Leepro Appreciation

[crownzip]

Since Dean grew up in Indiana it kinda makes sense he would wear Lee and not Levi's. I don't think Levi's were that common east of the Mississippi until later in his life.

[fardin]

. dean also wore levis cuase there is a pair of em in the fairmont museum. but in his last two years he was a lee guy, all pics show him in lees. i guess back then they wore the jeans they could get. and i dontthink they really all stuck to one brand. we also dont. ok bing was a levis guy but there are so many pics of actors from the late forties and 50s up to the 60s wich are wearing all kinda brands. mc queen also wore levis private and in movies and from the late 60s on he was all in lee. as was dennis hopper. brando wore levis in his two famous movies, but privat there are pics of him wearing , from what i think som headlight dungarees. its just funny that lee just started advertising one of their branches in japan with dean, and as far as i can remember they didnt do that before. levis used dean as a testemonial with pics of him wearing lees as far as i remember. its like the famous pic of eddie cochran wearing all denim and usually everyone writes he is dressed all in levis, whereas he actually wears a jc penny formost jacket or something similar.

[Chicken]

Hi Chicken, Your 101z's look like they fit well. It'll be interesting to see how your 101Z fades compare to my 101B's over time. Sort of like our own little Lee contest. haha

oh yeah, you know it's on.

[jstavrin]

My wallet hurts.

[fardin]

wow , beautiful.

how is the sizing?

[CrashTestBrummie]

Fucking sweet jacket, you gotta be chuffed to bits right now

[jstavrin]

Just finished soaking. Should I let this thing dry with the collar up or down?

[CrashTestBrummie]

Personal preference, eh?

[fardin]

`down 10 char

[jstavrin]

Thanks guys! And yes, quite chuffed.

I only asked because the collar was smashed when I got it. I'll probably just let it dry normally. Water in the bathtub looks like a took a piss in it now.

[morse9443]

killer jacket! dry it up then make your own crease

[jstavrin]

wow , beautiful.

how is the sizing?

Definitely a bulkier fit than my LVC Type II, which I like. It's drying right now, and though it's sanforized it should probably fit a bit differently once it's done.

[fardin]

i think we have posted this one before. but some nice fit pics, much better then okin ni to see how the stuff really looks.

http://www.meadowweb.com/en/grp/lee-originals.php

[Paul T]

Wow.....horrendous. That story really shows how jeans encapsulate a lot of social history in a single piece of clothing.

I have a technical question. What was the difference in how half selvedge cloth was produced as opposed to full selvedge? Were different ( wider?) looms used or was it just a question of utilizing the fabric produced by full selvedge looms differently when the jeans were made up?

edit: Shoulda used the search function. For anyone else interested, the answer to my question can be found in this thread: http://www.superfuture.com/supertalk/showthread.php?t=7156&page=2

Actually, since that thread, I learned that Lee were probably using wide loom denim from the 50n. Draper introduced a new loom, the X-3, which while otherwise functionally identical to its predecessors, could produce fabric in a 60 inch width, by 1952 or so - it was very popular, because it was very efficient. THese are most of the selvage looms that are still around. By the 60s, according to Cone, most denim was probably being produced on wide, shuttle looms. No-one apart from Levi's considered showing the selvage on the busted seam important...

I have looked thru paperwork with Lee's archivist, we weren't sure, but it's possible Lee's move from double to single to no visiblae selvage wasn't consistnet - it might have varied from batch to batch, it certainly varied from model to model.

[crownzip]

Paul, Thanks for that Lee info. I've noticed selvage and no selvage denim used in 50's/ 60's Lee chore jackets and overalls from the same period which would confirm your research with the archivist.

Does Lee have a person dedicated to the history of Lee like Levi's has Lynn Downey?

[Paul T]

THey had one lovely guy with a bunch of filing cabinets, in their basement - he was hardly supported in the way Lyn was, just an ex accountant i believe who'd been there a long time. Sadly, they made him redundant a few years ago.

Re the looms, Lee had very little info, but I'm find out more bit by bit from people like Cone. It's a tragedy, though, I suspect a lot of Lee's heritage is lost. I heard the same from Wrangler, who puts some of their old archives in containers - much of it was later water-damaged.

