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1936 Selvedge Denim Reproduction Jeans
This is a pair of selvedge denim reproduction jeans from 1936. They are really good quality, but you have to ignore the broken button.
Levis sells their reproduction pair for $300, but Buck Mason sells their reproduction pair for $270. So, Buck Mason is the deal, right?
No.
The jeans that I’m wearing are from Bronson, a domestic Chinese vintage US military reproduction brand — one of the weirdest sentences I’ve probably ever said.
They cost $90.
You could get three of these for the pair of one Buck Mason same pant.
The Real Story
The title of this article is not clickbait. Obviously, there is probably a little bit more nuance than whatever I’ve titled it, but it’s not clickbait. It’s something that is very interesting, a bit of a phenomenon, and it all has to do with the way you shop for clothing in the US versus the way you shop for clothing in China.
Also, real quick disclaimer — I live in the US, so it might be how you shop too if you live somewhere in Europe or anywhere else in the world. I just don’t know. I’ve shopped in one Denmark mall in my entire life — it was awesome.
But the way you shop for clothing and stuff like that in China oftentimes does lead to you’re paying less, and you’re getting a higher quality.
How Chinese Shopping Habits Are Spreading Globally
And that way of shopping is actually leaking into the US, and it might take over US shopping with the rise of companies that you’ve probably heard a lot about: Shein, Temu, and interestingly enough, the TikTok shop.
So the question is — what on earth is exactly happening?
To figure that out, I did a lot of research myself, obviously. But I also got in contact with the CEO of Bronson, Eason, and I asked him a lot of… I basically pestered their customer service until Eason was like, “Dude, what do you want to know?” And boy oh boy, did I get some answers.
How Bronson Does It
Next Up: How China Does it
So that’s that. Welcome to another Iron Snail production.
Like I said, I pestered the CEO, Eason, until he gave me some answers. I think there was a pretty significant language barrier, so I couldn’t get a lot of questions answered just because — well, there are a lot of weird questions anyway, like “Why… how does China work?”
But I did get the biggest questions that I wanted answered… answered.
So, let’s break down why Bronson is actually so cheap.
What is going on here? The easiest thing to say right away when you’re talking about very cheap clothing is, “Oh, they probably have terrible labor practices.”
That’s not always the case. Could be — but it’s not always.
There’s some things that Bronson does right away that get you to a pretty low cost. You see it a lot of times with brands that make more basic clothing, and they make a lot of them, and then sell it direct to consumer. And that’s exactly what Bronson is doing to actually a very high degree.
Pricing Strategy and Quality
I don’t have pictures of the entire process, but they’re knitting in-house — at least t-shirts.
I’m assuming also sweaters, as they said they’re weaving as well, so this denim may be their denim.
Super easy-peasy way to get the price down quickly because you are not marking up things all along the process.
That’s one thing.
Second thing is, Eason said they just don’t charge a lot. That’s definitely a strategy.
But then there is also the glaringly obvious thing, which is — Bronson from its start is very good quality, but a lot of brands that are priced even lower are also very good quality.
They just don’t take design risks like Bronson does.
I guess it’s not technically a risk because it’s vintage US military gear that they are reproducing in their own way, but the risk is that it’s not an everyday style.
These [image below] are high-waisted 1936 recreation jeans. The OG 107 pants — those go up, like, to my boobs. Huge niche style. Your dad is probably not going to want to wear OG 107 pants, especially if he fought in Vietnam, because those probably bring back terrible memories.
But he’s not going to want to wear those because it’s very daring.
Gap, Old Navy, other brands that you know — they could probably make a similar pant for a similar price. They just wouldn’t, because it’s not going to sell like a just regular cut-off, boring pair of chinos.
Comparing Bronson to Other Brands
And since the style of clothing they’re making, the materials and stuff that they’re using, are not comparable to real fast fashion brands, you compare it to brands that are doing something similar — which oftentimes are top-tier Japanese US military reproduction brands — and those are very different products.
Overall review of the sweater though — $80 is a good deal.
It’s a scratchier wool yarn that’s being used, and there’s 20% acrylic, and there’s a lot of… I think anti-pilling finish on it. So, I think the acrylic will cause the sweater overall to pill over time, but it does feel nice.
Taylor also said, “I looked handsome” when I wore it.
It is an $80 sweater, though, and I think unlike a lot of Bronson products, you will notice over time why this is $80 when you see how it ages and wears and breaks down.
Okay, so that partially explains why Bronson is so cheap.
The other thing is the thing I keep yammering on about — people don’t shop the same way in China as they do in the US. That is a big proponent as to why Bronson has to be so cheap.
China’s Super Power
Next up: USA’s Super Power
This is certainly news to no one, but China is absolutely a manufacturing powerhouse. Factories aren’t just competing with other factories saying, “We can make this cheaper for that brand.” Factories are competing with the brands, because people in China can just go directly to the factory and say, “Can you make that shirt? Instead of for $20, make it for $10.” Factories are like, “Yeah, sure.”
