The lowdown on LVC...input welcomed

[Shorty Long]

Here's what I've recently been told:

1. Someone from Cone Mills just told me that they are still providing denim for LVC, despite the rumor that it was coming from Japan.

2. Although the jeans aren't produced at the Valencia St. factory, they're still being produced in SF (somewhere on Battery St.).

It's my understanding that Levi no longer produces any jeans in the U.S. (their remaining plants in TX were closed a year or so ago), so they must be produced by some other company. Anyone know who this is?

I know the Valencia St. jeans are the definitive jeans ('555' stamp), but how inferior (if at all) are the LVC jeans produced by Levi in the TX factories ('554' stamp)? Does anyone know of any differences? I became aware of LVC around the time the Valencia St. plant closed, so the majority of my jeans are stamped '554.' I actually bought a number of deadstock 1947 501s when I heard that Levi was shutting down all of their plants in the US, so I want to have an idea as to the quality of the product I have.

[Paul T]

I can't see any reason why Levi's would stop using Cone for LVC, and have heard no stories that they were plannign to move for selvage denim (they've used Kurabo occasionally for vegetable indgo denim).

The spring 2005 repros I saw were made in Japan, altho I didn't look at every pair in the range. They looked great - it took LVC Japan to sort out the reissues anyway, the first reissues made at Valencia were dreadful until Levi's Japan got involved,. I know a retilaer who told me he didn't rate the Italian-made LVC, but have never heard complaints about other US factories. Battery St is the Levi's HQ, didn't knwo they did any production there....

[Shorty Long]

thanks for the info...i just came across this site and i'm excited to use this as a resource.

i'm not familiar with SF, so i just took what the guy from the Flagship told me about the Battery St. production as fact

he did however acknowledge that Levi was no longer producing the jeans...

anyone have any info on the quality of the non-Levi produced LVC denim as opposed to the older, Levi-produced jeans?

[wild_whiskey]

Where are LVCs from that are stamped "R?" are those the Japanese ones?

[Shorty Long]

it is my understanding that LVC jeans stamped 'R' are the ones that are now made by non-Levi plants w/in the U.S.A.

the tag in the inside leg seam should tell you the country where they were made

my girlfriend has a pair of 646's from the spring 2005 collection, stamped 'R' and they're made in the USA

[Guest]

What's are the thoughts on the (European) 1997 LVC range?

I was of the opinion that the quality of this range (1955 501s, 201s, etc) was better than the subsequent reissues.

Cheers

[radical_radish]

What are your thoughts on the (European) 1997 LVC range?

I was of the opinion the quality of this range was better than subsequent years, but having read some posts on this site I'm not so sure.

Cheers

[Paul T]

Do you mean that first proper LVC range? The Europeans had a lot of input, one of the main guys was Geir Tandberg, from Europe but based in SF, but, crucially, so did the Japanese, including Jim Tanaka... the Japanese already had more experience of vintage reissues anyway. I think these are regarded as the beginning of the point at whcih they started to get it all right... it's only the 1992 'Capital E' reissues I know of that are lousy; I went to Valencia st around that time and saw them being made and they were awful... altho the factory looked great!

As far as how one year of LVC reissues compares with the others, I'd be interested to know if anyone sees any real differences. I haven't seen any bar 92 that look underpar, but i've seen people here say their 201 reissues look lousy, whereas I think the ones from around three years back are my favourite reissues, period.

[radical_radish]

Thanks for the reply - I wasn't aware of the 1992 reissues. I like my 1997 201s (and 501s) - would be interested to know what made them sub-standard.

[Paul T]

so WHO says the '97 range is sub-standard? Hey they're, uh, like vintage replicas!