Levi's Vintage Clothing

[LQW]

I've noticed that vintage levis (in thrift stores or pics) sometimes have wider, 1/2 inch hems. It seems most all Japanese repros hem to 3/4 inch.  Both look nice but my question is which one is more authentic?

[albmuzquiz]

@free2hear and @propellerbeanie, thanks for all the advice, I'm thinking I might try a 30 when I can get a code that works/ use a proxy

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I decided to keep both pairs of 1976. The size 36x36 with hot washes and the use of the dryer (still feels quite roomy, similar to my 1947) and also the 34x34 which I only soaked and washed cold for initial shrinkage and will keep as dry as possible afterwards. They still shrunk to just below 32” in the waist but I stretched out when wet.

 

Conclusion: Like always I would need a size 35

[bod]

@beautiful_FrEaK what does the leg opening measure on the 34x34 after washing?

Edited November 10, 2017 by bod

[beautiful_FrEaK]

@bod They are currently drying and I won't be home before Sunday. Gonna tell you then!

[free2hear]

4 hours ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

I decided to keep both pairs of 1976. The size 36x36 with hot washes and the use of the dryer (still feels quite roomy, similar to my 1947) and also the 34x34 which I only soaked and washed cold for initial shrinkage and will keep as dry as possible afterwards. They still shrunk to just below 32” in the waist but I stretched out when wet.

 

Conclusion: Like always I would need a size 35

 post some pictures of both, it would be nice to have a comparison.

[fix_me]

Anyone interested in a pair of Valencia ‘55 501’s? Very little wear on them.

waist : 16 3/4” (bands aligned)

inseam : 29 1/4”

front rise : 11 3/4”

back rise : 16”

thigh : 12 1/2”

leg opening : 8 1/2”

$125 shipped in the US. Open to trades.

 

[Paul T]

Nice jeans... what date?

Have they been shortened?

Edited November 10, 2017 by Paul T

[Cucoo]

I've decided to keep both the 66 and the 76. Once I have a solid month or two in my TCB 20s I'll decide which one to get ready for wear first

[bartlebyyphonics]

1915

lvc

cone

living archive

history

know-how

generations

people

those things that can take so much time and effort to accumulate, yet which disappear so quickly when all that is solid melts to air

the structure of human endeavour is a tangle of achievements

how to safeguard these entwinings

how to name our attachments

a loss is a loss is a loss

[raw

soaking now]

edit; irregularities - latent in raw - really showing in the wet inside out, looks like a real nice piece 

Edited November 10, 2017 by bartlebyyphonics

[fix_me]

On 2017-11-10 at 8:55 AM, Paul T said:

Nice jeans... what date?

Have they been shortened?

October 2000, and yes.

[fix_me]

On 2017-11-10 at 8:55 AM, Paul T said:

Nice jeans... what date?

Have they been shortened?

October 2000, and yes.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

On 10.11.2017 at 1:47 PM, free2hear said:

 post some pictures of both, it would be nice to have a comparison.

What kind of comparison do you want? Measurements?

[free2hear]

9 hours ago, beautiful_FrEaK said:

What kind of comparison do you want? Measurements?

yep, that'd be nice.

[beautiful_FrEaK]

On 10.11.2017 at 11:30 AM, bod said:

@beautiful_FrEaK what does the leg opening measure on the 34x34 after washing?

I have measured my size 36 wrongly.

 

Here is what both pairs measure at the leg opening.
Size 34: 8"
Size 36: 8.35"

[beautiful_FrEaK]

I really have to say I enjoy my LVC 1976 very much. I think this denim is great!
It is pretty rigid after the initial wash and has a dry and rough hand. The hairiness is there and also a decent amount of irregularities. I don’t find it boring at all. Since Sulphur was used for dyeing this denim and it looks quite similar in shade as my Resolute denim, I wonder if the latter also uses Sulphur in their dyeing vat.

For a long time I fancied the heavy textured Japanese denim like Samurai but over the last couple of years I got back to more normal weighted and textured denim. Today I’m more drawn to denim from Resolute, Full Count, Warehouse or Ooe’s OA denim and also Cone denim. Denim which weighs between 12 and 14oz and is not too engineered. Although the texture of Warehouse and Full Count is definitely rougher than the original and also the twill on Resolute is more pronounced. All examples of what Paul said about the Japanese exaggerating the small details.

 

What I do wonder now, @Paul T do you know where Cone sources its cotton from and if it differs between the different LVC models? And how much it differs from the “original” days?

[Paul T]

Cone get their cotton from all over; a lot still from the Carolinas, the Mississippi Delta and Memphis, and also Texas. As a huge generalisation, in the old days they would have sourced mainly from the Carolinas and the Delta, then gradually brought in more from further away. Texas cotton was shorter staple length mainly because it grew in a hotter, drier climate. This is why later denim tended to be hairier than earlier.

