428CJ

If true, that's unfortunate. I always buy the longest length available at the time of purchase. I like to have extra material for patches. With those jeans, the dry cleaner might become your closest friend. Just be sure they are dropped off for actual dry cleaning, and not washing. Dry cleaners usually offer both services.

Did they just show up one day? Or did he contact you first to finalize the details, find out if you had moved, etc.?

Freenote's pockets (which I can actually tolerate, unlike most pockets on "hip" brands) are very similar to those.

Still holding out for the LVC reissue of the very first 501s after standard U.S. production ceased. Oooh! Such well researched and perfectly reproduced outsourced crapiness!

I am tellin' ya, man, explore the 1890s. They are practically a woman's cut already. Try to find a Levi's store that carries LVC. Try them on, in a variety of sizes, including downsized. These jeans are cinch backs! No belt required. Cinch 'em up! Have them tailored if you need to. That was the true origin of the first "women's" jeans: men's jeans that got tailored by private parties.

Anyone got a pair of Strong Guys yet? One of their newest cuts, and I haven't heard peep about it. They haven't sewn it very often since introducing it. I got my first pair today. It's a silly cut, but I like it. It is extremely straight legged. The leg opening is huge – deliberately comical, obviously. I used to be in the navy, and I swear they based the cut on the 13 button pants from our dress blues ("crackerjacks"). The denim is awesome. Natural indigo, mid-toned, light weight. Rise isn't quite as high as I'd like, but I am looking forward to seeing how these break in. Interesting that they are called the Strong Guy, when the cut is actually something I would expect to see a woman wearing. Glad to see N&F finally do something with a fair amount of rise and leg opening. And again, this denim is awesome.

I don't know if the very early Levi's women's cuts have been reproduced. But most of the LVC cinch back cuts are cuts that would, today, be thought of as a certain type of women's cut more than as men's cuts. High waist, generous hips, roomy fit. Add some taper if you want. I would look at the 1890s first, as they have the most stereotypically "womanly" cut. High, drawn in waist, wide hips, fairly dramatic taper for the style.

I feel very lucky to have got a rigid one and a pre-washed one, both in XL. The pre-washed one is for dyeing, and I'm hoping the rigid one fits OK being washed cold throughout its life.

Might dig in to them this coming weekend, at which time I'll snap some pix. On of the jackets is messed up, but not horribly. The other one is nearly ruined, but it's such a nice piece that it's worth a stab at saving.

Have some jackets on my table to repair, that some tailor really screwed up. Very sad. This guy did a real hatchet job on these jackets, and supposedly he's a denim specialist. Yikes. Real hack work on a beautiful $300 jacket, and on a less expensive, but still nice, jacket as well. I'll see what I can do to save them, but it ain't pretty, especially the work on the expensive jacket.

I like the cut of those Blacksmiths. Not a fan of the slightly fancy and gaudy pockets, cinch, decorative stitching, etc. Too much for my aesthetic taste. The same thing with a plainer look would be really nice. Would look less like I was dressing up in a costume and more like I was just wearing a pair of jeans.

Yup. The '55 is my favorite LVC cut that I've tried. Really like the '44 as well. '55s have a "stocky" look, and '44s have a "long-n-lean" look. I am right in between the two, so they both work well on me.

^ Jeezus. That is a stunningly low amount of fading for four months of wear. Do you work a desk job, or are they just veeeeeery slow faders?

^ Got these. Looks like they're actually early '80s. I couldn't tell from the care tag based on photos. Anyone know how to decode a year of manufacture based on label codes? What about the number on the United Garment Workers of America label? The style and color are 200-0147 Code under that: 0511211445CON205 (this code is the key to determining the year, I think) On the care tag: CA 00492 and RN 34783 (these seem to be consistent across a wide variety of Lee items – probably codes for the care instructions) On the union label: 4917083 (I think)