As the leaves begin changing and the days get shorter, we begin to miss summer days in the park and visits to the beach. While sometimes this seasonal transition can feel like saying goodbye to the late nights on the patio, our team here at Dutil know it’s the perfect time of year to pull out a tried and true garment - the perfect layering piece for a sweatshirt or flannel. You know where this is going (we are a denim store after all!). We’re talking about the Denim Jacket.

A year ago today, we decided to make a jean. 

We had just opened our Dutil Denim location in Calgary and wanted to honour the city and its rough and tumble history of denim. We wanted to celebrate the beautiful denim fabrics worn by cowboys and ranchers in an entirely modern way. But we knew we couldn't do it alone... so we turned to our friends at Pure Blue Japan to help us turn this vision into a reality, and the Dutil x PBJ: Year One collaboration jean was born. 

Now, you might be wondering: what does music (and thus a blog post about music) have to do with denim? As it happens, music and denim actually have a long-standing history together. Jagger, John, Jackson… Some of the music industry’s biggest names are almost synonymous with the denim they wore. Some might even argue that the popularization of denim as a casual staple in the average person’s wardrobe was brought on by the commercialization of these musical giants. Besides, our staff here have lives and passions outside of just denim… we promise.  A scene that I’ve personally been involved with for the last decade of my life has been the punk/hardcore scene. Punk dates back to the 70s and 80s with bands like Sex Pistols and The Clash, sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a thriving subculture today. In major cities all over the world, there are groups of young people expressing their frustrations, both political and personal, through fringe genres like punk and hardcore. After all, punk music started out as a symbol of rebellion… kind of like denim, no? Denim became a symbol of rebellion in the 50s and 60s because of its association with the American […]

Editor’s Note: The following is a part of our Denim Diaries project – a deep dive into process of breaking in raw denim. So far in this series, we have explored the journey of a pair of raw jeans from initial discomfort to gradual acceptance. In this piece, Jen Hughes — one of our denim guinea pigs — gives us a blow-by-blow account of her first 2 weeks in her Naked & Famous Classic 11oz Selvedge. Day One I loved the fit. The look was excellent, and I was optimistic about breaking in my first pair raw jeans. However, about two hours in I was starting to regret my decision. I don’t often use the word hate, but I genuinely hated that I couldn’t take the jeans off until work was done. Furthermore, I could barely bend over, they were strangely itchy (!?) and man did they pinch my thighs. They even left (small but present nonetheless) bruises around my hips. “Why?” I asked myself, “why on earth would a person intentionally cause themselves so much discomfort for a pair of jeans?!”. Then I remembered the pair of heels that I can’t walk two blocks in without bleeding. Oh, right. Day […]

By now you know that we love jeans. What can we say… they’re the perfect pant. Still, we are willing to concede that jeans are not — I repeat, are not — appropriate for every occasion. Only the strongest willed denim enthusiasts rock their jeans in 30+ degree (celsius) heat. And that’s where shorts come in handy! There are plenty of great shorts on the market (check out some from our online inventory if you’re curious), but sometimes what’s available just doesn’t cut it. The Plan The plan here is simple: we hem a pair of jeans to about a 7″ inseam so they effectively turn into shorts. John picked out a pair of Neuw Studio Pants. Below you’ll see him wearing them pre-hem. John opted for the Neuw Studio Pants for their wash and fit. He wanted his (soon-to-be) pair of shorts to end just above the knee with a finished hem. So, we marked and measured and then our tailor Kevin got to work using our Union Special. Not 20 minutes later and the jeans had become shorts! Take a look at the final product below. And there you have it. We love that something as simple as […]

Welcome to our second instalment of Denim Diaries. In this series, we explore the break in process of 6 pairs of Naked & Famous Women’s Jeans. In our last article, we met Jen, Zoe and Montana and introduced the three Naked & Famous jeans they started wearing: the Classic, High Skinny and Max. Finally, after 6 weeks of wear, our denim guinea pigs are ready to report on how their opinions of these jeans have changed (if at all) in the process of breaking them in. “They’ve essentially just been customized to my body. It’s as though they’ve become second skins.” Zoe Anyone who has broken in raw denim before can tell you that six weeks is more than enough time to witness substantial change in the denim. So we figured now would be as good a time as any to evaluate how these jeans have changed since day one. All three women are reporting that their jeans feel more comfortable and look better now, and Jen and Zoe have both described their jeans as a “second skin.” Their original ratings of these jeans are summarized below, alongside their current ratings. Original Ratings Jean Fit Style Comfort Classic 11oz Selvedge […]

This blog post marks the start of a new series of posts we’ll be hosting on our blog — Dutil Stories. Denim is fascinating in its own right. A person could spend hours and hours online familiarizing themselves with manufacturing information, product knowledge and history alone. We believe, however, that denim is most interesting when it intersects with the lives of people. Dutil Stories is our effort to investigate these intersections and give explanation to the phenomena of denim through the lives of its owners and lovers. Which brings us to our first entry. Meet Abba. A Background Abba’s originally from Saskatchewan. Well, she’s originally originally from Sudan, Africa — at the age of three her family immigrated to Saskatchewan, Canada. Youngest of eight kids, Abba recalls the distinct freedom that came with being the ‘baby’. She’d pick out bold outfits to wear starting at a young age as a way of carving a pathway unlike her older siblings’. Little did she know that carving out pathways of her own would become a theme throughout her life. At the age of eight, Abba’s mother taught her how to sew. Abba’s mother learned to sew from her mother, and so an […]

Trust us — we know how strange ‘Denim 101’ sounds. There’s a compendium for jeans? In fact, there is! Or at least, there should be. There’s a lot to know about denim, after all; whether it be denim history, brand knowledge, maintenance or sizing, this guide should have you well on your way to knowing and loving denim about as much as we do! The following are answers to the questions we get asked most frequently. How do I take care of my denim? This is a big question, and one which we will break up and answer in smaller slices below, but here’s the short answer: wear, wash, repair, repeat. There’s no need to throw your jeans in the freezer or wash them in the ocean. Myths busted. Instead, we recommend you wash your jeans when they need washing (more on that below), and then repair them when rips and tears appear. In our opinion, there’s nothing better than a well worn and loved pair of jeans. And the only way to get there is with lots of wears and repairs. Fortunately, Dutil offers repair services. How (often) should I wash my raw denim? There’s two questions here: first, […]