Jeans can be your best buddy. Except after major holidays. But barring severe eating disorder reactivations, jeans are THE dependable mate.  I don't wash mine, and not coz some Swede advises against it. Why would I drown my best mate? I glide some of that Nature's Gate Mandarin Orange & Patchouli deodorant stick 'round the crotch, and ain't no need to be mistaken for a gutter-punk.

 I love reminding my friends, "Iron is made stronger by banging the shit outta it!"  Knocking up against one another allows for a depth of connection. It's just the balance that's tricky –the pain of the process vs plain ol’ S&M.

The jeans I was sent sported bible proverbs: "As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."  It's printed on the inside, so unless you wear your jeans inside out, no one will mistake you for heading for Jesus Army Camp.

 These jeans are sharpened by your fellow beings, so you can take yourself, your dog, and your lover to therapy, but the jeans?  All the issues should've been worked out by the time you get them out of the bag. They are ready to love on you. And just the way you take a battered puppy home from the pound, their jeans feel eager… nay, starved-to-be-loved-on! I swore I heard them purr when I slid my legs in. It's all the homegrown effort – even the hangtags are art.

 The fellas that created these jeans moved from Canada to LA, but they didn't go Hollywood! They are practicing Fair Trade in Canada, giving the poor folks that say ‘EH?’ product to break-in whilst smuggling beer and cigarettes across the border. They are not just putting Bible in their jeans; they’re living it! They lay hands on these things endlessly; doing for you what Jesus would not.

 I won’t go into the fetishistic details of shuttle looms and frayed edges – coz frankly I would rather live in my jeans, and then get down to the serious work of saving souls by making art. Some art moves you, some art moves with you. Iron Army Jeans do both. Now I want the pair that has Proverbs 21:9 – "It is better to live in a corner of a roof in a house shared with a contentious woman."  Or a woman that ain't washed her jeans for six months. 

~Laura Albert aka JT Leroy

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For more on Iron Army: ironarmyclothing.com

Photo of Laura Albert Courtesy of Angela Scrivani