Now they tend to mix cotton from all over - that way they get less variation, as it will vary via when you harvest it as well as when it comes from, so  they try to 'average out' the variation from year to year for more consistency. That then gives them more of a blank canvas to design the yarns.

More info here from Allen Little:
http://loomstate.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/

and from Bud Strickland (who left a few years back.)
http://loomstate.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/bud-strickland-cone-and-magnetic-appeal.html

[Maynard Friedman]

Re-posting a Levi's ad from 1938 c/o Iron Horse on Denimbro.

It's interesting that the text refers to 9 oz denim when the LVC 1937s (and the earlier 33s) use 10oz denim.

Any views/comments from the experts?

[Paul T]

I spotted that when we had that ad for the denim book. If it's the same catalogue I copied, a mail order firm I think, they might simply have the story wrong. Note they don't use Levi's Lot Numbers. 

I can't remember the explanation but I know the story on weight is not as cut and dried as we think. There's one expert thinks the story is wrong and that they're referring to linear weight - which means the older jeans were hardly any lighter than modern ones.

Note also that at least some of the time Levi's used the term Sanforized, when again received wisdom was they didn't do so.

[dealingwithit]

Here’s some poorly lit fit pics of my 66 and 76. The 66 is just off a hot soak/dryer/hot soak and the the 76 have been worn for about a week. Both size 32x34. 66 top, 76 bottom, if you can even tell them apart.

Edited November 15, 2017 by dealingwithit

[HAZARDkid]

they look exactly the same just one you are standing with feet further apart lol

[428CJ]

This thread is huge and has a lot of drool-worthy pieces and good information in it. I could keep coming back every day for years, reading a page at a time.

I've got tons of denim, but I'm excited to be getting my first ever LVC pieces soon. I have a pair of 1944's on the way from Cultizm, and I also had two pairs of 1915's sent to a friend in England, because Levi's UK had a crazy sale on them (£72 each). I'll be having my mom fly those back in luggage for me in January, when she's got a trip there planned. I always wanted the '33's, but when the sale on the '15's came up, I opted for those instead. I hope to get some '55's some day when I can hunt down a discount, and a blanket-lined Type I, and that might be it for LVC stuff for me.

Edited November 15, 2017 by 428CJ

[kicks79]

Spoke to a Levis rep the other day and he said that there would be two more seasons of Cone Denim in the lineup. 

He wasn't sure what they were going to do after all that though.

 

[propellerbeanie]

3 hours ago, kicks79 said:

Spoke to a Levis rep the other day and he said that there would be two more seasons of Cone Denim in the lineup. 

He wasn't sure what they were going to do after all that though.

 

I have a bit of info from the Levi's Australia head office, but apparently the information is internal only, so I cannot say much... (I work at a Levi's store)

[Maynard Friedman]

Are we talking LVC here? I'd assume mainline Levi's will continue to be supplied via Cone denim produced in Mexico or China.

[propellerbeanie]

We're talking both mainline and LVC. But it's really not super interesting (as in not something you wouldn't expect). Maybe it's something that someone has already mentioned...

Edited November 15, 2017 by propellerbeanie

[bartlebyyphonics]

^ ???

whilst awaiting clarification i post a little old lvc

a bad shot of a bad shot

myself larking in my salad days

back in the early 00s

encased in the the pre-sansome triple-pleat

not cone i believe; kurabo as the 'first jean' was? 

the two items were a curious tux; 'first jeans' great summer jeans, triple pleat light denim but blanket lined 

(much happier with post-sansome 3-pleat as shirt jacket with blanket jacket atop)

have passed it down the generations

 

Edited November 15, 2017 by bartlebyyphonics

[propellerbeanie]

Finally finished exams for the year, and can probably take some pictures in the near future. I'm wearing some '66 501s for the DWC, and I have some pre-wash/post-wash measurements to let other know about the shrinkage. I bought a size 32/34, and put them through an initial hot soak (60C+), hot machine wash (50C), and just a line dry.

Pre-wash ---> post-wash

Waist 42.5cm ---> 38cm

Front rise 29.5cm ---> 27.5cm

Back rise 40.5cm ---> 38cm

Thigh 31.75cm ---> 30.5cm

Knee 24.25cm ---> 23cm

Hem 21.5cm ---> 20.5cm

Inseam 85.25cm ---> 77cm

[bod]

So that’s about 3.5” around the waist! I’ve not had a pair shrink that much since my old Evisu

[propellerbeanie]

3 hours ago, bod said:

So that’s about 3.5” around the waist! I’ve not had a pair shrink that much since my old Evisu

Just measured them after around a month's worth of wear, and the waist is now 40.5cm!