In the US, if you’re going to try and get something from a factory, you probably need to order an absolute ton of it to get wholesale prices, or there are a lot of hoops to go around. In China, it’s such a big thing, tech companies came up with the idea of, “Wait a minute, we can just kind of make online malls and get rid of that problem altogether.” There’s Tao Bao, T-mall, JD, Pin Duo Duo, and Douyin (which is TikTok in China). In the US, we don’t do that.
The Brand Mentality in the US
All of our stuff is made in factories obviously, but we put it in little cubbies — and those cubbies we call brands. And if you get something made and it doesn’t have the Carhartt logo on it, even if it uses the same materials or if it’s made in the same factory, we say that is fake. That it’s not real and there’s probably something wrong with it.
When, on the other hand, if you’re in a manufacturing powerhouse country, they can literally see the Carhartts coming out of the door. Carhartts are bad example — I don’t know if they make stuff in China, but you know what I mean.
And instead of saying, “Well, I trust that Michael the Iron Snail is going to give me a really good deal and make a really good product and stand by his product and give me a good warranty and everything like that,” you understand that you can get the same piece of clothing from the factory for less, with or without the branding.
The Marketplace Model in China
You say, “Well, I typed in t-shirt. I saw 10,000 people in the last month bought this t-shirt and everybody gave it five stars. So, I know it’s probably good.” And that t-shirt is competing with so many other people, they should have a good standard of quality, so you end up paying less for higher quality garments. That’s what’s going on in China.
Probably thinking, “Wow, are we getting ripped off?” In theory, yes.
But also, in theory, absolutely not, because there are major pros and cons of either one.
The Pros of Going Through a Brand
In theory, there are some really good benefits of going through a brand to get your product, because they should be able to support you more.
Patagonia — really good example. Basically, you can bring anything into their shop and they’ll repair it for you or replace it for you. That’s a good example where you’re like, “Oh, yeah. I like Patagonia.” Even though it costs a little bit more, you’re willing to pay for it.
There’s a few other bonuses that should theoretically come with the brand, too.
An important one for me is that brand story and heritage and everything like that should help keep old craft stuff alive. For example, while making the video and writing this article I was wearing the Iron Snail Russell Moccasin collaboration, which is really a true example of old world craftsmanship. And I bet you that Russell Moccasin would be dead in the water if they didn’t have that craftsmanship and that story.
Heritage and Craftsmanship
Same with selvedge denim.
If it wasn’t for Japan taking in selvedge denim and them saying, “This is an art form and we’re going to make these recreation pieces and stuff like that,” it probably would be so obscure there wouldn’t be nearly as much community there is today around it.
Oftentimes, with brands, there is much more aggressive innovation and forward innovation, not just trying to make something cheaper or be constructed cheaper. As an example, Nike is never going to let Adidas eat their running marathon lunch. And that is why you go from these early Nike running shoes or Adidas or something like that, to the modern ones.
Which, by the way, if you’re a marathon runner, I could see why you’re breaking world records, because people used to just run on leather boards. Now you’re running on like carved yoga blocks.
Accountability and Ethics
It’s also way easier to hold the brand accountable. If a brand is working with really unethical labor practices — like how Nike got in trouble in the ’90s and 2000s.
But if it’s just a random factory that you got on Tao Bao or something like that, you’ll either forgot or never find who actually made it. And frankly, that kind of disconnected goods creation it’s not going to get headlines, so it’s not going to go crazy or actually change anything.
The Brand Experience
And then you do get a bunch of nice, but not necessarily necessary things — but you get to kind of pick what brand represents me, which one is me, which one do I want to be known for. The best example, Ralph Lauren. If you go see an RRL store, you’d see all these regular stores and then RRL’s is a cottage with a babbling brook, totally engineered by Ralph Lauren to look like a woodland cottage to create a 100% unique buying experience that fits with the brand aesthetic. That is absolutely insane.
The Problem with Mega Brands
The problem is, as many people know, in the US now we have these giant mega brands that literally make palaces for you to walk into, like the Nike flagship in New York. Insane. There’s stuff like floating in the air, but you’re not getting the other part of the deal — the bare thing that you came in for: the boot, the shoe, the shirt, the jacket, whatever it may be. It doesn’t have that quality. Sometimes the warranty isn’t there. It seems rushed. It seems cheap. The brand is bigger than the actual quality. And people hate that.
The Tipping Point for Change
And personally, I think we’re just getting to the tipping point where brands have to make a change quickly. And the reason I’m saying that is because — I don’t know if you remember the entire dupe craze that happened a few years ago, where everybody was obsessed with what’s the knockoff version, what’s the cheapest version, why would I get the real Birkenstocks when I can get these ones for cheaper.
That to me is a huge red flag that your way of business is going by the wayside, because you don’t have something compelling enough for people to pay the higher price. You’re missing out on something. You’re not kind of running with the wolves here. And that’s no good.
Negatives of Buying Direct from Factories
So going through factory and not brand does make sense for just basics in general. But when you get in the weeds, there are some very, very big negatives.
