Levi's Vintage Clothing

[andyrcii]

 

96 days on these 1944’s. Been wearing them hard since mid november. The idea is hopefully I won’t get to attached to a fit before the first wash.. and I already have got attached to it, despite sizing up 2 inches in the waist this time. Need a belt for them and there is plenty of slack so hoping for a good result after I wash at 120 days, is the target. Been wearing these for spring cleaning, laid on the floor getting under my car, plenty of time on knees, and as always plenty of walking. Fades are shaping up nicely as a result. 

Edited March 25, 2022 by andyrcii

[cool_hand]

Apologies if already mentioned before.

LVC has a new home in London

Levi's London Haus – 41 Great Marlborough Street.

I managed to visit recently and I recommend you check it out!

[Maynard Friedman]

I visited there a year or 2 ago, it’s the Levi’s tailor shop, just about 2 minutes from the old Cinch shop on Newburgh Street. They had all the LVC stuff at the front on the right hand side. Worth a visit if you want to see or try on LVC items but I thought it lacked a bit of the charm of the old place.

[cool_hand]

Maynard: I'm out of the loop as I moved out of London just over 2 years ago. I was aware Cinch had closed - went to the Levi's Regent Store expecting LVC would be on sale there (in the basement) - asked where was the LVC and I was informed there was a new store on Marlborough Street.

According to this article it opened October 2020:

https://www.theindustry.fashion/levis-launches-new-concept-store-in-soho-with-sustainable-denim-range-as-the-focus/

Maybe Cinch closed down shortly after the start of the pandemic?

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

bears tokyo recently stock LVC since the rigid pairs are fully being made in Japan now

[andyrcii]

my Lee 101 Rider jacket. Posting as I am looking for sizing tips for a 1936 Type 1 (70501). 
 

I am just under a 36 inch chest, the pit to pit on the Lee small jacket (sanforized) is 17 inches.

 

it seems from jackets I have seen on ebay that the type 1 is bigger? Should I get a M or an S? 

[NilsLW]

Just a simple thought I had, now that White Oak Cone Mills is gone how come LVC don't use denim from Vidalia Mills?

Edited April 25, 2022 by NilsLW

[beautiful_FrEaK]

Probably too expensive. And Kaihara makes very good denim.

BTW, Cone Mills still exists and they still produce selvedge denim. But that plant is in China.

[NilsLW]

Right my bad! I've actually seen some jeans made with their new Chinese denim and it looks fine. I agree that Kaihara make fantastic denim but to me it would just make sense to use the denim from Vidalia since they have the very same Draper looms that made denim for Levi's at the White Oak factory. You're probably right that it's too expensive and QC is probably not as good as the Japanese stuff, but it would be very cool imo if they at least made a limited edition 501 using Vidalia denim. 

[Maynard Friedman]

I think LVC Japan may use Kaihara and LVC have also used it in the past for the pre 1915-models (ie pre-Cone), so a relationship already existed. In addition, LVC has (of necessity) had contingency plans for life without/post-Cone so was ready to switch to Kaihara. Each model uses different denim so the switch takes time, planning, R&D, testing, etc, which, of course is time consuming and probably not cheap. 

When Cone closed, LVC was probably not aware that Vidalia planned to buy up the old looms so that wouldn’t have been on their radar. Even if it was, unless they bought the various LVC denim recipes from Cone, they would have had to create their own, which takes time, thereby leaving LVC waiting and hoping for Vidalia to come up with the right fabrics whilst using up and possibly exhausting their Cone denim. Once LVC knew of Cone’s demise, it made no sense (to them) to manufacture jeans in the USA from imported fabric so they switched to Europe (Bulgaria/Turkey), which likely provided labour cost savings.

In summary, lots of reasons that were already planned and factored in before Vidalia started using the old Cone loons.

[Topnotcher]

Made in Japan 1955 501xx

Tagged W 33 L 34

After 30°c wash in machine and two days of wearing 

W 32 L 32

Made in turkey in 34 is shorter.

Selvedge is a little bit wider (more correct?)than the MiT.

I loooove this jeans!!

 

 

 

Edited April 27, 2022 by Topnotcher

[sven]

^ That is an absolutely gorgeous fit.

[Mtvare]

Yeah that fit is great. 

@Topnotcher would you mind measuring the front rise please? Those might be my size depending on the rise.

