imogene + willie

once upon a time in 1998, my brother sent me on my first trend watching and shopping trip abroad.
amsterdam, paris, barcelona, london.
i went with a mentor named mary, who was and still is a guru in the denim world.

i packed my suitcase with too many cute tops and good jeans, plus some skirts and dresses, and far too many toiletries.
this was years before the suitcase weight limit or baggage fee was enforced by the airlines. but nevertheless, my brother came to check my suitcase the night before and said, "oh no. this is NOT what you are taking".
how dare he re-pack me.....but he was my boss!
the very colorful and textural assortment was removed from the suitcase and replaced with:
one pair of rigid jeans and white t-shirts. and just ONE sweater?! what the hell?
i wasn't a boy! i wasn't like HIM!
he said, "leave the white t-shirts over there. it will open space in your suitcase to bring more things home".
i went a little over board with the bringing things home part..... but that is another story.

that night's re-pack remains with me as one of the thousands of lessons that my brother taught me.

that started my journey of wearing jeans in. the real way. (i didn't say the right way.... there are many "right" ways.)
it did not only aid in the development of my understanding of denim, both the fabrics and the fits - but it also was the beginning of building a personal collection.

my collection is weak compared to my brother's and my husband's. i still occasionally slip back into..... "fashion".
but, i always always always end up back where my brother took me that night. to my jeans and my t-shirt. or at least a white shirt.
it's the place where i feel the most genuine and authentic.

some of you know that imogene+willie turns ONE YEAR about right now. we won't have a big celebration until august (stay tuned).
but, still..... want to commemorate the birthday in some way right now.
my brother works for levi's now.
that brand is and will always be the father of it all, but my brother still finds time in his jean wearing rotation to pay homage to his willie's, of which just turned ONE, as well.

he sent matt and me pictures of his willie's this morning. we have included them in this post.

if you have a minute, click on the pictures to see the real up close beauty.
hoping that they will be inspiration to you and your pants, as he has been our inspiration all along.

love,
carrie and matt

PLEASE READ THIS. and then, wash your jeans like real people

PRE-WORK/WEBSITE HOUSE KEEPING from the point of view of me (carrie), since i am the least computer savvy, just in case you are, too:

if you have ever visited our website, please do the following real quick. (we might ask you again next week to do this... as new look book will go up then.)

1) go to imogeneandwillie.com
if you see a NEW video, and a washing machine icon with text instruction for washing your jeans like real people, then you are good. skip next #2 and #3 instructions.
if you see the OLD video (about the shop) and some not so cute out of place orange text at the top of the page that doesn't make sense, please follow #2 and #3 instruction below.

2) empty your cache
(for example on MAC: click on safari or firefox at top left corner next to the apple. go down 7 lines.. see "empty cache". push it.)

3) go to imogeneandwillie.com
now, REFRESH the page. (usually, the round arrow to the RIGHT of where you type in web addresses on your browser.)

if you are like my computer, then you might have to do this several times.

now.
imogene+willie just this week turned ONE! this means that, for a lot of you, your jeans are celebrating the same birthday, or will be in the coming months.
our favorite phone calls now on a daily basis are, "ok. i am ready. how do i wash these jeans?"

we thought it might be easier to explain it from the point of view of our customers.
so, this morning we introduce WASH YOUR JEANS LIKE REAL PEOPLE. video and text instruction.
go check it out.

everything we do takes good work from good people.
thank you, matt and ian, for dreaming and thinking and creating.
thank you, john moessner, for understanding what we love and capturing it so well on video.
thank you, patty griffin, for singing songs that put us on our knees.
thank you dave wheeler, for your friendship. but also, for pulling off always-so-last minute web work.
thank you brian stone, teresa mason and james clauer (and chaplin) for being really good real people.

love,
c

So Fresh and So Clean Clean.....

j.crew x imogene + willie

courtesy of WWD
by Jean E. Palmieri

Posted Thursday July 1, 2010

J. Crew has snagged another exclusive, this time with denim brand Imogene + Willie. The Nashville-based jeans label will offer two styles of men’s jeans and two bags at J. Crew’s men’s stores in TriBeCa, SoHo and on Madison Avenue (opening in late summer) starting at the end of August. The merchandise will also be available online.

