Levi's Vintage Clothing

[jake431]

On 1/2/2025 at 7:05 AM, airfrogusmc said:

Jake if you are indeed the one I know it is so good hearing from you. Grant to. Lotsa water under the bridge. How the heck ya been? I heard from John Chapman that Paul Sanders died a few years back.  Keep in touch . 

Sorry to hear about Paul! I am out of touch with the flight jacket crew in general, sadly. But my love of denim has not wavered.

 

 

[airfrogusmc]

Yeah me to. I sold all of my fight jackets except a USA M444. Really big on me now but I still wear it ha ha.. I'm with you on the denim. 

[bod]

The sun is shining so took the opportunity to wash my 44’s as they were feeling rather grubby since their last wash in December

Before:

After:

 

[PrettyBoyTony]

I really like the cut of the levis lvc 1955 501s and from vintage examples the fades too but they seem to be £300 most places here in the UK. Although Bears Tokyo sell them at £188 (though currently out of stock in my size)

My question is is it worth waiting for Bears to restock? Do they restock lvc often? I had heard that LVC was discontinuing?

Or should I look elsewhere for a repro 501 55 cut and if so which would be the most suitable regarding accurate fabric and cut?

[vIGGiou riou]

11 hours ago, PrettyBoyTony said:

I really like the cut of the levis lvc 1955 501s and from vintage examples the fades too but they seem to be £300 most places here in the UK. Although Bears Tokyo sell them at £188 (though currently out of stock in my size)

My question is is it worth waiting for Bears to restock? Do they restock lvc often? I had heard that LVC was discontinuing?

Or should I look elsewhere for a repro 501 55 cut and if so which would be the most suitable regarding accurate fabric and cut?

Bears usually restock LVC 2-3 times per year. 

LVC was discontinued, but LVC Made in Japan still produces basic models including 1955.

[airfrogusmc]

Levis has them in stock.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/levis-vintage-clothing/levis-vintage-clothing-for-men/1955-501-original-fit-mens-jeans/p/501550079

 

[PrettyBoyTony]

19 hours ago, airfrogusmc said:

Levis has them in stock.

https://www.levi.com/US/en_US/levis-vintage-clothing/levis-vintage-clothing-for-men/1955-501-original-fit-mens-jeans/p/501550079

 

I know but £300? Can't justify that. I decided to go for TCB 50s. The hem seems wider than maybe a true 55 cut but the fabric seems great. Went up a size 36 and the feel much better this time round. Or maybe I'm just getting fat

[Paul T]

I'm editing my shed! Anybody want these for price of postage? Makes more sense if you're in the uk obvs. I'm in London. THey are, obviously, really useful for establishing what year LVC products date from. I will check in but it might be quickest to email me via trynka.com

Edited March 7 by Paul T

[jewellben]

Can someone help me date the 55 please? The wash care to the left suggests a newer pair, just been delivered from eBay

TIA

[Maynard Friedman]

CW-4019 in the top right corner suggests week 40, 2019.

[lyraman]

I bought these at least 15 years ago, I can’t remember, but think they are natural indigo, would any of you Levi’s experts know? Thanks

Edited March 8 by lyraman

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

to me these look similar to my pair 1880 pair which had been dropped 2016ish, it was made from the very last Natural Indigo Denim recreated by Cone Mills right before they shut there factory down for good... we would need to have more pics of the the inside labels though to verify.

[lyraman]

Thanks, I’m pretty sure I got them earlier than 2016, I’ll get more and better pics of the labels,soon

[lyraman]

More pics. , any info would be appreciated 

[beautiful_FrEaK]

CW1017 - these are from week 10 of 2017 which makes them that pair @Sympathy-For-The-Denim said.

[Maynard Friedman]

@lyraman - that 2017 production date suggests you have a pair of the 1880 repros mentioned in this blog by @Paul T, which are dyed from natural indigo produced in the USA. Paul has posted pictures of his own pair throughout this thread too.

[lyraman]

Thank you guys for the info, I thought I bought them much earlier, but was wrong. I’m going to put them up for sale on the community sales thread.