[Paul T]

LVC use a lot of different yarns; it's more or less a different yarn for every vintage. With Kaihara, they had already spec'd the yarns ready to go. I was told this about 15  years ago as there was always a worry that Cone would go under.

[AlientoyWorkmachine]

5 hours ago, Paul T said:

LVC use a lot of different yarns; it's more or less a different yarn for every vintage. With Kaihara, they had already spec'd the yarns ready to go. I was told this about 15  years ago as there was always a worry that Cone would go under.

Yea, but thanks in no small part to the business practices of Levi’s themselves. White Oak would still be running if they and other American makers hadn’t all ditched them in the first place. Cone didn’t go under btw, just their last American mill did. 

[Topnotcher]

18 hours ago, Mtvare said:

Yeah that fit is great. 

@Topnotcher would you mind measuring the front rise please? Those might be my size depending on the rise.

30 cm ,12 ".

 

[Mtvare]

Thank you!

[Facini]

My San Antonio ‘55s are about a year into their rotation. There were a couple of months where it was out of rotation because I didn’t get around to repairing them. This denim is really something else. It’s been a pretty stubborn fader, but it’s really starting to come through now.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Facini

[Paul T]

Whoo-hoo! Summer is here, so it's away with the 40s TCB, and on with my 1880s natural indigo.

I actually can't remember if I've hand-washed or machine washed these, but the texture is lovely. Quite a lot of crocking for natural indigo. Right at the beginning of this thread I posted my last pair of 1880s from maybe 2003, Kurabo natural indigo fabric which was, frankly, awful. These are amongst my favourite LVC ever. Much darker in the flesh than on my Sony camera.

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

nice to see them worn in eventually... I still got a pair of those unworn in my closet  it was the pinnacle of the new developed loomstate cone denims, introduced at anniversary of the golden handshake in 2015 if I remember right!? did yours really shrink a lot as they supposed to?

[Paul T]

Lots of shrinking and lots of leg twist. It's similar, I think, to the yarns of the Cone three-pleat jacket with the natural indigo from Tennessee. (Edit: My story implies it's a different design from the jacket). The jacket is wonderful too. The natural indigo, if aynthing, seems to crock more than the jacket with synthetic indigo, which is the reverse of what we 'd generally expect.

Need to wash the jacket and check on the buttons and post update. Yes, those final Cone fabrics were wonderful. I'm so sad they've gone and we've lost all that knowledge. Perhaps it is Levi's fault, as they stopped using Cone for all 501, as they did at one time... but Cone people always told me that LVC were their biggest supporters and had always been flexible and helpful.

Edited May 7, 2022 by Paul T

[andyrcii]

 

look at this 1944 button after just 2 washes, already oxidising. I like that

[Scottishblue]

Speaking of cone fabric, did all made in USA LVC use cone? Got a very lightly worn pair of 1954 501zxx a few days ago for a steal and was pleasantly surprised when they arrived to see they were made in USA. Wasn't sure when they stopped this and where the denim would be from

[Maynard Friedman]

Check when they were made on the label. I think the White Oak plant that supplied selvedge denim to LVC closed at the end of 2017 so LVC would still have had a supply during 2018 and possibly 2019. Around this time they switched production to Bulgaria but it may be Turkey now. I don’t make much interest in current LVC.

[pomata]

8 minutes ago, Scottishblue said:

Speaking of cone fabric, did all made in USA LVC use cone? 

No, I have a pair of 1967 505 from 2008 and they were made with kaihara denim

[Scottishblue]

Can't tell when they were made but a bit of googling of 50154-0001 suggests they are cone. Either way at £65 I'm happy

[Maynard Friedman]

I think the ‘2611’ in the middle indicates they were made in week 26 (ie end of June) 2011, so almost 11 years old and certainly Cone denim.

[Coolguyzack]

Has anyone else noticed how difficult it's become to look for lightly-worn LVC? I feel like everyone is trying to peddle their Salvation-Army-snagged Levi's as "vintage"? Ebay and Grailed are flooded, my Boolean search looks like a formula lol

[Sympathy-For-The-Denim]

for eBay, just look for LVC or "Levi's Vintage Clothing", 501xx... this way you sort out a lot, but you could miss that great find you might make, when someone selling his Valencia jeans not knowing what its worth nowadays ...

but maybe 20 years from now, a decent pair of engineered jeans is highly collectible 

[pomata]

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