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Levi's Vintage Clothing


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2 hours ago, cause4pause said:

Hello denim-mates. I'm a newbie to raw denim. There seems to be a wealth of information here and I was hoping somebody might know more about a LVC 506xx Type 1 jacket I found at a thrift shop.

Most of the LVC Type 1 jackets I see have 5 buttons and come without the stencilling on the back. Through reading and information at another forum, it looks like a reproduction of the Levi's wartime Type 1 jacket and was made in 2001. Would anyone happen to know where the denim was from (eg. Cone versus of Japanese origin) and whether it was originally raw denim? Does anyone know what sizes they originally came in, or how large a production run they did?

I've had this jacket for about three weeks now and have not used it, and struggling to decide if I should keep it or move it along to someone else. I absolutely love the jacket, even though the stencilling on the back is a little loud for me. But the key issue is the fit and I'm just not sure that the oversized look is going to work for me given it's a size 40 when I should probably use a size 36. I could use it strictly with layers underneath, maybe with my wool CPO shirt, or I was thinking even a hoodie. A style faux pas and just wishful thinking?

TIA for any information you have.

Wear the thing. A size 40 denim jacket on a size 36 chest is not that big of a fit. I have a 42" measured chest, and I need a 46" chest measurement on a denim jacket in order to allow full freedom of movement, and full buttoning. (I need 48" or 50" on lined jackets, and even wear up to 52" measured chest on my blanket-lined Type I.) The older-style pleated jackets, with their lower yoke seams, are even more restrictive, so can use to be sized up even more.

The stenciling on the back is kind of cheesy, but what the hell?

Edited by 428CJ
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Thank you very much for your responses. The stencilling might have been done by the manufacturer as I have seen photos of two other examples of this online, old listings that sold in the past. I'm not sure why they decided to add this to the jacket but it doesn't seem to be present on the non wartime reproductions of Levi's Type 1.

The origin of the denim is still a mystery. It was made in the Valencia Street factory. Did they ever use Japanese denim at this factory? 

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Type 1 will be Cone unless it's Japanese LVC. Type 3 only is Kaihara, as is the 505 etc.

I have a question about the thread. This has become a bigger issue for me regarding LVC vs Japanese manufacturers vs Roy 

I've had LVC, Roy and a number of Japanese brands. LVC by far has the worst looking stitching of all of them. It looks really basic and blah. I don't have a problem with Roy and I believe he has stated that he uses polycore. Is what I'm seeing just a variant in crappy poly core and good poly core? Is LVC just springing for garbage polycore thread? 

That's such a good question and I don't really know the answer. I did ask a designer some time back and he told me they'd been forced to go with polycore, rather like Roy, for reliability - it takes longer to stitch all cotton. And, actually, some of it fades in nicely. But some doesn't. Stitching on that deadstock pair simply looks nicer and I can't work out why - although the roughness is a part of it. 

Going forward, if LVC are moving to mostly Kaihara denim, I wonder if they'll do something about these kinds of issues, for instance rayon tags.  If the denim is bought in, and they're made under contract, they will need some USP. Otherwise they might as well get them sewn in Japan again. Or they could hire Roy Slaper?

Edited by Paul T
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On 2/10/2018 at 3:43 AM, Paul T said:

That's such a good question and I don't really know the answer. I did ask a designer some time back and he told me they'd been forced to go with polycore, rather like Roy, for reliability - it takes longer to stitch all cotton. And, actually, some of it fades in nicely. But some doesn't. Stitching on that deadstock pair simply looks nicer and I can't work out why - although the roughness is a part of it. 

Going forward, if LVC are moving to mostly Kaihara denim, I wonder if they'll do something about these kinds of issues, for instance rayon tags.  If the denim is bought in, and they're made under contract, they will need some USP. Otherwise they might as well get them sewn in Japan again. Or they could hire Roy Slaper?

I feel like the thread on the latest pair I had ( a pair of 44s ) looked pretty bad. I don't have my royxcones anymore so I can't compare but my memory is that the thread looked a lot better than the LVC stuff. I'd love to see them at least move back to doing rayon red tabs. My bet is that they just don't like that the name gets all screwed up and you can't read it. but thats whats so cool about the red tab! 

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3 hours ago, erk said:

Hmmm. Maybe it’s model to model. That 15 looks pretty nice 

apologies for reposting (have posted a version of this already in the thread)

but some kind of stitch comparisons possible here for both color and size: some waist bands of jackets and jeans positions top down: triple pleat, 1915, type i, 1944

if i remember paul t correctly; thread is specifically re-created for each model? 

BHVY5buh.jpg

Edited by bartlebyyphonics
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23 hours ago, Sympathy-For-The-Denim said:

lvc definitely bring back the 37s ( you can spot them already on the levi´s webshop) but unfortunately no imbroved style, still they come button fly is oddly short button fly, a problem that many lvc jeans suffer from, on from the 1915s...

I can only see some 1937 cut off's

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6 hours ago, ushokmwn said:

Those are not current manufacture. They are old stock. Cultizm has had them for a very long time, and they are down to only one size left (30/34).

Aero Leathers have more sizes in stock than that, but their supply is still quite limited (30/32, 30/34, 32/32, 32/34, 34/32), and their prices quite high (185 GBP plus a rather high shipping charge).

Edited by 428CJ
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And another true vintage type3 (unfortunately not my size, 2 sizes bigger), which I thought was one of the Grateful Dead jackets (because of the terrapin turtle embroidery) but no one knows for sure.  Tracey Panek of Levi's said it might be from the 70's but looking at the details I thought it is a 67

23131978_10214926738947991_173139393353123131559_10214926732587832_1556060256314

23130823_10214926733547856_3881921009339

23032647_10214926732707835_8252410544284

23131732_10214926734227873_4216433459468

23032897_10214926731827813_7218477518830

19260600_10214926731787812_8839046109935

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hi all, considering to order my first LVC on site and looking for some size advice on 55 501 NEW RINSE version.
should i get the normal size as japanese jeans or needa size up on top for comfort fit? 
i normally wear a 33 in warehouse, 34 in tcb 50s and 20s, thank you!

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