By Kyle, Source: Rawr Denim

One of the crucial elements that separates the raw denim hobby from ordinary consumer fashion is the careful consideration of the materials used to construct the jeans. If the modern raw denim movement was born from a fascination with selvedge denim and vintage shuttle looms, it grew up as manufacturers pressed further into a drive for unique garments featuring not just old-fashion fabrics, but carefully-selected machinery and materials ranging from rebuilt Union Specials to original copper rivets, iron buttons, and heavy-gauge cotton thread.

But out of all the elements present in creating a pair of high-quality jeans, cotton is the most basic and essential ingredient. It is the foundation upon which everything else is built. And among all the different varieties of cotton available–ranging from Texas and California cotton to luxurious Supima and fine Egyptian varieties–Zimbabwe cotton stands out as the superlative variety for denim.

The question of whether one cotton or another is better is to some extent subjective and depends upon the specific requirements of a brand, Zimbabwe cotton stands out for a variety of reasons. It’s picked by hand, not machines, and only one crop is produced per year, giving the production of this cotton an old-world quality that’s inevitably lost in other varieties where machinery and big agribusiness is the driving force of production.

Yet the quality comes at a price, and not just in monetary terms: Zimbabwe is known for the oppressive dictatorship of the Mugabe regime, infamous for its numerous human rights violations. This inevitably raises the question: does Zimbabwe cotton’s quality come at the expense of supporting an oppressive regime, or is it more complicated than that?

Read the rest of the story at: Rawr Denim