Some of the archive was set up as a museum, which is probably still open, in Kansas.

[lostinthesupermarket]

Thanks for the (new) info Paul. It's great to be able to tap your knowledge on these matters.+rep.

Lee seemed to have utilised every possible permutation of full/half/no selvedge in the 40's and 50's. In the "some photos of cool distressed denim" there is even a shot of someone wearing Lees with full selvedge on bot the inseams and the outseams! That denim must have come from a very narrow loom...

Lee seems to have been a less efficient and consistent producer than Levis during this period.The 501 from the same time seems to have

much more of the flavor of a industrial product.... reliably the same from garment to garment, a lot like Mr. Ford's Model T. It implies a level of organisation that was higher than at Lee.

Is this a fair characterisation?

[Dr_Heech]

Come back Joe Vega !!

@ Fardin

-You could give up your job and become the new Lee archivist !

.

[coleslawyum]

It's unfortunate to lose so much Lee history since it dates back to the turn of the century. I wonder where Warehouse gets all their info?

Come on Fardin!

[fardin]

true that would be a great job if some of you guys would support me with infos, .like paul and dr heech. but i feel honored that some realy think i know more then you guys out there ( wich i dont). but its a real pity so many brand histories are getting lost. thanks to the japanese we are able to get some infos ( thinking of takashi for example).

so paul maybe thats why the 1952 101Z model in japan has a single selvage!

some of the pics in you denim book paul are from the lee archives, no ?

[farmer]

Whatever happened to those Blue in Green LHT Sams? Haven't had time to keep up with this thread, but Im still down with getting a pair to help meet the number they needed to go into production. Tell me good news!

Not ready for real evo pics yet just some quick iphone snaps.

[CrashTestBrummie]

Loving the texture of those, already....

[RRLselvageDenim]

Check these out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JAMES-DEAN-MODEL-LEE-1955-101-Z-SELVAGE-JEANS-34-501-/220599504708?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_CSA_MC_Jeans&hash=item335cc14f44

[aho]

farmer, loving the progress on your pair...As for the LHT contest, it hasn't exactly fallen through, we are just waiting for the end of the year to see if Samurai can produce more LHT denim as they were having production troubles since they just switched mills...

[chambo2008]

Check these out:

http://cgi.ebay.com/JAMES-DEAN-MODEL-LEE-1955-101-Z-SELVAGE-JEANS-34-501-/220599504708?cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_CSA_MC_Jeans&hash=item335cc14f44

i bought a pair of denime's of that seller which were measured wrong so i would get him to double check and also ask him to mark down the vaule... found out the hard way

[fardin]

chambo is right , the price is rediulous they cost 23000 yen wich is around240 dollars!!! and thats just for the pants in the box, without the box one just pays around 20 000 yen.

[dkatz]

Anyone know anything about this "toughened up" lee denim?

Cultizm has a Rider jacket in the TU denim

Oi Polloi had "101Z Toughened Jean Indigo Blue"

fashionbeans.com (?) has something about a pair of 101Z's in "a dark ‘toughened’ denim"

also found this image of the selvage - full interesting-looking selvage:

Did a quick search through the thread and didn't come up with anything. Anyone know anything about the denim?

[lostinthesupermarket]

Maybe it is the same idea as their old "Jelt" denim?

From http://www.midwest-vintage.com/vintagehistory/?content=lee

"It was 11.5 oz. denim but had the durability of 13 oz. denim due to its tight weave and twisted yarn"

[dkatz]

Maybe it is the same idea as their old "Jelt" denim?

From http://www.midwest-vintage.com/vintagehistory/?content=lee

"It was 11.5 oz. denim but had the durability of 13 oz. denim due to its tight weave and twisted yarn"

Huh, interesting. So maybe this is a recreation of that denim? Cool idea! It does look to be a tightly-woven denim...

[LFC4ever]

I wanted to get my pre Shins raw Denime Lee jacket on record as I'm planning on putting it on ebay at the weekend to finance some XX before they finally go. Bought 2 in 1999 and haven't worn either so it seems stupid to leave them in a closet.....

Trying to get some help from Naoki on value......