Right now, Imogene + Willie jeans are sold only in the brand’s Nashville store and a specialty store in Austin, Tex., named Stag. The line of artisan denim is the creation of the husband-and-wife team of Matt and Carrie Eddmenson. Before setting up the company, they worked together in a family business in Kentucky designing and developing new processes of garment finishing for premium denim for Levi’s, Lee, Girbaud and Polo Ralph Lauren’s RRL, as well as Rogan, J Brand, Diesel and Replay. That business closed two years ago, and the couple started Imogene + Willie, which is named for Carrie’s maternal grandparents.

“They’re so pure and artisan,” said Frank Muytjens, vice president of men’s design for J. Crew, of the Eddmensons. “They create their denim in a big metal tub in the backyard, and the leather guy down the street makes the bags. Every jean is a one-off and has Western influences, workwear influences. Everything is very crafty and very individual.”

J. Crew will carry a slim straight-leg model, which is “based on a jean from the Forties,” he said, in either a dark rinse with mild abrasion for $375 or a light wash with more abrasion for $425. There will be a slimmed-down version of a vintage U.S. Mail bag for $650 and a leather tote for $800. Hangtags have been printed from old letter presses, and the sizes will be individually hand-stamped, according to Matt Eddmenson. There will also be a vintage T-shirt and sweatshirt for women.

The association between the two companies came about after the Eddmensons reached out to J. Crew chief executive officer Millard “Mickey” Drexler, whom they had known from his days at Gap. “We sent him an e-mail saying we were enamored with all the collaborations they were doing, and literally three minutes later the phone rang at the store and it was Mickey,” she said.

Although the brand has received “tons of inquiries” from other retailers wanting to carry the jeans, Carrie Eddmenson said it is a “strategic decision” not to wholesale beyond J. Crew and Stag. “We want to keep it pretty intimate,” she said.

The “mid- to long-term goal,” he said, is to open additional locations, but “no more than three.” His wife added: “We like that people are flying to Nashville to come to the store.”

Your Boom'n....and Your Boom'n....

We Finally Got Our Piece of the Pie.......

For the two or three of you who read this blog, you're probably aware of my obsession with Japanese culture. My good friend, Bill Bennett was featured wearing his Willies in the latest issue of Free & Easy. If you aren't privy, Free & Easy is a Japanese publication that has been around for years, which more than anything, showcases the Japanese male fascination with Americana. This magazine is to me what Vogue is to the fashion world. To see the jeans that we designed being worn by a good friend in my favorite magazine is a real honor. Thanks Bill for loving our jeans enough to throw them on and thanks Free & Easy for being such a rad magazine....even if I can't read a word of it!

M

beautiful people

we are no satorialist or mister mort (by the way.. thank you so much, mordechai rubinstein, for taking time to come to imogene+willie last week.)
but.
we have for years loved to take pictures out on the road.
matt... always taking pics for his archive of unique textures and graphics and graffiti.
me, more so of people.
thought to share just some from the last year.

love,
c

natural willie

received this pic today from our dear friend and willie wearer, joe gannon, from delaware.
limited edition willie.
natural denim.
selvage.
handful left.
love,
c

a motel to a hotel and the human web

there were quite a few specific minutes in the past several years where matt and i were realizing, even without knowing it at the time of the minute, that we would create some something together.
thank God it manifested as imogene+willie.
but what we keep on seeing every day into this.... all of those crazy life changing minutes of realization were instances of influences from others that inspired us and pushed us to today. simple list that covers the "others": family, old and new friends, business partners, our team, and some strangers.

i want to tell you about one specific set of minutes that moved us. wish i could just TELLL you the story, but i will try to type it out. quickly and not too long... and knowing that you might not care about the details that mean so much to me, but there is a point to sharing with you.

one of matt's best friends lives in austin, texas.
we went to austin in summer of 2008 to celebrate his wedding.
he encouraged us to stay at hotel san jose.

i never will forget arriving at the hotel.
the smell from the parking lot, through a green outdoor path, into the little bitty lobby.
the guy behind the counter.
the girl checking in at the same time as us in a pair of slim jeans that she had worn for sure every day from rigid to museum piece. i couldn't quit staring at her... pants!
the old letterpress concert poster above the bench.
and then the room. so meager but so perfectly appointed.
then i remember the sun coming in the window the next morning. couldn't wait to get outside to see what we couldn't see in the dark the night before.
the calm and simple breakfast. the wood tables and benches made by someone, and i had to know who. the white butterfly chairs by the pool. the bamboo and all the plants that i love that couldn't grow in kentucky.
greens, greys, blue, wood. touch of red. white. off white. music.