 

Edited March 9 by lyraman
Grammer

[crownzip]

Here's my old San Antonio made LVC '47's. They've been repaired a couple times and in need of more work, but still going strong!

 

 

[bod]

@crownzip awesome pair, I love cone denim although kaihara have done a good job replicating it for the current MIJ line

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

So after more than 15 years of what I recall it's second run in LVC history, Levi's eventually drops the 1920s No. 2 Denim waist overalls and jackets within the next days. I had sold the second iteration years back and were lucky to get my hands on a pair of the Valencia versions recently... anyone knows if they use cotton threads nowadays?

Edited Wednesday at 08:28 PM by Sympathy-For-The-Denim

[Maynard Friedman]

I would guess not if all their other jeans still use poly cotton. I wonder how much these’ll be…

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

with a retail $495 they don't resemble the original idea of the No. 2 pieces...

they feature a somewhat strange belt loop position, at least for 501 predecessors 

https://hypebeast.com/2025/3/levis-vintage-lot-release-info

[Dr_Heech]

10 hours ago, Sympathy-For-The-Denim said:

with a retail $495 they don't resemble the original idea of the No. 2 pieces...

they feature a somewhat strange belt loop position, at least for 501 predecessors 

https://hypebeast.com/2025/3/levis-vintage-lot-release-info

That belt loop detail is whack,  looks to be on all of them. And what's with the belt loop being in between the front suspender buttons? There's a few other details there that haven't been flagged up on original examples. Typical lvc 'artistic license syndrome' imo.

And yes the stitching looks to be poly.

[kodachrome]

11 hours ago, Dr_Heech said:

That belt loop detail is whack,  looks to be on all of them. And what's with the belt loop being in between the front suspender buttons? There's a few other details there that haven't been flagged up on original examples. Typical lvc 'artistic license syndrome' imo.

And yes the stitching looks to be poly.

They’re based on a deadstock pair in the Levi’s Archive. Would be curious if that pair has at least the belt loop detail.

https://www.instagram.com/share/_lXx1WccF

You can see the little picture on the Archives tag of the 2025 pair at the link above.

[Dr_Heech]

1 hour ago, kodachrome said:

They’re based on a deadstock pair in the Levi’s Archive. Would be curious if that pair has at least the belt loop detail.

https://www.instagram.com/share/_lXx1WccF

You can see the little picture on the Archives tag of the 2025 pair at the link above.

They always say based on a pair in their archives (and the picture is sometimes not an og one) but a few of these (and the jacket) details are whack and certainly different from the past 3 releases of the 201 model. Let's hope some actual clear images of this phantom archive piece surface. 

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

this Japanese webpage features photos of an archive specimen, featuring those strange belt loops...

https://www.wwdjapan.com/articles/2077358

[kodachrome]

9 minutes ago, Sympathy-For-The-Denim said:

this Japanese webpage features photos of an archive specimen, featuring those strange belt loops...

https://www.wwdjapan.com/articles/2077358

This looks to be the same pair with the Grand Prize ticket intact on the back suspender button. Thanks for sharing!

[CSL]

I've seen belt loops like that (secured under the waistband at the bottom, but not tacked down ) on trousers and work pants but never on jeans. It's definitely unusual.

[Dr_Heech]

10 hours ago, Sympathy-For-The-Denim said:

this Japanese webpage features photos of an archive specimen, featuring those strange belt loops...

https://www.wwdjapan.com/articles/2077358

Where is the archive specimen ??

From your link, I can only see images of the already discussed repro and a few pics of an og 213 jacket - where Interestingly the buttons are different from the repro jacket, so the artistic license already kicking in imo.

Lets be clear, that belt loop feature was only used on the rear centre beltloops of 501XX jeans circa 1935/36. Even the way the belt loop is constructed looks way off for any vintage pair of levis so l'm still not convinced in the slightest. 

Edited Thursday at 07:42 AM by Dr_Heech

[Maynard Friedman]

Does that link show photos of the original or the repro? 

To be clear, the belt loop issue relates to the method of attachment AND the placement?