Eternal junkies and contestants around the world can breathe a sigh of relief sadness that the Eternal 811 Contest has come to a close. After over a month of deliberation, Eternal‘s staff in Japan have announced the winners.

The jeans that the competition was based around were Eternal’s 811 straight fit, made using a 14.5 Oz Japanese denim with a contest specific woven patch on the rear of the waistband. Eternal denim is widely regarded to fade slower than other denim brands, however some say that the fades are more satisfying as they require particular hard wearing to achieve! Forum member and contestant’s, ah_long, pair were featured in a Fade Friday last September.

However, for this week’s Fade Friday we take a look at 3rd place winner, soonami‘s entry. Like a true trooper, soonami didn’t wash his pair of Eternal 811‘s for the entire length of the competition and as a result, the crotch of his jeans resembles what can only be described as a nuclear bomb crater. In a bid to reinforce the bomb site, soonami patched the blown-out 14.5 Oz Japanese denim with 19 Oz. Samurai denim.

Being a relative newcomer to the world of raw denim, this is the first pair of jeans that I’ve seen with a pocket blow-out too. Soonami did a wicked looking patch job, repairing the worn through 6 Oz indigo dyed chambray pocket bag with some cotton flannel. It looks so good that it’s a shame his handiwork is hidden away on the inside of the pants.

The overall fading of the jeans is excellent and despite not washing the denim, the honeycombs behind the knee and on the stacks show great contrast.

The two year long contest produced plenty of decent fades, despite the high casualty rate (only 25 of the almost 100 brave contestants checked in on 12/12/12). You can read more about the contest and how it was run, including photo submissions from throughout at the official SuperFuture thread.

Details

Name: Eternal BIG811XXX “Contest Jeans”

Weight: 14.5 Oz.

Fit: Mid-rise, straight fit

Denim: Unsanforized, 100% Japanese Cotton Selvedge Raw Denim

Length of Wear: 2 Years

Number of washes: None

Additional Details: 39″ inseam Half-lined back pockets 6 oz. indigo-dyed pocket bags Custom contest label Custom leather patch

Available at: Blue In Green for $285.00

Photos – Before

Photos – After