The first thing is obviously just… there are systems like JD and T-mall and Tao Bao where you kind of sort through things by judging through monthly sales and then rating but it’s not perfect, you can get scammed, you can get ripped off, the picture might not be accurate, you might not get what you want, etc..
That’s an obvious con — you see it with Temu and Shein all the time.
And then sometimes the garments have a lot of lead in them because of how they’re being made and then you have to deal with things like ‘off-gassing.’
So those standards that you hold companies to go far and wide and different areas have different things. So that’s a big risk.
The Brutality of Manufacturing in 2025
But also, manufacturing in 2025 is already a very brutal job and has been a very brutal job forever. But when you’re racing to the absolute bottom, there’s not a lot of accountability. Each and every factory is competing like that, which, as you’ve probably already guessed, can lead to some ethical nightmares.
It could be you have a really, really good cut and sew factory that you saw in some country somewhere — US included, anywhere. Everything looks fine, but then you say, “Where did you get this cotton from?” And that’s an issue. That person may have not checked that part of the process or something like that. And having checks and balances on what is being made, where stuff is being from, who is doing it costs money. And a lot of times these factories aren’t willing to pay for that level of transparency.
The Question of Bronson’s Ethics
So, now the real question is, what about Bronson?
Fom an ethical standpoint, I really like that Eason answered me. We chatted for a little bit. He sent me some pictures of their manufacturing. But when it gets to the nitty-gritty ethics, I don’t know. I don’t know. So, I wish I could tell you the straight answer there, but I thoroughly don’t know.
The Huge Shift Right Now and Who Wins?
But here’s the thing. Remember I was saying in the beginning of this article, there is a massive shift happening in both the USA and China. Bronson’s a brand.
Okay, so the finale. There are obviously pros and cons of each method, but who makes the highest quality? What is the title? Is it true?.
Quality and value are the center point focus of this article. So, what method brings out the best of those two things?
Where the Best Value Comes From
China’s infrastructure, manufacturing, and everything has matured past just raw output of goods. So, we can’t factor them into the equation alone, but they do have a secret weapon. When you’re looking at traditional clothing that doesn’t require a ton of insane innovation, your best bet is probably in countries that are really pouring a lot of money into their manufacturing output — Bangladesh, Vietnam, Turkey, India, places like that. That’s where you’ll get your absolute lowest cost goods and you can use really good materials and there’s a lot of great craftsmanship there as well.
But on the other hand, when you’re looking at absolutely insane, bleeding-edge innovation — coating stuff and certain things and just pushing the boundaries of clothing and research and development in general — then that is the USA, Japan, South Korea, Italy. Uh, Italy actually is ballistic with their technologies, especially in sustainability. Those countries kind of dominate the research and development phase.
But then there is China, who is kind of smack dab in the middle of both of those. China has the massive manufacturing power that we all know of, but it’s no longer the absolute lowest price place to get things made. But at the same time, they have a technology infrastructure (the online shopping malls like Tao Bao) that allows people to get stuff from all these factories and stuff like we just mentioned at the lowest price possible because they are courting the competition into these little boxes — and it’s crazy aggressive. So that is why you can oftentimes get better value through sites like that.
So back to Bronson , which is, in case you’re wondering, spanking good quality. I actually feel like I should give these pants more credit than I gave them earlier. These are the OG 107s, like I said, all the way up to my boobies, which are around my belly button. Pretty nutty quality. A really, really aggressive fit. I feel like I’m Daniel Simmons right now. But the point is — Bronson is a brand, not just a nameless factory selling the same goods without the label – so where do they fit in?
Back in the US, we’re really seeing consumers embracing the no-label, “We just want better quality” type of clothing. But consumers are also demanding to have stuff made domestically. Sometimes I think people get a little sticker shock, but there is some big movement happening. And while I don’t work with a ton of manufacturers, but I do call a lot of them and I feel like constantly they’re all saying they are just getting absolutely swamped with work. One of our knits actually said they can’t even work with us because they’re getting too many large orders.
China’s Growing Brand Focus
But at the same time, China has been getting very brand-focused lately. There’s a lot of demand for brands because they — I think that’s just part of human life to be like, “Well, I want the brand that best defines me and I want a great experience.” So, that is also growing.
And now everybody’s kind of eating each other’s lunch. You can see how it’s getting confusing. And that, you’ve probably already noticed naturally now, means you’re going to see less made in China apparel, more made in Vietnam, Bangladesh, India — places that are really investing in just pure manufacturing output for the lowest price possible. It’s just a massive big race that is constantly ever-shifting. Which is why it feels impossible to capture and explain this landscape at times.
Watch this Article
Closing Scene with the Beavers
But at the same time, the beavers are still busily in the woods munching. The mushrooms are still growing, and hikers are wondering if they’re edible. And I’m still wearing pants in 90° weather. So we’ll see where that takes us.
Okay, that’s about it. See you next week.
This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.
The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered.
