Paul T

Not heard of it. There was a Capital E 501 'reissue' in the very early 90s which predated LVC - and it was lousy.

" They also wove the cotton into denim on a type of mechanical loom that had been sitting in factory basements in Okayama, the country's weaving capital, since the seventies."

At last someone's done their research properly.

At the same time, there's something majorly depressing about people getting so obsessive about a form of clothing which has NEVER been about exclusivity. It makes jeans into just another item where more expensive is better. If your jeans look good, cool, but the moment it turns into a display of wealth, that becomes a horrible contradiction. As one shrink pointed out on the radio rather brilliantly last week, such consumerism leads to depression and a sense of helplessness...

I disagree with washing. It won't necessarily cause a problem, but it doesn't offer any real advantages over soaking in terms of shrinking the jeans. And overall, it's undeniable that more washes gives a blander, less contrasty look.

I soaked a pair of 1901 LVCs - and remember, LVCs are supposedly notorious for losing their dye - for four hours in a small amount of water, on the theory that some of the indigo lost would soak back in. They've kept their indigo better than any LVCs I've ever owned.

Check out levi.com and you should find most of the collections.

Most of the Levi's jeans discussed here tend to be LVC, which are reissues. More details here:

http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=9386

I'm sure they will have 34 38s in the 55 jeans (I have seen in-between waist sizes, but they're rare). The 55s are good jeans too, slightly wider in the leg & a little more antifit. I had a pair marked 34-34 which were actually 38 long, hence too long for me. Obviously I grew up with a lousy Brit diet haha

"Is it true that deadstock LVC's now shrink to their tagged size? This is what somebody who works in Cinch told me about the new stock and that the washed ones are still tagged as though you have to size up. Hope this makes sense!"

Are you sure? Sounds kinda illogical. I'm sure the deadstock are tagged at their size before shrinking - maybe the new year's preshrunk ones are tagged at their actual size? The other way round would be nuts. Not that huge multinational brands don't do things that are nuts every now & then...

I was chatting to an acquaintance involved in tracking down counterfiets, and he told me about a great sting that one of the big sportswear manufacturers pulled off recently.

Thye had someone go to a Thai company, explain that he had the design of the new England soccer strip, and that he wanted 5,000 sets manufacturing. He went round several companies getting estimates, went with one of them and ordered the 5,000 sets.

Of course, that manufacturers sold the 'secret' design to everyone in the far East, and tens of thousands more were produced. He got delivery of his 5,000 and destroyed them, but the markets across the UK were full of the things. And of course when the real England strip was officially announced, everyone right down the counterfeit chain - manufacturers, jobbers & retailers - got burned. You could say they lost their shirts...

the Levi's store in Beverly Hills had a good stock of vintage when I checked in February,

(310) 246-9044

316 N Beverly Dr

Beverly Hills, CA 90210

I got a pair of the spring issue today and they look good. Exactly the same as the fall ones, as far as I can tell. In the UK, all the 47s are more or less OK - it's the 55s that have all been made with an over-long leg.

Incidentally, while all the dry 47s and 55s are made in the US, the distressed ones are apparently made in Romania...

They're about right. SOme of the other jeans are sized bigger (nominal 34W is actually 35) but the 1947s are slightly tight. MIne were 33.

WEll, that tag is new to me! 1996 was pretty much when the integrated European/US/Japanese LVC range was launched - I can't remember if the 55 jean was part of the launch line, but either way these look like very early LVC, and are very nice jeans.

The real thing, made in SF not Thailand, they certainly look better than the current ones. THe oilcloth guarantee patch is better, the belt loops are the correct size. Someone at LVC will know, but these must date from between 96 and 2000. I think the reason the internal tags look like the THai ones is simply because the Thais copied an old version.

http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/webapp/aeroleather/servlet/AeroViewPage?page=displaysubcatlist&subcatid=106

Those are the Sugarcane 1880s replicas, no? Nice denim, but weird they stuck belt loops on there... wish LVC would produce another replica of those jeans.

Am I the only guy who fold up banknotes & keeps em in the coin pocket?

Edited by Paul T on Mar 21, 2006 at 05:27 AM

37 repros are all made by Edwin in Japan. The Euro repro is a generic 1951-ish cut, and is now available only with open selvage - still good jeans for the money, but not in the same ballpark as the Japanese ones.

they look fine to me. The patch is the classic 55 one, haven't seen that tiny 'made in the usa' tag before, but otherwise looks totally legit. So does the denim, and the internal rivets, and the colour of the stitching looks as it should be on the 55 reissue.

The internal washing tag is different from those I've seen; none of my LVC has the batwing, instead they have simple print mentioning Levi Strauss & Co Europe. I only have sample and Euro reissues tho; does anyone have US-market LVC to compare?

If I were buying these I would want to see more details, because of those internal tags, which are similar to some on the Thai fakes - none of whihc look like this pair, tho - or I'd ask for a right of return. But if they are fake they are the best I've seen. It is in the nature of things that you can definitevely say jeans are fake, but it's harder to say definitively that they are genuine.

The most obvious question here is, where did you get them? On eBay in particular, if something looks too good to be true, then it is, and you're better to go for a supplier you know you can trust.

Edited by Paul T on Mar 21, 2006 at 02:42 AM

I don't believe the European LVC is different from the US ones; they're all made in the US, with fabric from Cone, altho some of the lines are only distributed in Europe. I'd be intrigued to know if anyone's heard any different.

From the mid 90s on, all (or most) of the Japanese LVC were made in the US too; I'd be interested to know how much of the Japanese LVC is US-made, and how much made in Japan. AFAIK both US and Japanese 501 tend to use the same denim for the same models...

Edited by Paul T on Mar 19, 2006 at 08:36 AM

I've only looked, not worn, but I would say the later ones are slimmer, ie the 44 is narrower than the 34 and the 37 comes in the middle. Try emailing aeroleather, they're always helpful

I should be going in to Cinch in London next week. If u want me to check on the 47 situation, pm me

Broken twill is actually quite common, first used by Wrangler, but used on a lot of women's and kid's clothes. Feels quite soft, and cowboys like it because it holds starch well - you can get a nice sharp crease down the middle!

A, if you have the 1933s already, the nudies sound like they'd make a good change.

THese are synthetic indigo, altho the real things would have been vegetable. Most of the natural indigo I've seen is much paler than this. I had a pair of LVC 1880s repros in natural indigo that I got rid of - sizing was out and I foudn the fade too bland.

Steve, it's the results of shrinking, left-hand denim twists the other way. Modern jeans are pre-skewed to eliminate it.

For what my opinion's worth, yeah. Denim always was no-nonsense fabric, and Uniqlo exemplify that. Really simple-looking jeans, no back pocket decoration but a good basic, vintage shape and nice-looking denim w a green cast. And a great price. I went in and they had a 3 for 2 offer, so I didn't buy them then, thinking I'd find a friend who need a pair. When I went back they were sold out. Grrr.

Sorry: nipper=sprog=small "human"

In Camden, London, they also call them sprogs

http://www.wordreference.com/definition/nippers