Lumberjeans

Name: Lumberjeans. Black edition
Brand: Vollebak
SKU: PNT021BLK028
Price: 133 GBP
Availability: InStock

Woven with ultra-strong Dyneema®, we’ve rebuilt jeans to be the toughest pants in the world again.

£445 £133

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Model is 6ft 2 / 188cm with a 32 inch / 81cm waist, and wears size Medium.

13.7 oz. Italian Dyneema® denim
Tough enough to survive 75kmph falls
Knees and seat reinforced with Cordura layers

The first ever pair of jeans were made for a lumberjack. Built for life in the woods, they were designed to be exceptionally tough – the strongest pants anywhere in the world at the time. But over the last 150 years, jeans have changed to the point where the original lumberjacks wouldn’t even recognise them. Skintight pants with premade rips are about as far away from the origin of jeans as you can get.

So we’ve gone back to the first days of jeans to build them as they were meant to be built. We’ve worked with the world’s most fabled mills, and the master craftsmen of denim, and combined that with the toughest modern day materials to create some of the strongest jeans ever made. The Black edition of our Lumberjeans are woven with Dyneema® fibres which are 15x stronger than steel, and reinforced with Cordura panels. They’re the jeans lumberjacks would have wanted.

Technical Details

Material made in Italy: 68% cotton, 25% Dyneema®, 5% nylon, 2% elastane

13.7 oz. Italian Dyneema® denim

Highly abrasion resistant

Knees reinforced with Cordura layer

Seat reinforced with Cordura layer

One piece continuous button fly

5 belt loops

2 front pockets lined with Cordura

Front ticket pocket

2 angled rear pockets half lined with Cordura

Rear ticket pocket

Axe loop

Machine wash cold, separately and inside out

Jeans constructed in China

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Rebuilding jeans as tough as they were meant to be

Over the last 150 years, jeans have changed to the point where the original lumberjacks probably wouldn’t even recognise them. So we’ve gone back to the first days of jeans to build them as they were meant to be built. We’ve worked with the world’s most fabled mills and materials, alongside the master craftsmen of denim, and combined that with the toughest modern day materials to create some of the strongest jeans ever made.

We’ve made them insanely tough

The first jeans were designed to be phenomenally hardwearing. So we’ve combined denim with the single strongest fibre known to man – Dyneema®. If you’re into chemistry, Dyneema® is an ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene that combines extreme strength with very low weight. On a weight for weight basis it’s up to 15x stronger than steel and 40% stronger than high-strength aramid fibres, which is why it’s normally used to make body armour and bulletproof vests. And it’s the Dyneema® that makes these an insanely tough pair of jeans.
Combined with Dyneema® for extreme strength

This is not the first time we’ve worked with Dyneema®. In 2019 we used it to build the Indestructible Puffer, which is the world’s strongest puffer jacket. We’ve also used it to build our Indestructible Jacket, the world’s strongest lightweight jacket. While regular denim was strong enough to survive the last century, you’re going to need something tougher to survive the next one. And that’s why we’ve combined denim with Dyneema® to build the Black edition of our Lumberjeans. This time we’re using Dyneema® as a composite, which means that 25% of the jeans are made from it.
Why you find Dyneema® in survival situations

To understand just how tough Dyneema® is you have to look at how it’s being deployed in the world today. It’s used to make bullet resistant vests, armour and helmets. It’s used in panels on tanks to protect against stronger ballistic threats like anti-tank projectiles. And you’ll find it in bulletproof cockpit doors in most commercial planes in the US. Unlike other high-strength materials it’s so light it floats on water, and it’s resistant to the long-term effects of moisture, UV light and chemicals, which is why it’s now also being used in artificial limbs.
The colder they get the stronger they get

Don’t worry if you end up somewhere freezing. Dyneema® gets stronger as it gets colder. So when it’s not being used to make insanely strong jeans, you’ll find Dyneema® ropes on giant ships and deep-water oil rigs that have to perform in freezing seas. A mooring rope on a winch buried under heavy ice on a ship sailing in extreme conditions can’t afford to fail. As the temperature drops down to -50°C the Dyneema® ropes gain 5-10% strength. Projections show that the rope would gain even more strength if it dropped to -150°C. And it doesn’t just get stronger, it also loses no strength in relation to abrasion resistance or cutting.

