The Lost Cowboy
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,747
- Location
- Southeast Asia
A TFL search for "Nama Denim" didn't return any results, so I suspect they are unknown here.
Finding myself in Bangkok for a few weeks over the new year due to health concerns, I searched around on Google for high-end denim stores and the only two results I found were Nudie Jeans Bangkok and Nama Denim, which is a tailor-made jeans shop. I intend to hit up Nudie today but I went two days ago to Nama and had a really wonderful time with the owner, Vishesh Sachdev.
I should say starting off that I am a complete newbie to denim. I had never even handled selvedge before so what I was really looking for was an educational experience. I got that and more.
Vishesh (or 'V.'). is from an Indian background but was raised in Thailand. His family has been in the textile business for a few generations and he has perfect English (with a US accent, even) and Thai (and I assume Hindi as well). He seems incredibly knowledgable about textiles in general and denim specifically, patterns, stitching, machinery, etc. as well as how to successfully operate a business and manage employees. The shop's been around since 2013 and takes up at least four floors of a small building in Bangkok's Sukhumvit area. He employs at least five or six people (I saw three employees and V. also mentioned the seamstresses "upstairs"). It's a solid operation.
V. gets his denim from Japan but does all his patterning and tailoring in Bangkok so the prices are more affordable than what can be had from other markets. But the quality doesn't seem to suffer and V. really knows how to manage Thai workers in a way that gets the very best out of them (I know because I saw his interaction with them and there was a real sense of mutual respect in that interaction while at the same time a very real sense that V. gets the quality standards that he wants from his employees - not always easy to do in SE Asia).
V. took the time to explain a lot about selvedge and the various choices that he had in stock. The mainstay of his operation are bespoke orders - clients can custom design a pair of jeans or a jacket or whatever on the website. This is a service that is hard to find from Japanese makers but V. does most of his business through custom orders. So for example, wide legs are coming back into fashion and V. is doing a lot of wide-leg custom orders.
I didn't go the custom route because he had quite a few exciting ready-made pieces that fit me very well so there was no need. I walked away with a pair of 15.5oz classic black selvedge jeans, low tension and high slub. I'm not normally a fan of black denim but I love these jeans - they really have a lot of depth to them. Price: 5500 THB (~160 USD).
I also bought a pair of 14oz, classic blue, tight weave selvedge jeans. These were on 30% markdown from an already fantastic price. And just as I was about to pay for them, I asked about jackets and lo and behold this amazing reproduction of the Levis 1880 triple-pleated blouse fit me like a glove. I am in love with this jacket and like it much better than the photos of the Levis version of the same thing. Total for these two items: 7900 THB (~250 USD).
I couldn't be happier with my experience at Nama Denim or with my first selvedge purchases. I highly recommend stopping into Nama if you are in Bangkok and I can heartily recommend giving the custom order process a try. I am very happy with the quality but I have to repeat that I'm a newbie so I can't speak with any authority. At least I can say this: if you are a newbie either to selvedge or to custom ordering, Nama Denim might be a good place to start since the prices are really very reasonable.
Here is the website and I believe there is a Facebook page as well:
https://namadenim.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoo897-cvNfO7T46sPcIF6MOgSS9fkyQbmAxOvn9gjJRvUMsj8TE
I'm glad to introduce the Lounge to Vishesh's work and can heartily recommend giving him a try.
PS: "Nama" just means "raw" in Japanese, in case you're wondering (like I was).
Finding myself in Bangkok for a few weeks over the new year due to health concerns, I searched around on Google for high-end denim stores and the only two results I found were Nudie Jeans Bangkok and Nama Denim, which is a tailor-made jeans shop. I intend to hit up Nudie today but I went two days ago to Nama and had a really wonderful time with the owner, Vishesh Sachdev.
I should say starting off that I am a complete newbie to denim. I had never even handled selvedge before so what I was really looking for was an educational experience. I got that and more.
Vishesh (or 'V.'). is from an Indian background but was raised in Thailand. His family has been in the textile business for a few generations and he has perfect English (with a US accent, even) and Thai (and I assume Hindi as well). He seems incredibly knowledgable about textiles in general and denim specifically, patterns, stitching, machinery, etc. as well as how to successfully operate a business and manage employees. The shop's been around since 2013 and takes up at least four floors of a small building in Bangkok's Sukhumvit area. He employs at least five or six people (I saw three employees and V. also mentioned the seamstresses "upstairs"). It's a solid operation.
V. gets his denim from Japan but does all his patterning and tailoring in Bangkok so the prices are more affordable than what can be had from other markets. But the quality doesn't seem to suffer and V. really knows how to manage Thai workers in a way that gets the very best out of them (I know because I saw his interaction with them and there was a real sense of mutual respect in that interaction while at the same time a very real sense that V. gets the quality standards that he wants from his employees - not always easy to do in SE Asia).
V. took the time to explain a lot about selvedge and the various choices that he had in stock. The mainstay of his operation are bespoke orders - clients can custom design a pair of jeans or a jacket or whatever on the website. This is a service that is hard to find from Japanese makers but V. does most of his business through custom orders. So for example, wide legs are coming back into fashion and V. is doing a lot of wide-leg custom orders.
I didn't go the custom route because he had quite a few exciting ready-made pieces that fit me very well so there was no need. I walked away with a pair of 15.5oz classic black selvedge jeans, low tension and high slub. I'm not normally a fan of black denim but I love these jeans - they really have a lot of depth to them. Price: 5500 THB (~160 USD).
I also bought a pair of 14oz, classic blue, tight weave selvedge jeans. These were on 30% markdown from an already fantastic price. And just as I was about to pay for them, I asked about jackets and lo and behold this amazing reproduction of the Levis 1880 triple-pleated blouse fit me like a glove. I am in love with this jacket and like it much better than the photos of the Levis version of the same thing. Total for these two items: 7900 THB (~250 USD).
I couldn't be happier with my experience at Nama Denim or with my first selvedge purchases. I highly recommend stopping into Nama if you are in Bangkok and I can heartily recommend giving the custom order process a try. I am very happy with the quality but I have to repeat that I'm a newbie so I can't speak with any authority. At least I can say this: if you are a newbie either to selvedge or to custom ordering, Nama Denim might be a good place to start since the prices are really very reasonable.
Here is the website and I believe there is a Facebook page as well:
https://namadenim.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoo897-cvNfO7T46sPcIF6MOgSS9fkyQbmAxOvn9gjJRvUMsj8TE
I'm glad to introduce the Lounge to Vishesh's work and can heartily recommend giving him a try.
PS: "Nama" just means "raw" in Japanese, in case you're wondering (like I was).
Last edited:
