Paul T

If Volvo and others are in I think I would be - but the 1880s would be a problem as my main jeans for the last five summers or so are the LVC natural indigo. But I will keep checking. 

Volvo, sorry life has been tricky. It's been a bit challenging here and my 1800s is gone but we are all still standing 

This has to be 18 months or 2 years for me - in 1 year I wil swtich to 3 days a week so I reckon I've a good chance of placing with 4/7 of the wear that Volvo or Maynard have

Been rationalising; sent the SDA that I use for working aroubd the house off to the charity shop, and Lady T has fixed up my Riders. Off do to some sawing and routing, in traditional stylee. These are the second Euro repro, somewhere here I mention where the fabric's made (Nisshinbo?), first lot was made in Ireland, these are made in Malta. 

 

On 5/6/2023 at 11:55 PM, generic_guy said:

I am looking at a type one jacket on eBay.

Seller says it it is from 2007, and that they believe it was made without a red tab. 

I believe Levis didn't start putting the tab on jackets until later, but having looked through catalogs I can't see a version without a red tab.

Jacket is labelled as made in Turkey but I suspect the tab has been removed by someone.

Anyone heard of a type one without a tab?

Can't find my 2007 catalogue but I've looked in the 2005, plus lots of later ones and all the Type 1s have a red tab including Turkish-made ones. 

On 9/13/2023 at 1:53 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

As far as I’m aware that’s week 39 of 1987, so late September/early October’87. Levi’s did have a factory in the UK (Scotland) in the 1980s and I think the factory code was 299, which matches that stamped on the back of the top button. So, a legitimate pair of UK-made 501s from 1987 seems right to me.

Exactly right. Those are also so obviously the ring/OE Denim - which actually isn't bad and has that lovely stripey colour when new. A lot of work went into those jeans, a new fabric, and they retooled to try to get back to the right shape pocket etc. The main factory was Whitburn. And at the time, wherever in the world they were made, the fabric was always Cone from White Oak. Then in the 90s, Cone was only exclusive to raw denim and the die was cast . 

Phil Marineau, who joined from Pepsi, closed Whitburn around the time he closed Battery street , and got a $25m pay check for the year. 

These look great. 

Purely because I just came across these by accident, here's a pic of Curtis's old late 60s 302, in their raw state, for comparison. The only vintage Levi's I've ever documented from the raw state. 



 

On 3/23/2023 at 7:50 PM, bartlebyyphonics said:

oh yes:

the '76 and that triple pleat; pretty strong last hurrahs from cone!

the denim on both is >chef's kiss<

Absolutely. Then there's the 1880 in natural indigo. Amazing. While the triple pleat in duck was gorgeous too. I can understand a lot of the dismissal if LVC but the ultimate compliment must be how many Japanese companies brought out their own me-toos .

 

Now I'm a weekend wearer I have no idea how much wear is on my contest S40s. But we had a rare, dry windy day in London so they got a machine wash. I always wash my TCB inside out now as I seem to get marbling - there's a little here. Looking forward to more washes down the line so I get a more of those blue mid tones.

The period the Dr is discussing is pretty much also the one at which Levi's decreed that LVC, rather than being a flagship line to celebrate its legacy, should turn a profit. At that point the price nearly doubled and nearly everyone knew that this was a death-knell. For me there was still a lot of love put in, especially in on the fabric side by the people at Cone, and some odd amazing stuff - for instance the 333, an obscure design with a crazy custom yarn featuring recycled cotton like the original budget series - but the die was cast from that point.

I'm not in touch with LVC people any more but would bet that, whatever happens, Levi's Japan will continue with vintage repros as they did before the establishment of LVC

If we're talking all Levi's not ust LVC - up to 2001 or so ALL the 501 raw denim was exclusively Cone. Don't know if from White Oak but I believe it was, most of it ring/OE on wide looms. THey expanded their supply from other manufacturers/plants and reduced purchases from Cone around the time Phil Marineau made massive cuts, closed Valencia St, and got a $12m bonus .

At one point, up to the  late 80s and possibly later literally all 501 fabric was Cone, including the jeans made overseas (in Scotland, for instance). The 1980s wide loom denim, ring/OE, was developed by Cone. I think as they moved to preshrunk etc they might have drawn in other manufacturers although, again, even fabrics like the two types of black denim used in 501 were Cone.

