Fade Types – Whiskers/Hige & Honeycombs

Posted by Nick Coe on May 11, 2011 in Denim Care · 10 Comments

15 year old LVC 501XX (source: blackandtannedny.wordpress.com)

We’ve mentioned numerous times across many posts about fades (we’ve even carved out our very own Fade Friday), but have never actually put in the time to talk a little bit about subject. Not that a super long post is really needed, for those unfamiliar with fades, we figured it’s worthwhile to delve into the topic every so often.

Everyone has different approaches to how you should actually achieve surreal fade patterns, so we won’t get into that here. In this post we’ll cover the two basic types of fades that you’ll usually see with all raw denim – Whiskers/Hige and Honeycombs.

Whiskers/Hige

Whiskers and Hige (I believe it is pronounced Hee-gay) fades are the long, stretched creases often (but not always) found around the waist and crotch area.

Whiskers - Waist (source: DenimArchive.com)

Whisker Fades – Edwin (source: DenimArchive.com)

Honeycombs

Honeycombs, on the other hand, are the fading found behind the knees and, as the name implies, are shaped like honey combs.

Honeycomb Fades – Nudies (source: Supratalk.com)

Additional Resources:

LVC 501XX Red Line Selvage Jeans at 15 Years Post

Stay Raw!

-Nick
@rawrdenim

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About: Nick Coe

Nick is the founder of RawrDenim.com, as well as rue + state - an online menswear shop offering simple, timeless, and essential products.

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Tags: edwin, fades, hige, honeycombs, Nudies, whiskers

Sean

A couple notes and points that might stand to be included:

- Whiskers and Hige (Hee-geh, to be specific) are the same thing. 髭 (Hige) is the Japanese word for beard/whiskers. Just a different choice of words.- “Traintracks” are the fades along the outer-leg seam, caused by abrasion on the folded edge on the inside. Because of the parallel fades that run the length of the leg. Example here (look at the upper thigh): http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/yakrian/SideShotEdit.jpg

- The most understated, but most common type of fading is what the Japanese call “Atari” fades. They are surface fades such as those found on belt-loops, knees, thighs, etc.

- Vertical Falling. What gives rope-dyed indigo denim its characteristic fading properties. The type and amount of falling varies between brands (i.e. Flat Head 3XXX denim is known for fast and striking fall, Eternal’s denim is known to fade slowly, but have a ridiculous amount of falling after the first year of heavy wear). An example of falling on a pair of Eternal 811: http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a237/yakrian/811Atari.jpg
- Sean
  
  …I apologise. You were just trying to focus on two types of fades, huh… Please delete my above comment so I don’t spoil everything readers.
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Fade Types – Whiskers/Hige & Honeycombs

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