McLain in Colorado has struck gold in his The Strike Gold jeans. They’re much more exciting than that tired old denim head pun. After 1.5 years, these jawns look like some miner jeans that have been put through their paces for the last hundred years. From the sandblasted thighs and seat to the blinding whiskers and thin, cracked honeycombs, there is a lot for our guy to be proud of.

However, it’s the grain — that amazing texture seen throughout the jeans  — that really takes the denim cake. Seriously, looking at the weave, texture, and quirks is pure inspiration to pull on a pair of raws. Cultivated from the ancient art of ‘wearing them a lot and washing them when they stink‘, these jeans have literally risen from the dead. After a misfortunate crotch blowout, they were initially retired — but when McLain rediscovered them — he knew they were too good to leave behind, so he patched ’em on up and back into the rotation they went. One total soak and an unknown number of washes later, here they are in all their golden glory, ready to take on the next blowout with the confidence of a jean that been around the block.