Ahoy mateys! 

It is I, Michael. Welcome back to Snail Mail; we have a lot to go over and no time to waste. Today, I’m not even going to fix my spelling mistajks. Forward we go! 

For those of you unaware, this is Snail Mail, a weekly (sometimes) email detailing what is happening behind the scenes at Iron Snail HQ. Are you reading this from the blog and want to subscribe? Sign up at the bottom of the website for exclusive first looks and more!

First, I’d like to apologize for the delays we’ve been experiencing as of late. Snail Industries is on the precipice of hiring someone else to help me take on the world in our battle to create the world’s greatest clothing brand. In the meantime, I’m doing everything myself and finding that there is only so much time in a day. Rest assured, things are always humming along behind the scenes and our machine will only improve with time.

What You Need To Know

Pre-orders for these pieces will be on Monday, Sept. 23rd at 5 pm EST (New York City time).

In order to speed up the pre-order process, please fill out this form if you’re hoping to buy a piece. This will help me get started on production now rather than next week. 

The form is here too. Only fill out the information for the piece you'd like to purchase. Filling out the survey does not guarantee a piece or bind you to a purchase.

Anyway, let’s go over some new Iron Snail vocabulary and philosophy to make sense of the product lines.

Far Beyond The Grade

As many of you know, our slogan is: “Far Beyond The Grade,” I’m trying to revolve the brand around that idea. Every product we make should far exceed any accepted standard of quality at any price point. In short, we use the highest quality materials and price as low as we can. This idea was born when I realized that starting a clothing brand via a YouTube channel that reviews the best-built clothing in the world would be quite hard unless our products were better and cheaper. You may like other brands better in certain areas and that’s 100% fine, but I’m always going to try and be a contender! Shoutout to my good friend Ronnie, who is now helping me with forecasting, supply chains, and general business practices to make sure we’re doing this right. 

The hope is to eradicate the phrase “they don’t make things like they used to.” I’d love it if every piece you got from us felt like an heirloom.

The Tiered System

The Iron Snail will have three main tiers (four in only the most exceptional cases). The goal of a tiered system is to provide you with a choice of just how far you want to push the limit of garment construction and what your end use is. Each piece we make will be split into three tiers: The Leaf Line, The Primordial Line, and…a line that I’ll tell you about later. 

The Leaf Line

Our most affordable option.

"The goal of the Leaf Line is to offer our silhouettes at a lower cost without compromising on fabric quality, manufacturing location, or anything of the sort. Instead, we look for ways to lower costs such as: using non-selvedge denim instead of selvedge, using fabrics without patterns so our fabric yield is higher, removing linings to make pieces for slightly warmer weather, sticking to more traditional materials, etcetera. Our Leaf Line products are made in the same factories, have the same fit, some of the same details as our Primordial line, and are all guaranteed to be of outstanding quality."

The Primordial Line

Our elevated line.

"With the Primordial line comes more premium fabrics, details, and features that far exceed the grade of standard garments. Each product will have a page full of the added details, explainers of why we switched fabrics, etc."

The [NAME REDACTED] Line

Our highest tier.

I’ll share the name as we get a bit closer to the first piece to enter this stage. The only focus of this line is otherworldly quality and functionality. This will most likely be a hyper-limited line due to the price of construction and materials.

The Goal

The goal here is for you to pick a silhouette and piece that you love, the Prologue, for example, and to allow you to pick which level you’d like it at. Some people simply do not need or want a heavier selvedge denim if the lighter non-selvedge version is cheaper.

Each product page is chock-full of details explaining what we do to save on cost, what we add or take away, our ideas, and more. Please see all of the information on the site if you’re interested!

THE PROLOGUE V2 & CHAPTER I

CHAPTER I JEANS

Why the Hemp?

I’m so VERY glad you asked! I’m currently, and will probably always be, obsessed with hemp. It can be processed to be silky smooth while also far exceeding the strength of cotton in all measurable ways. We even had a little test done to see just how strong hemp fabric was compared to cotton, our friend Zach wrote an amazing article here.

It only felt natural to use hemp fabric on the pockets of our jeans to help prevent rips and tears. Hemp also has a trillion other benefits, but in order to keep this email short(er), I’d recommend that you check out the Chapter 1 Jeans product page.

Why the Denim?

Well, we couldn’t just sell pocket bags! On this run of Chapter 1 Jeans (and Prologues), we are using 12oz American-made denim for the Leaf Line and 15oz Japanese selvedge denim for the Primordial Line. I’m coming up on my 11th year anniversary of being a total denim nerd, and I love both types of denim here equally.

The Japanese denim is a heavier weight with some gorgeous character that REALLY comes out after their first wash. It’s a very deep, intense indigo-blue that will experience some beautiful high-contrast fading and also, soften up wonderfully over time. If you’re new to the world of denim, prepare for something that feels tougher out of the gate. Once you get moving, get a wash in, etc. it’ll feel like the soft jeans you know and love but with a bit more heft to them. 

