SOSO Denim Review

SOSO Clothing hails from Stockholm, Sweden, and has been around for about 4 years. The founders, Johan Blom and Jannis Hoff, actually met in Thailand and joined in a mission to offer premium clothing without the usual exorbitant prices. In addition to a wide line of denim, the brand makes jackets, shorts, shirts, and even leather bracelets.

What’s most interesting about the brand, though, is their line of Bespoke Jeans. As the name implies, the customer can choose everything that goes into putting the jeans together, including the fit, measurements, hardware, thread, patch, fly construction, and, of course, the fabric. The sheer number of options in regards to fabric is a bit mind-boggling, with over twenty options, many of them sourced from Kaihara Mills. The driving concept is that a customer can go well-beyond the usual off-the-shelf shopping experience to create any number of unique jeans.

I was able to test-drive the Blue Selvedge in their Slim Darryl fit. The jeans not only boast a great slim fit; they also feature some beautiful–and comfortable–denim at a reasonable price.

Details

  • Name: SOSO Slim Darryl Blue Selvedge
  • Fabric: 100% cotton indigo Kaihara Mills blueline selvedge
  • Weight: 12 Oz.
  • Fit: Slim
  • Unique features:
    • Custom leather patch
    • Selvedge-lined coin pocket
  • MSRP:  $149 at SOSO Clothing

Fit

SOSO Fit Pick

Jon is 5’10” and 145 pounds wearing a size 30 waist with a 33-inch inseam.

The Slim Darryl–as the name implies–is a slim fit throughout. From the outset, the jeans fit snugly without cutting off circulation. I tend to prefer a slimmer fit, due to my thin frame, and this pair offered the perfect balance I usually look for: fitted without being restrictive. I was able to perform all the usual activities, from riding my motorcycle to racing after my toddlers, with complete ease. The jeans were comfortable right from the get-go, with no break-in period at all. While this pair is 100 percent cotton, it does have “mechanical stretch,” which is done in the finishing process to provide a feeling of stretch without using any other materials.

These would work best for the more svelte among us, or for a larger guy looking for a tighter fit. I usually wear a 28 or 29-inch waist, but the brand recommends sizing up for this particular fit, as it fits tighter, so I tried out a size 30. Taking into the account the mechanical stretch of this particular fabric, however, I would probably go for a 29 the next time around. The waist fit a bit large, but I was able to wear it belted with total comfort.

I wore these both cuffed and uncuffed, depending on my footwear. I measure at a 32-inch inseam, so given that this pair was a 33, it was comfortable either way, with a minimal amount of stacking when uncuffed.

Fabric

SOSO denim roll

As mentioned above, the fabric is a sanforized 100-percent cotton 12-ounce blueline selvedge denim made in Japan by Kaihara Mills.  The color is a deep indigo. While the hand is fairly smooth and the denim appears relatively flat from a distance, upon closer inspection, it’s a little uneven, with noticeable slub. There are visible hairs from the weft poking through.

SOSO Denim Macro Micro

There hasn’t been any noticeable stretch after a few weeks, and it still fits pretty close to how it did on the first wear. At 12 ounces, this pair is on the lighter side, and, as I mentioned above, there was no break-in period at all. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the denim was to wear–not the norm with raw.

SOSO Denim 2

The fading process has been on the slower side, but this isn’t unusual with lighter-weight denim. There is the beginnings of a wallet fade, with the telltale electric blue showing on the left back pocket.  The creases are also taking awhile to set in, but, again, this is fairly standard for a lighter fabric, especially considering the mechanical stretch.

SOSO Selvedge ID

Details

The jeans feature standard details, which include branded metal tack buttons on the button-fly and metal rivets. This particular pair features the brand’s shiny nickel hardware, which gives it a clean and modern look.

One detail I did find interesting is the orange stitching. The bespoke service gives the user an array of options when it comes to thread, one being the orange seen here, but one could also choose red or blue. While the louder-colored thread is not for everyone, I did find it a welcome change-of-pace from the browns and yellows that we usually see in threads. As I’m a stickler for matching, however, it did limit what I could wear without clashing too much, so I tended to pair the jeans with more muted, neutral colors.

SOSO Top Bottom

The coin-pocket is lined with external selvedge detailing.

SOSO coin pocket

The jeans featured a textured, soft leather patch in the brand’s light brown option. The leather already feels broken in, and the color complements the differently colored stitching well.

Another little unique detail was the stenciling on the pocket bag, identifying the pair as “Bespoke” and detailing care instructions.

SOSO Bespoke Pocket Bag

Construction

The jeans seem to be solidly constructed without any crazy precautions taken to ensure durability. They feature chainstitching throughout, with felled seams to reinforce the inseam and yoke. There’s a loose thread or two, but I’ve had no issues at all the entire time I’ve been wearing them.

SOSO Inseam

Value

At the $149 price-range, the brand that comes to mind most would be Naked & Famous. This pair might be comparable to the Skinny Guy in Deep Indigo Stretch Selvedge, which offers a similar fit, weight, and color. In both cases, these would be jeans that a newcomer to raw world would find accommodating and easy to break in while still having the experience and feel of raw denim.

At the same time, these jeans offer up some beautiful denim with a great fit, something that first timers and aficionados alike can appreciate.

But when it comes down to it, SOSO’s jeans are hard to compare to other brands in the sense that each pair can be unique to the buyer, whereas with other brands, you get what they make and nothing more. $149 dollars for custom denim is beyond reasonable, especially with the plethora of options at a buyer’s fingertips.

If you’re interested in designing your own pair, SOSO is currently running a Kickstarter where they’re offering up pairs for as little as $65. That’s pretty hard to beat.