head here is always going like this forward.
And then so as you turn the handle, it goes this way.
And then, see, I'm turning and...
Roy.
Having it go from this thing that just sort of I'm obsessed with
to actually it being my job has been a very strange transition for me
because it hasn't ever really exited being this thing I'm obsessed with.
And if this isn't fun, I don't want to be doing it.
That's why I do this.
I do this because it's fun.
If you want to break it down and all the why questions
I'll break down to because I want...
This is fun for me.
Like, why no employees?
Why do I use the old machines?
Why all that?
That's fun.
That's a fun way to do it.
And if it starts not being fun,
I'll have to re-evaluate what I'm doing.
