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On the topic of scams, here’s a story in case it’s useful to anyone. This happened in 2019 in the US and I meant to post about it, but when I finally found time the scammer was already banned from grailed. I ordered a J43A from this dude and everything seemed above board, until USPS delivered the package… and it didn’t arrive. I’ll spare the details, but I ultimately figured out he’d shipped it to a different apartment building in the same zip code, and then picked it up from that apartment himself (or maybe he had a helper idk). First I went to Grailed. These guys are beyond useless. They basically just link you to the PayPal page where you can open a dispute, and then act as cheerleaders the rest of the time. There is no way in hell they would have made me whole if PayPal fell through. PayPal refused to refund me initially because the zip code was right, and a tracking number only shows the zip code, so as far as they knew it was delivered just fine. They said if I got proof from USPS they’d refund me. They told me I could also dispute the charge with my credit card company. When I called USPS, they were able to verify that the shipping address was the wrong place, the one I suspected, but they can only confirm it when prompted. They can never say “this is where it was sent,” only “yes” and “no” when you make guesses, lol. I tried but I couldn’t get PayPal to phone them. Finally after a lot of persuasion and headache, I managed to get a physical printout of the shipping label at the origin from USPS. (To be clear, they are not supposed to give you this.) I gave it to PayPal and they initially rejected it, but then I was like “what the fuck this is exactly the proof you asked for” and they were like oh okay fine. Lessons: I deeply suspect Grailed purchase protection is never helpful. If you read their documentation you can see they never promise to reimburse you, only “work with you and the seller to make it right.” PayPal seems to not be interested in resolving fraud claims. By about 2/3 of the way through this process it was clear that they wanted me to open a credit card dispute, because I guess credit card companies have properly staffed fraud departments. If you complain enough to USPS they will actually confirm shipping destinations for you.

Denime N-1 size 38, very lightly worn

@Dr_Heech yea. I never get rivets to pop through but these are getting close!!

Ok, so here they are, washed a time or 2, the one on the right has been worn more by me. Labeled CR07, paper tag. The fit is just perfect, and it’s my favorite type 2 I have. I believe it’s the xx2 denim, but correct me if I’m wrong.

At Last 147 and 677J / Big Yank by Anatomica / Duke Mantee / Viberg

@shredwin_206 looks like those back pocket rivets are nuzzling their way through the fabric. Nice job!

Maybe this is overly cynical, but I don’t see it as a total coincidence that so many new, low-volume one-man brands are popping up right during the craze of wonky-stitched WW2 jeans. When it comes down to it, just as in the case of the original Levi’s, wonky jeans can be made more easily and more quickly by less skilled machinists. I appreciate the more optimistic take that in many cases it might be a conscious design decision or an artistic liberty, but in more than a few cases I’d bet that it’s just an excuse for someone who’s really not ready to be selling jeans to the public to do so under the guise of reproduction.

@Duke Mantee l don't suppose you would know if the 42 pair that FW copied were a used pair or deadstock? Never mind, found out they are a used pair 🙂

Looking forward to reading review from whoever copped the P24A- KI, curious to hear how the standardized cotton compares to stotz. First time this fabric has been used?

@Duke Mantee sorry moved post to FW thread

… in that Levi’s operatives in 1942 most certainly didn’t have the time to be artistic

In thinking about this, I also consider the brands’ sewing machine operators.. I know that many brands here focus on extremely accurate reproductions, but perhaps this late trend to amplify stitching ‘errors’ is an emergence of the latent artistry of the sewers themselves. I know for myself as an artist, if you put me down in front of a flower and ask me to draw it, I’ll tend to over-emphasize the curviness of the leaves and the shading of the petals over all else. That’s my own deviance from realism that I’ve found emerged subconsciously from my own artistic practice over the years, and it’ll surely be different from that of the next artist who comes in to draw the same scene. I think you can make a strong case that the sewing work done for these brands is more like factory work than like art, but I do wonder if in designing these repros whether the people assigned to come up with the sewing pattern don’t relish the chance for a little extra wonkiness, their creative touch in an industry that for the most part seemed quite a bit more rigid in its techniques. Totally not basing this off anything, just a speculation!

It was FW choice. Sushi doesn’t agree with the ‘wonky’ stitching for much the same reason I do. It did exist, it always had, albeit new factories and therefore new operatives (as Doc rightly says) caused some issues which subsequently settled as those operatives gained experience. Control standards were certainly lower because Levi’s were coining it in with increased output but as with every process a level of equilibrium is established. I just think brands are looking for extreme examples to make their mark. In any event FW didn’t see any reason to ask a high quality factory to produce low quality work so there was only a nod to the ‘wonkiness’ … that from the factory owner.

These are the ones posted by @Broark i got them from a friend who got them off yahoo auctions.

^^^^Also don't forget only one factory going into WW2 (1942) and at least 3 factories coming out so alot of new and untrained machine operators and a change in the new, more simplified design of the 501xx for skilled/trained levis employees to have to rush through for service industries.

I'm not sure I agree with this 😃

I suppose I’m just a disagreeable fellow! 😆

Yep I wouldn't disagree with you Marnard... though I'm not sure what you're not sure you agree with To add... my FW WW2 era jackets are far more cleanly constructed (and a different fit) than my SC or Connors repros of similar era... though I'm not sure if that's FW's design choice or they were copying a cleaner vintage specimen from that time...

I’m not sure I agree with this. The cinch/suspender buttons/number of pockets, etc were functional/design features of the jeans in certain eras and would have been standard across all pairs produced by a company (such as Levi’s). Obviously there may have been slight variations where one factory may have made still added a crotch rivet or cinch after others had stopped, etc. Wonky stitching wasn’t a functional/design feature, it was an accidental quirk simply due to untrained/inexperienced machinists and possibly poor QC. I’m sure there were thousands of WW2 pairs made with perfectly good, straight stitching and conversely quite likely a number of pairs from other eras with bad stitching, loose threads, etc (although these may have been more likely to have been picked up by QC). The wonkiness is simply a feature of some pairs that repro manufacturers have chosen to focus on, which, even if commonplace was not standard or deliberate at the time.

All cool doc... it only really reminded me of the FW thread chat hence my update above

When l said new denim l meant for the 501xx at the time, so a change from the standard 1937 denim to the WW2 denim, even though the US weren't officially at war at the time. So another transitional model really. Edit- decided to change the wording in my original post for clarity.

Reopening the chat with @shredwin_206 @Duke Mantee in the FW thread on the 42 denim... I'm hearing again that the denim is not new (it's the WW2 denim used on the recent models) however the features are new. I know Shred heard the opposite... x-wires somewhere...

Gold rep

😂 NEVER!