The American denim is classic “American denim,” what I mean by that is it’s 12oz (what you’re used to with most brands), pretty smooth, and starched a fair bit. This denim turns electric after its first wash. The starch glues a lot of the character down (and stiffens the fabric for sewing) and a little water and suds bring the denim to life. It’ll have a strong “fuzz” (unsinged cotton fibers) and a very slight amount of character to it. This is your more classic denim, made on machines in the US that made some of the most important denim IN the US many moons ago.

Why the Added Embroidery?

All good jeans have some embroidery on them, most notably the arcuate that Levi’s does on their back pockets. I wanted to add a subtle embroidery that gets slightly more visible as the jeans fade. Look closely; there’s a tiny Snail hidden on those lines!

Why the Fit?

This is a truly custom Snail fit; it’s a mash-up of a ton of my favorite jeans from a few different brands and a few different decades. The goal was “classic” because that’s the type of jeans I’d want, especially if there was only one fit to start. The jeans are a straight fit with a higher rise (11.75” for size 30”). I’m hurriedly adding more measurements to the site as we speak. Picture me screaming into those old two-piece telephones in a trans-Atlantic accent with the manufacturer.

THE PROLOGUE JACKET

If this were a video, I’d add sound effects like pneumatic drills and jackhammers at this point because THE PROLOGUE HAS BEEN REBUILT!

This is our first V2 product, developed from wearer feedback and some changes I wanted to make. Let’s go over fit first.

Fit

The biggest change to The Prologue is that we increased the size of the front panel of the jacket. If you lift your arms up like a zombie, that’s where you’ll notice the largest difference: there is noticeably more room and comfort. We also made the Prologue slightly drop-shouldered (it’s a bit tough to notice in the fit pictures since the jackets are raw and have a lift of their own), which added some more mobility to the arms as well. Beyond that, there are some slight changes: the back is a bit roomier, and the jacket is a bit shorter. 

The jacket is also designed to account for some slight shrinkage. Not enough to have you worry about switching sizes but enough to allow the jacket to remain comfortable and mold to your body even better after a wash (please do a cold soak and air-dry for the first wash to be sure you don’t over-shrink).

Moleskin

This is a Primordial line feature.

Per the site: "Off the stormy shores of France and England came Europe's alternative to denim: moleskin. Moleskin is a workwear fabric that is not from a mole at all, but its rich and velvety texture reminded someone of a mole. Worn by outdoorsmen, workers, and even WWII military personnel, moleskin is one of those magical fabrics that is durable, insulating, comfortable, and incredibly beautiful."

We’ve lined the pockets with a gorgeous red moleskin, simple as that. Invisible to most (unless you show them), this is the detail on the Prologue V2 that makes people go “Oooooooooh” when they plop their hands in the pockets for the first time. Much more information is awaiting you on the site.

The Patch, Tale, and UCG

The Prologue comes with our Iron Snail patch, a field-notes style book detailing “The Tale of The Iron Snail” and a care guide, and, located inside the jacket is a red patch with the size and care instructions.

The Skinny

All four of these pieces are pure RAW denim. I love that. I love denim. Through wearing these pieces and washing them, the garment will come to life. Seams will begin to pucker, the denim will stretch in points of stress (aka mold to your body), soften, and fade uniquely to you. When Taylor lived a 3-hour drive from me I would drive to her parents house every weekend for two years. The result of that was a seat belt fade across my jacket. That’s what it’s all about—it’s always fun to wear pieces that get more beautiful over time. These babies are in their “blankest” form right now.

I’d really encourage you to check out the site so you can read up on all the products and figure out what is best for you. Please don’t hesitate to email me at inquiries@theironsnail.us, but note that as the brand continues to grow, it’s getting a bit harder to respond to all of you in a timely manner by myself. You may be hearing from a nice man named Lyle!

I NEED YOU!

Like the river needs the rain! Great song. Anyway, in order to get this process moving as fast as possible, please fill out this form if you plan on purchasing a denim piece. It’ll help me prep the manufacturer on sizing so we can cruise through the process. The form is here.

Once again, on Monday, Sept. 23rd at 5 PM EST, these puppies will be going LIVE, and you’ll be able to place your order then. The manufacturer is telling me their goal is to have these pieces sent to me right before the Thanksgiving holiday. I’ll pack and ship them within the week of delivery and get them out to you all then! Once you place an order on the site, you are able to cancel the order up until the garment is shipped (then it’d be a return). 

Thank you to each and every one of you all for checking out the brand and the pieces! I’ll talk to you on Friday! The form is here again if you need it!

Thanks and all the best!

- Michael