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Tough enough to survive 75kmph falls

While denim woven with Dyneema® is insanely tough on its own, we’ve taken the three typical failure points in jeans and made them even stronger. We’ve lined the seat of the jeans and both knees with a layer of Cordura – a high tenacity Nylon with extremely high abrasion resistance. During lab testing we recreated a 75kmph fall and drag on concrete, and the knees and seat survived without a single hole appearing. The rest of the jeans easily passed at 45kmph too, making these some of the toughest jeans ever made.

Reinforced pockets and a loop for your axe

The Lumberjeans are built with six pockets. There are two large front pockets made entirely from Cordura. Layered just behind the front right pocket you’ll find a small selvedge ticket pocket. Two angled back pockets sit at the back of the jeans, and they’re lined with Cordura. You’ll find another selvedge ticket pocket at the right back pocket. And since axes don’t fit in pockets, we’ve added a loop where you can hang yours on the side of the left thigh.
Ultra-durable, vintage detailing

Every element of the Lumberjeans is constructed with skilled craftsmanship that’s designed to last, with ultra-durable, vintage detailing. There’s a one-piece continuous button fly, a hallmark of quality vintage jeans. There are five large belt loops, and metal buttons and rivets which add durability to stress points. And since the back pocket rivets on denim were traditionally hidden to prevent cowboys from scratching their saddles, we’ve left them concealed. All the stitching is sewn with heavy duty thread, and you’ll find intricate chain stitching at the hem and the waistband.

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What the jeans feel like

If you’ve ever come across ultra-lightweight Dyneema® used in backpacks you’ll know it feels and sounds a bit like paper. But the Lumberjeans feel (and sound) just like jeans. You wouldn’t know they have Dyneema® in them until you need it. And that’s because the Dyneema® is woven in with the cotton during the weaving process. We also add a small amount of nylon for extra stability and elastane for stretch. It makes the jeans incredibly soft and comfortable from the moment you put them on, and extremely hard-wearing at the same time.

Denim built with an artisan Italian mill

To make denim this strong requires a special kind of partner, so we worked with a 130-year old, family-owned, artisanal Italian mill just outside Venice, with a pedigree in some of the most heavy duty fabric categories going. They specialise in high-end speciality denim and bespoke weaves and have a roster of designer names on their books as a result. But we wanted to try something different and make denim insanely high performance. So we worked with them to build an incredibly high-strength fabric that’s also supremely lightweight and comfortable.
As well as making jeans that last a long time

We work with suppliers committed to reducing their impact on their environment. So our Italian partners have cut the amount of water they use and waste they produce by half through use of new technology. Waste is sent to a yarn-spinner in northern Italy that produces recycled yarn. The dyeing process and weaving looms have been adjusted to be more energy efficient and reduce emissions. The cotton yarn in these jeans is organic and comes from a yarn-spinner near Milan. And the fabric is certified by the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), ensuring the harvesting of raw materials and the production process is done in a socially and environmentally responsible way.

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The very first pair of jeans was made for a lumberjack

While workwear became fashionable in the 1990s, in the 1880s lives depended on it. Although jeans later became synonymous with cowboys – and later still with bikers, outlaws and rock stars – the very first pair of jeans was made for a lumberjack. In December 1870 a woman walked into a tailor’s shop in Nevada. She was at the end of her tether. She needed a pair of pants for her husband. They needed to be tough. And they needed to be made quickly. The husband was off work sick, and he had to be back chopping wood by January.

Jeans quickly became the lumberjacks’ uniform

The tailor had some experience with rugged materials. He already produced tents and wagon covers. So he made the trousers out of sturdy cotton duck, a heavy weight fabric with a twill weave. Another of his customers was the local blacksmith, who he used to supply with horse blankets with copper rivets built into the straps. So he hammered a few of these rivets into the pockets for good measure as he figured they might help this woodsman’s pants hold out a bit longer. Word of mouth soon spread. The new pants could take a beating like no pants before them. Jeans became the uniform of lumberjacks, loggers, railroad men and miners.
America’s second skin

Traditionally the weak link in workers’ pants had been the pockets. These men often worked on their hands and knees, using their pockets to carry tools and stones, so their pants tore easily. Rivets were a breakthrough. Soon companies selling these newfangled “waist overalls” sprang up everywhere. And this tough new uniform had one more benefit. It gave workers a sense of solidarity. An idea of belonging and enduring together. Esquire magazine called them ‘America’s second skin.’

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