You’ve probably grown numb to brands’ last-minute pleas to buy up their remaining stock of Cone Mills denim, but this is different.
Freenote Cloth has just released two new styles of jeans with Mildblend Supply of Chicago. Both jeans are cut into Freenote’s slim straight cut, known as the Rios, but with the details that made their Wilkes jean a smash hit. Namely, Wrangler-esque details like the double needle outseam. The modified Rios jeans come in two different Cone denims, but neither is the run of the mill White Oak stuff you’re probably imagining.
The first denim is a broken twill, the kind of denim that made Wrangler famous in the 1940s. A weave that is famously resistant to leg twist and ages into a unique wavy, vintage blue. Unlike the Yoshiwa broken twill used for the first run of Wilkes, the stuff from Cone weighs in at 14.75oz., which is unusually heavy for this style of denim. The second denim is a more standard right hand twill, but in a very unusual move for Cone, comes with an indigo warp and black weft. Imagine the nuance of a classic 501, but with the depth of a shadow selvedge. Pretty cool, right?
Originally planned for larger production, the abrupt shutdown of America’s longest-standing selvedge denim mill left Freenote with enough yardage to make only a few dozen pairs each. Pair these unusually adventurous Cone fabrics with the ingenious craftsmanship that made their Wilkes jean such a success, and you’re looking at jeans that preserve the past, while simultaneously advancing the craft.
If you want a pair, you’ll have to move fast.
The Indigo/Black pair and the Broken Twill are both retail for $265 and are available exclusively from Mildblend Supply Co.
