Hey guys,
I recognized that nobody´s talkin here bout the real old RMCs.
Not the ones with "Red Monkey Company" on them but the really old ones...
the "R.M.C. k.soho.h"s and the "Red Monkey Compy"s

the RMCompys are the first ones, with the old monkey design.
several RMC caps and the Zero Halliburton x RMC collab jeans still are using similar monkeys for their embroidery.

it´s simple why there is compy on them but not company - the three words are written into that old monkey´s body, so there´s just no space for a company into that thin monkey...

also there is no embroidery on them, not even paintings.

to be honest, in my eyes the first generation rmcs are ugly as hell, in my eyes they are no jeans...
they look like worker jeans from the 1860´s ...perhaps they are really some kind of modified replicas of them!?

so here are the pix:


...one backpocket, one sidepocket and cinchback!


...here u can see red monkey compy (compy was also used on several 2005 models, but i´ll get back to this topic later)

i dont know if they are selvedge jeans...but it might be, the second generation had selvedge

here are some pix of a step between the first and the second generation, probably they are a generation on it´s own but i put them into a mix-category between first and second generation because it has the name R.M.C. k.soho.h of the 2nd gen. but the denim is bright like the 1st gen.
the new features are:
-two backpockets with paintings on them (volcano and tree design, a pre-step to the volcano/tree of 2004 (embroidered r.m.c. k.soho.h) and 2005 (embroidered red monkey company)
-no sidepocket
-no cinchback
-contrast stitching
-selvedge on the outside of one of the pockets (never seen again on other rmcs)

here are the pix:



u can see that the selvedge can be on different sides of the pockets


the old wooden box, opens on the side, no slide box like the ones that are used since 2005.

and last but not least the 2nd generation, the first rmc generation with real embroidery.
(wave design also existed before this generation, but i´ve not seen it on jeans, only on denim jackets)

the modifications here are:
-dark denim, probably raw denim is used
-embroidery with waves on jeans
-no selvedge on the inside leg
-the boxes have the new rmc logo with the two apes around the RMC letters
-no contrast stitching altough the middle generation had these...
-fraying pockets
-u cant see the size of the jeans like on the older oder newer rmcs.


new rmc logo that is still used in it´s basics (just "red monkey co." was replaced with "by martin ksohoh")
no selvedge, just some kinda stitching around the edges of the denim pieces
box-top is made out of two wooden pieces, lol^^


here the inside of the box, u can see the buttons inside of it.
i think those rmcs used wooden buttons, no iron-buttons


nice embroidery, with waves like today, seems to be high quality.
looks almost like a recent rmc. this design is 2004, the generation between the 1st and the 2nd probably is 2003 and the first generation 2002.


this is the reason why 2nd generation rmcs have no size chart on the waistpatch. they use letters like bape and bbc for the size like u use it for shirts and polos... (S,M,L,XL,...)

i dont know how long one generation did exist - i´m just guessing one year for each step, maybe even shorter and more than a year for the 2nd generation, i think nobody here knows exactly except martin

have fun with the pix and this little rmc history lesson from the years before 2005, where RMC was completely different from today! =)

Wow! Good stuff TNT! Certainly learnt a lot from this thread! Haha I would never have known where the RMC jeans started from. I always thought Martin had begun it with a embroidery theme but clearly not! The progression is quite cool to see through the pics!

That old logo with the Red Monkey Compy is funny looking at it now!

Was this the little project you were working on then?!

nono, this article here took me only a few minutes, searching my rmc-pic folders took me most of the time.

i´m about to work on a bigger issue (the project i mentioned a while ago) but i still havent enough information for it, just collecting material but from 100pix i find there are only a few i can use for it.
i guess it will take me a few months to be ready while the writing wont be the big problem, the pix are, i have more than a thousand rmc pix but i´m still missing several pictures i need

oh, sorry, too many pix, forgot about these two:
here u can see that even the first generation used paintings on them, but probably a bit later than the ones without any painting.




and here u can see their selvedge, now we know that even the oldest ones are selvedge jeans, probably almost throughout selvedge similar to yoropikos.




but when i see the 1st and the 1,5th generation, i wonder why the second one doesnt use selvedge on it´s inseam?

very good info for everyone. stickied!

Absolutely superb thread TNT, congratulations on collating all this information, without dought the most informative thread on the forum. Its shows very well how RMC has changed over its short life span, and the stages which Martin has taken the brand to what it is today. The pic with the painted design jeans with the hinged box has the French denim award certificate that is on some of the RMC pockets in later iterations. I assume that the very earliest RMC didnt come in a box at all, and you are quite correct in thinking that it was strange that Martin went from using Selvedge to Non Selvedge then back to selvedge again. I guess that this was a time of experimentation for Martin. The use of a waist buckle on the jeans has to my knowledge only been repeated once in the more recent designs, sadly I cannot remember at this time which design has this feature, but I'll try and see if I can find it. Again TNT, thanks for all the effort and research, and sharing your vast knowledge with all us Forum members, look forward to part 2!

TNT that was brilliant!!

thanks for ur appreciation guys!
dunny, the newer design with the cinchback is a early 2005 or late 2004 design with lot1003.
here is a picture of the devil jeans lot1003, cinchback, there were also other cinchback designs available but very few.