Overdyed Raw Denim Jeans – Five Plus One

Five Plus One is our weekly series of buyer’s guides. We pick a specific category and dig up five great options along with one that’s a little outside the norm.


Five Plus One is our weekly series of buyer’s guides. We pick a specific category and dig up five great options along with one that’s a little outside the norm.


Overdyeing is the process of taking a pre-sewn article of sewing and dyeing the garment as a whole. It’s a time-consuming process but the results can make for a very interesting piece. These days it seems that black-overdyed jeans are the most popular, although more traditional indigo-overdyed denim is still very much around.

1) Iron Heart: 634s-B Overdyed

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First up is a pair of Iron Heart‘s 634s-B Overdyed Jeans, for those of us who can’t decide if they want to wear blue or black denim. These pairs are constructed from ordinary indigo denim, but once completed they are overdyed to black. Over time the black will fade to blue and the blue will fade to white, leaving you with one unique pair of jeans.

Available for $350 from Self Edge.

2) Rogue Territory: SK 14.5Oz. Indigo Overdyed

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Rogue Territory‘s SK Indigo Overdyed Jeans start with a 14.5oz. Indigo/White denim from the Nihon Menpu mill in Japan that is overdyed with another shade of indigo. The redyeing gets indigo on both the warp and the weft threads, but since the weft began as white it is far more affected by the dye. This gives these jeans a very interesting hue that will only get better with wear.

Available for $269 from Cultizm.

3) Naked and Famous: Weird Guy in Sumi Ink Coated

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If there is one brand that is good at developing interesting denims, it is Naked and Famous. Their Weird Guy Sumi Ink Coated Jeans are constructed from one such denim, a 12 oz. Japanese selvedge denim that has had the warp threads (but not the weft threads) overdyed black with traditional Japanese calligraphy ink. This is a fairly substantial alteration to the overdyeing process, as the entire garment is not dip-dyed, but the results are spectacular none the less.

Available for $165 from Blue Owl.

4) Oldblue Co: Hand Overdyed II

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Oldblue Co. isn’t the most well-known brand, but if their Hand Overdyed II Jeans is any indication that won’t be a problem of theirs for long. These jeans are made from an unsanforized denim from Cone Mills, but the initial shrinkage is removed during the 11-dip indigo overdyeing process. Each pair is finished with some great details such as red-tabbed pockets and Laurel Leaf buttons, both of which are references to traditional Levi’s.

Available for $195 from Oldblue Co.

5) Big John: M106 Slim Tapered Black Sulfur Overdyed

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Big John is one of the biggest names in Japanese jeans. They were the first company to ever make jeans in Japan, and also developed the first denim milled in Japan. Those accomplishments come with a great deal of knowledge, which was clearly well focused when they were designing the M106 Slim Tapered Black Sulfur Overdyed Jeans. They are dyed two different colors, first indigo and then black, so like some of the previous pairs on this list they will fade black to blue to white. Maybe not traditional, but certainly very interesting.

Available for $220 from Tate + Yoko.

Plus One – Tender Co: Type 127 Woad Overdyed

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If there was one criticism endure by Tender Co. in the past, it was the looseness of their fits; some might say this is unfair since they were based off trousers from the Great British Steam Age and were clearly successful homages in terms of fit. That criticism is much less valid today given the Type 127 Woad Overdyed Jeans new fit. Although certainly not skin tight, the Type 127s certainly take a substantial amount of the bulk away from previous fits and create a fairly understated silhouette. Each pair is overdyed with woad, a plant related to the cabbage, which produces a natural light-hued indigo.

Available for £275 from Trestle Shop.