Indigoshrimp is very excited to feature the first ladies’ jeans review on this blog by denim hobbyist blaewen. (see her IG @blaewen)

Words & photos by blaewen. Editing & formatting by Indigoshrimp.

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While still in the minority, several brands are now doing some raw denim fits for women – thank you to Indigoshrimp for letting me crash his blog to bring you one of my favourites, Momotaro’s Copper label GL007-MZ!

Most denim-heads will be familiar with the Momotaro brand – based in Kojima, Okayama, Momotaro make their jeans “by hand, without compromise” and are known for their quality and attention to detail. I was interested to see if the quality they are known for carried over into their women’s line.

The GL007-MZ are a ‘tight straight’ fit – low rise, slim through the top block and thigh and not much of a taper below the knee.

Denim specs:

• Sanforised
• Selvedge
• 14 oz
• 100% Zimbabwe cotton

The denim is once washed off the coast of Okayama which leaves it soft and comfortable to wear right off the bat, and is a deep, inky blue which wears to an almost greeny blue. The denim has some character – uneven rather than slubby – but with more texture than your smooth, tightly woven Cone Mills type denim.

Like the men’s models this pair has the Momotaro signature pink inseam stitching. I thought this might be really obvious, but I’ve never had anyone notice/comment and I don’t think I’ve ever noticed myself while wearing them. The stitching around the waist and tops of the rear pockets is lemon yellow; and dark orange along the rear seam, yoke and edging the back pockets. The bar tacking looks to be a different mid-orange thread. The stitching is straight and even with no skips or hitches.

This is where it gets controversial: Initially, the battle stripes put me off Momotaro. Not only are they big and obvious, but on the ladies they are *pink* (although a white model does exist). Not my thing. However this pair has stitched arcs which are fairly subtle and echo the brands peach theme nicely – and I really like.

As far as I know all the women’s models (and most women’s jeans in general) have a zip fly rather than a button fly, but the top button is a customised Momotaro ‘peach’ button.

Friends, I never thought I’d be gushing about rivets on the internet, but here we are. I mean, check out these rivets – copper and branded with the Momotaro crest:

Can you blame me? The pockets are indigo dyed plaid – the front right pocket has a patch featuring Momotaro (the ‘peach boy’ of myth) ready to defeat an Oni, save his village and live happily ever after. The back yoke is lined with indigo fabric printed with the Momotaro family crest. I’ve not seen yoke lining in any other pair I own. The patch is thin leather with the peach boy and brand name. Nice.

Red line selvage and a slightly cream weft, which perhaps contributes to the greenish cast the denim has.

In summary: Momotaro are known for their quality and in my opinion this extends to their women’s line. The details – buttons, lining fabrics, rivets and denim – are all really impressive. My only reservation about this pair is the low rise – at 8″ it’s really at the limit of what I’d consider practical. Despite that, these are some of my favourite jeans.  I loved the color right off, and they are aging well (although slowly!) with some lovely ocean blues coming through in the higher wear areas. Overall, excellent quality and construction and I’d recommend them to any ladies looking for a well built pair with all the bells and whistles. They aren’t cheap, but comparable to other jeans of this quality.

The jeans on me: This is the bit you can skip if you’re not actually planning on wearing them! I am short and have a more athletic build, so I was concerned about the sizing being too slim for me but they actually work well. Being one wash I bought the size whose measurements most closely resembled a 100% cotton pair that already fit me. The waist was tight when I got them so I cold soaked and stretched the waistband (only) via the extremely scientific ‘ruler’ method (i.e. jamming a ruler inside the waist opening to stretch it while it dries) . It didn’t stretch much at all I have to say – though enough to be comfortable – so the common observation that you don’t get much stretch out of a pair of Momotaro seems accurate.

As I’ve worn them over time they’ve become really comfortable – I think the looser weave of the denim provides a bit more flex than a tighter weave does so they’ve moulded really well to my shape.  I’ve cold soaked/washed them once in the two years I’ve had them and while they tightened up they’ve relaxed back to their original size now.

The straighter fit took a bit of getting used to (especially coming from skin tight ‘legging’ jeans before that) but now that I’m used to it I love it. They’ve encouraged me to go even straighter/wider! (with a pair of Eternals)

I bought these from Denimio. They weren’t in stock but when I inquired they were able to order them in and measure them for me before they sent them out.