Some of the best jeans in the world aren’t made in standard factories, but instead, are made by a single craftsman from start to finish. Called single-producer jeans, they come with a hefty price tag, but the quality and attention to detail are unmatched. In the US, there are a handful of brands creating jeans in this manner, but the one with the greatest variety of styles available is W.H. Ranch Dungarees. Founded by Ryan Martin in 2011, the Kansas City-based outfit offers 12 historical-reproduction jeans with prices that start at $375.
Before Martin started producing small-batch jeans, he studied apparel and textile design at Kansas State University and European pattern-making and draping in London. As online marketplaces gained traction, he found success selling ties on Esty, and also made a limited-release oil-cloth hunting jacket for Topo Designs. Today, Martin crafts each pair of jeans or denim jacket in his Heritage Collection from start to finish. And he’s hands-on in the ordering process, too: before they can make an order, prospective customers have to first do a consultation with the designer over the phone or via email.
To understand what else sets these jeans apart from even the best factory-made pants, we asked Martin to share his insights.
Q: What was the impetus for you to start making jeans?
A: I tried doing what I am doing now back in 2002. It was impossible for a variety of reasons. With the advent of social media, however, and the rise of the artisan movement on shops like Etsy, you could begin to reach an audience that you simply couldn’t before.
The impetus for the very first pair of W.H. Ranch Dungarees (called White Horse Trading Co. at the time), was that I wanted a pair of selvedge jeans to fit just like Dwight Yoakam’s did, which is to say high-rise, tight box, painted-on thigh and knee with a wide, stacked boot opening. Nothing existed like that on the market. I’m a classically trained, sixth-generation professional sewer and pattern maker, so, I said, “Screw it, I’ll make my own.” I posted a few pics on Instagram and off she went like a rocket ship. Now you have to wait close to two years to get a pair of my Heritage Collection jeans.
Q: What are the elements that differentiate your jeans from standard high-end factory-produced pairs?
A: I make every pair of Heritage Collection jeans from start to finish. I even go ship the dang things. I became obsessed with vintage denim, specifically Lee, and would spend hours every night researching and making notes of little construction details. I began collecting vintage jeans from the ’50s and ’60s and taking them apart and discovered that they simply do not make jeans now like they did back then. It would be too costly out of a factory, even at a premium price-point. This is not to mention that the construction know-how and many of the vintage machines that were used to create these jeans are gone, or at the very least too old to be used in a modern-day factory.
