Kinowear review: ‘Unbranded Brand’ by Naked And Famous

Unbranded Brand, do you remember them? When we met Brandon, the founder of Naked & Famous, he presented his line of selvage jeans to us which were retailing at really low prices, around $80. He never hid the fact that they were produced in China, but they nevertheless feature many nice aspects, such as pins on the back pockets, and chain stitch hems etc.

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The blank label is a symbol of the brands desire to focus purely on the product and get rid of any hype. (but Hypebeast sell them anyway đŸ˜‰

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It’s exactly the same on the inside of the jeans which aren’t branded.

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An attractive trim with very visible chain stitching.

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The finishes are very precise when you think of the price.

Great! What about the cut?

It is quite a classic cut, between semi-slim and straight leg (semi-semi-slim?). You can judge for yourself looking at these photos of Geoffrey:

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Here we’re testing the UB201 model.

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(Yes, the hem hasn’t been finished yet)
 
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If you’ve got well-built thighs, the cut is perfect for your body shape, so get a move on!

How do the jeans age?

For a reason that I’m not aware of, they fade very well and very quickly. In just 3 or 4 months, you’ll have nice creases around the crotch.

The only point to watch out for: be careful not to stain your shoes or t-shirts when you first start wearing the jeans, because they lose a bit of color to start with. This is normal for raw jeans, but Unrbanded Brand does is a bit more than others. So don’t hesitate to wash them once or twice before wearing them.

This being said; look at what you can get for just $80 and a few months of wear:

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Stronger than jeans from Rick Owens or Prps, less expensive than APC. The creases around the knees and crotch are fantastic.

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A more artistic photo, but the jeans are equally as attractive.

Photos of Unbranded by Baptiste, a friend of Kinowear’s team:

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The chain stitch hem is very clear here.

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Once again you can see that the material ages very well.

If you don’t have a lot of cash and want Japanese denim that will age well, you can’t do better than this.

Unbranded jeans are on sale at around $80 in a lot of stores in the US, Canada and the rest of the world (including Thailand, however I don’t how it’s possible to wear raw denim in SE Asia). See the list of stockists here. You can also find them online on their own website The Unbranded Brand and a lot of different online stores, but it’s better to go and try them on first.

Leave a comment : Guys, what are your favorite brands of jean? What are the problems you encounter when buying a pair of jeans?

  • chris says:

    It’s funny you mention the “semi-semi-slim” feel of them, I have a pair of N&F slim guy selvedge and they’re my favorite denim. I’ve always had problems finding jeans that for properly and that pair fit the bill perfectly.
    Quite heavy but still ends up feeling softer and more comfortable than my other pairs.

    These unbranded jeans are perfect if they share a similar cut as A&F doesn’t go on sale too often.

    Recently I’ve tried stitch jeans, very “Diesel”-y vibe in their washed colors but it looks significantly better, fits better, and may even be the best looking pair I own. It’s the most accurate feeling “aged/worn” denim I’ve ever bought off the rack. Made a friend at a boutique who has told me about sales on these ending up paying less than $100 for many of them at a much higher price point!

    A quick question though, you say these unbranded jeans get the very aesthetically pleasing aged look after a few months. I’ve worn my N&F slim guys for around 9 months now unwashed and they still have a completely un-aged look.

    Why might this be? Never washed it.

  • Hi Chris, thanks for your comment and feedback. 9 months without worn patches anywhere? I can hardly believe it! Maybe you’ve got some pair of dark jeans that are not raw but treated to keep the indigo fixed, or maybe they are waxed ? I’m not sure Naked And Famous does jeans like that…
    First place where white “stains” will appear with wear are behind the knees and on the back-pockets. Nothing there?

  • Primergy says:

    Actually my favourite jeans is a Nudie one. (Though I’m a bit disappointed that it didn’t fade that well in the last four months of wear but most likely because I bought a size to large). But mainly because it’s raw denim. You guys really convinced me and actually I can’t imagine to wear anything else then raw denim.

    In general the biggest problem of buying a pair in Germany is to even find a shop who sells raw denim! Only one shop in G sells the unbranded Brand, and even for my Nudie I had to drive 100 km… but it’s slowly getting more popular.

  • Hi Primergy,
    Thanks for your feedback. I’m glad you made the switch ! You can also buy online, many european eshop will ship all over Europe.

  • David.w says:

    Bonjour,
    D’oĂ¹ proviennent les richeulieux camel sur la première photo ? Cela m’intĂ©resserait beaucoup.
    Cdlt, David.W

  • Salut David, pas la moindre idĂ©e, en fait c’est une très vieille photo que j’ai utilisĂ©e car on a des problèmes avec les images Ă  la une. Nicolas

  • Hi Chris,

    Actually it could indeed take a bit longer to age a “softer” raw denim, as I understand it, because very “rigid” denim goes through a lot of constraint when you move even a little bit and try to resist any scratch whereas I would imagine a softer denim to just react without getting “damaged”.

  • Mat says:

    I got these, the skinny cut, and they are the baggiest jeans I own. They really need to re-assess what “skinny” is and their branding (or their dimensions), because these are at minimum “straight regular” and nothing close to slim or skinny.

    and for the record, I’m 6’6″, so needless to say a big guy.

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