friends were arriving from other parts of the country that day. none of us could afford to stay 5 days in single rooms. so we had booked a suite for 6 of us to crash in.
checked out of our room and into another space that made us so..... content.
whatever. matt and i both are to a fault and not so balanced, almost completely visual learners and thinkers and doers. seeing things and making things for others to see just makes us feel really happy. i know it is just STUFF or JUNK, but how stuff compliments stuff just makes me feel good.
there are 4 more days of visual details that i will leave out.
and then...reading and learning about the proprietor. how she slowly and respectfully bought the hotel, once infested with crack addicts and prostitution.
all i knew: this place was a true inspiration to us. this place was telling us that, someday, we would have the opportunity to re-define our own trade.

fast forward 2 years.
several months ago, two beautiful, super rad women walked in to imogene+willie. the one with the short spiky hair asked insistently, "where is your bathroom?" she really had to go bad.
she came back from the bathroom and confidently announced something like this:
"you don't have to tell me the story. i have read everything i can get my hands on about this place and i am so happy to finally be here".
we thanked her so much.
she and the other beauty dove into the store...letting us, at this point, tell them the stories about all of the pieces that we sell.
she kept on throwing kind sentiments at us about the store. thanked her so much again and again.
and then i asked, "where are you from?"
she said, "austin."
i said.......... "ohhhhh. a place in austin is where we realized our dream about imogene+willie. there is a place there that inspired us so much and pushed us into this."
she said, "where was it?"
i said, "it's on south congress. a place called hotel san jose."
she said, "honey, i am liz. that place is mine!"

laughs and tears and new found friendship and better understanding of her continued mission, then friends in common that we never realized, and (we hope a collaboration someday?!)
but now:
want you to read a great piece on liz that was in the new york times magazine 2 weeks ago.

and then next week:

the other beautiful woman that was there that day: amy cook. cannot even believe it, but she is taking a pit stop in nashville next tuesday june 8, to do a special set in our back yard. check out her music NOW and then get to the backyard next tuesday at 6pm.

6 degrees of separation. the human web. i don't know what it is or what it all means, exactly. i just know that we are so grateful to all of the people that mentor us and encourage us to learn and think and grow and evolve every day.
viva hotel san jose!

love,
carrie

We love you Neil!

Thank You So Much Nick and Lina........The only way it could have been better is if you guys would have been there!!! M+C

dear those on the fence: one.more.day sale!

for those of you that have emailed and called when we were closed memorial day and+or didn't make it to the store by sunday evening...
we are extending the imogene+willie sale through today.
come and get it! $31 off your imogene or willie jean.
good day to write "june 1.2010" in your pocket bag and start your journey.
we are suckers on making exceptions, but i promise... today is the last day of this sale!
love,
carrie

Memorial Day Jean Sale!

In celebration of Memorial Day, we are offering $31 dollars off of any pair of Imogene + Willie brand jeans. Thursday through Sunday ONLY! (We will be closed Monday the 31st in honor of the holiday). Don't miss your opportunity to get a patriotic deal on some MADE IS THE USA blue jeans! See you this weekend! -ian, i+w

Hours:
Thurs 11-7 (+ supper & song)
Friday 11-7
Saturday 11-6
Sunday 1-5

Summer Sale!

A few items from Levi's LVC, RRL, J Brand, Red Flower, Swiss Army...
Call or email for prices. (615) 292-5005 or ian@imogeneandwillie.com. Or, by all means, stop by and see us at the shop! -ian, i+w

The Granny White Tee Is Back!

You were desperate for your size and now we have it. The Granny White tee is back. Sizes available: XXS-XL. Price: $45 each.

Note: For those of you who haven't heard the story, Imogene + Willie is housed in an old gas station. Named "Granny White Service Station" in the 1950s, a lot of 5 cent petrol was pumped before the building was repurposed. The Granny White tee graphic is an exact replica of the original station sign on loan from the son of the man who owned and operated Granny White in its day. It is a tribute to our building and its heritage. Wear it with pride! -Ian, i+w