White Oak Cone Denim: The Last of
It has been over a year and a half since the White Oak Mill closed its doors and Cone Denim was put on the path to extinction. The White Oak Mill produced fabrics for two World Wars, secured an exclusive deal to provide Levi's with denim for all those 501's in 1915, and in more recent years was the supplier of American Made fabrics to your favorite small batch denim brands. Brands like Railcar and Tellason assured that they bought up enough fabric to keep producing all American jeans for at least another couple of years, however the time has come for "Last of White Oak Cone denim" to appear in the product descriptions.
Steven from Railcar sent us what is possibly our last shipment of the all American Spike jeans in deadstock 13.5 oz White Oak Cone Denim. They fade to a classic blue and are red line selvedge finished. The Spike X001 was the first jean that Railcar engineered and they nailed the fit out the gate. The slim taper leg and mid rise are a modern fit that won't feel too constricting. Steven has become the go-to guy for denim repairs and mends jeans from other brands that people send to him. If you're going to trust a guy to mend your beloved jeans, you can probably trust that he can build a pretty great pair himself.
Tellason is another brand that Reserve Supply first opened its doors with. Tony Patella and Pete Searson opened up shop in the city where jeans were invented and sought to build a jean in that traditional way with a contemporary touch. They pride themselves on every piece they use to be American-made all the way down to their leather patches they source from Tanner Goods in Portland, OR. Their last shipment to us included some of their proprietary Japanese denim that will be the standard from here on out since their Cone Denim stock has dwindled. We still have quite a few pairs of Cone Denim Tellasons in store that will not be restocked.
It isn't all doom and gloom for American Denim. There are still small manufacturers that are producing selvedge denim on Draper looms and adhering to quality, but the White Oak Mill was something else. It was there at the beginning and brought denim forward as the de facto fabric of America thus weaving itself into history. The Mill was recently bought and the owner hopes to breathe new life into the storied name and produce American denim once again but it remains to be seen how that will play out. As of now White Oak Cone denim is deadstock and the supply that is out there is about to run out. You can find some here at Reserve Supply or on our website here.