Travel Blog #9 – Red Cloud event at Tuckshop & Sundry Supplies, Singapore.

The Tuckshop boys from Singapore held a Red Cloud & Co. event down at Kandahar Street, featuring the A/W 12 collection and special guest Raymon, founder of Red Cloud & Co. A lot of attention has been building up around this brand, largely owing to the sturdy construction, repro designs and also because the brand exclusively uses Xinjiang cotton for all their denim.

Raymon seen here with Tuckshop’s Johnny.

I had a few questions for Raymon about the brand and the fabrics they produce, so I grabbed a beer and sat him down for a chat. According to Raymon, Red Cloud & Co. is completely dedicated to reproducing vintage looks, right down to the weaving patterns of the fabrics. His first few batches were made by a large production facility up in Shandong. He wasn’t happy with the quality and their attitude towards specialized denim fabrics, so he sourced another production facility, this time in Jiangsu with a much smaller company. With this smaller company, he has more flexibility to produce various kinds of fabrics in the appropriate widths.

These are a couple of vintage shuttles circa 1960, that are used in his looms.

Next I asked him for more information about Xinjiang cotton. It turns out, Zimbabwe cotton and Xinjiang cotton are more similar than we thought. Xinjiang cotton according to him, is a genetically modified version of Haitian cotton. It was modified to suit the growing conditions in the semi-arid Xinjiang province. It is of his opinion that Xinjiang cotton is a superior cotton over Zimbabwe, as the staple length is longer. However, he has found producing Xinjiang cotton fabrics to be an expensive endeavor. It is because of this high price in production, that he isn’t at all worried should other brands start gravitating towards the use of Xinjiang cotton. With China now increasing production of this longer staple cotton from 30% to 50% of all it’s cotton produce, there is more than enough to sustain the market.

Here’s a look at how long his Xinjiang cotton staple really is.

Red Cloud & Co. hardware and labels.

To demonstrate how well his denim fades, Raymon had some of his denim up on display with tags that stated how long they were worn from. The minimum amount of wear was 1 year. I was really interested in the natural indigo pair at the start. It had a nice grainy texture that resembled some of the Samurai fabrics.

We were all treated to a video of the production facility at work. It showed everything from laser tacking, to weaving, to the custom stitching of those intricate designs (“Monkey God” edition) on the back pockets.

Raymon had a roll of denim unfurled, and he proceeded to explain to us how he tries to maximize the use of the cloth. Often gesturing to a miniature model to describe the part hes marked out on the cloth.

He finished the very interesting lecture with more information about the R400 cloth. It was woven with a very similar style to the vintage Lee denim cloths. Talk about paying attention to minute details.

The following are pictures of the A/W 12 collection:

Wabash pants for kids.

Red Cloud & Co. Shirts.

Vintage Air Force style jacket with genuine goat’s fur collar.

Red Cloud Denim Peacoat. I absolutely wanted this. If only it snowed more in Singapore.

I parted company with this door gift, a short Red Cloud & Co. lanyard made from the same denim as their jeans.

If you’re looking for any of the Red Cloud & Co. products, pay a visit to Tuckshop & Sundry Supplies in Singapore, where the full range of Red Cloud & Co. products are fully stocked and on display.

Tuckshop & Sundry Supplies

36A, Kandahar Street

Singapore, Singapore 198893

http://www.tuckshopsundrysupplies.com/

Special thanks to Tuckshop’s Mr. Donald Choo for the much needed translations from time to time.

– Saintkeat