On 9/11/2022 at 12:19 PM, Maynard Friedman said:

I think the Capital E model was a generic pair, perhaps based on a 60s model, first produced in ‘92, so probably Levi’s first attempt to cash in on the selvedge trend, evidenced by the popularity of vintage/second-hand pairs. The 37s (which had a different name - 201 I think) and 55s only came about with the advent of LVC later in the ‘90s and the demand for more authentic reproductions.

That's exactly right. It was Cone denim.

I actually saw the Capital E being made when I visited Valencia st in 1992. I'm hugely annoyed with myself for not taking photos - and also for winding up the factory foreman by asking why this was a generic and not an accurate replica. And I was wearing the Lee Riders reissue. I could've found out useful stuff but didn't.

the earlier Levi's Japan reissues used Kaihara. I'm hugely annoyed with myself because I recently found the email from the Levi's Japan employee with the details and I didn't file it somewhere safe. Urgh.

Someone from this board - @CrashTestBrummie ? - sourced these early Yamane Evisu for my nipper. They were a bit big for him, so they went in the denim box and by the time I remembered them he was too big for them .

So I'd like to pass them on to someone from this board for the purchase price, let's say £15 donation to youngminds plus postage. Make me an offer if that's too much ££££. 25 waist, 30 leg. My guess is they've been soaked once and that's pretty much it. Classic early hairy evis denim. I don't check my PMs that often so feel free to email me.

Someone from this board - @CrashTestBrummie ? - sourced these early Yamane Evisu for my nipper. They were a bit big for him, so they went in the denim box and by the time I remembered them he was too big for them .

So I'd like to pass them on to someone from this board for the purchase price, let's say £15 donation to youngminds plus postage. Make me an offer if that's too much ££££. 25 waist, 30 leg. My guess is they've been soaked once and that's pretty much it. Classic early hairy evis denim. I don't check my PMs that often so feel free to email me.

Update: Jeans headed for B_F Jr. Thanks for the donation !  We expect an update on this thread within the next 10 years please.

This 3-pleat is actually the Cone version. Should've said. It was quite a big deal as they did a 1880s denim for both the jacket and pants. Then these pants are the final Cone iteration of the early denim, in natural indigo.

BTW, I checked my old photos of the Kurabo 3-pleat and that had a single-piece back.

I have a pair of Kurabo 1890s, plus natural indigo 20s 201 and they're all very different. Kurabo way more green and crocks way less so you get area fading (over the pockets) but no whiskers. If I get a chance I'll pull them out and do a comparison, they've probably each had three summer between them. Yes, this light denim is lovely for the summer.

Lots of shrinking and lots of leg twist. It's similar, I think, to the yarns of the Cone three-pleat jacket with the natural indigo from Tennessee. (Edit: My story implies it's a different design from the jacket). The jacket is wonderful too. The natural indigo, if aynthing, seems to crock more than the jacket with synthetic indigo, which is the reverse of what we 'd generally expect.

Need to wash the jacket and check on the buttons and post update. Yes, those final Cone fabrics were wonderful. I'm so sad they've gone and we've lost all that knowledge. Perhaps it is Levi's fault, as they stopped using Cone for all 501, as they did at one time... but Cone people always told me that LVC were their biggest supporters and had always been flexible and helpful.

Whoo-hoo! Summer is here, so it's away with the 40s TCB, and on with my 1880s natural indigo.

I actually can't remember if I've hand-washed or machine washed these, but the texture is lovely. Quite a lot of crocking for natural indigo. Right at the beginning of this thread I posted my last pair of 1880s from maybe 2003, Kurabo natural indigo fabric which was, frankly, awful. These are amongst my favourite LVC ever. Much darker in the flesh than on my Sony camera.

LVC use a lot of different yarns; it's more or less a different yarn for every vintage. With Kaihara, they had already spec'd the yarns ready to go. I was told this about 15  years ago as there was always a worry that Cone would go under.

Wow, great stuff guys, lovely to see u Volvo, will be back with pix

This has always been my favourite Sufu thread (I just had a nostalgic look thru and found fabulous photos I forgot), and you've raised it to a new level, @Flash! Well done, these look really exciting