Vintage Denim?

[entertainment!]

According to this guide on ebay, the UGWA label with a number was only used until 1976.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Clothing-Labels-Union-Labels-Menswear-UGWA?ugid=10000000003435429

I would love to know if that is actually true.

[Sansome1877]

Thanks for the research H Hooligan and entertainment!^^ I was told that someone is working on a book about union labels? My father -in-law has done some research on early union labels-looks like It will take some time to sort things out.

[robbie]

Found these interesting youth or possibly womens jeans yesterday.

this illegible tag on the back left pocket is the only branding on the jean.

chain stitched sail cotton pocket bags (similar in feel to vintage Lee and Wranglers I've owned)

The owner must have cut out or worn out the Union label inside the back left pocket.

The top of the belt loops are sewn into the waistband, the bottom are bar tacked.

Cool feature I'd not seen before. The waist band comes around on both sides and sews back into itself.

blank top button (don't know if that is indicative of any brands) and a Talon 42 zipper,(no vis)

blue and yellow stitching on the felled inseam.

At first glance I thought Lee given the gold/black tab... but they're bartacked as opposed to riveted, they don't have the lazy 's' and no waist tag. My next guess was they are from a department store be it local or national.

I asked some folks and they thought the denim looked like Lee, maybe manufactured for a 3rd party? I was curious if anyone had further insights. Greatly appreciated it.

(these need a home btw, PM if interested)

[cash]

I might reverse my previous statement on those jeans. The leg is twisting the wrong direction for Lee's LHT denim. The stitch color and denim looks very '70s Lee, though. RN or WPL number on the care tag?

[robbie]

I might reverse my previous statement on those jeans. The leg is twisting the wrong direction for Lee's LHT denim. The stitch color and denim looks very '70s Lee, though. RN or WPL number on the care tag?

no interior size / care tags

[tropicalbird]

I wouldn't call them "jeans". Jeans-like pants would be more appropriate

[Happy Hooligan]

well they're not lee for sure as even if they made them for someone else they'd put the union tag in the bottom of the pocket I'd guess.

There were a lot of jeans out there over the years. Probably as you said an off brand since they have that cheap button on them. What's the zipper say?

And they're jeans. Classic 5 pocket.

[robbie]

well they're not lee for sure as even if they made them for someone else they'd put the union tag in the bottom of the pocket I'd guess.

There were a lot of jeans out there over the years. Probably as you said an off brand since they have that cheap button on them. What's the zipper say?

And they're jeans. Classic 5 pocket.

It's a Talon 42.

[Rivet Head]

Interesting, but this tag does not have "Duck Garment" on it like the example shown. Wonder how accurate this guide is too?

According to this guide on ebay, the UGWA label with a number was only used until 1976.

http://reviews.ebay.com/Clothing-Labels-Union-Labels-Menswear-UGWA?ugid=10000000003435429

I would love to know if that is actually true.

[bluegoldblues]

Not sure about this new superfuture!

but who's seen all three blanket lined levis jackets together before?

More on the Blog as usual

[Maynard Friedman]

Spitalfields Market bgb?

[bluegoldblues]

yep

[jean-claude]

Hey there, I've picked up what I think is an early 70's 505. Tab and patch are gone (but patina and leg twist were so great!)

It has a Talon 42 zipper, an "8" stamped top button and lemon-overlocked edges on the leg.

Any chances it's a Big E?

An other thing:

I've spotted a cheap big E 70505. Only thing that "worries" me is the stamped button: it shows a 0", while I've always seen three digits stamps on those jackets (524, 525...).

Any clue? Is it one of the latest big E batches?

[bluegoldblues]

YAY this thread is still breathing!?

505's - first thing to check if they are single stitch (back pockets) in my experience big E 505's normally have '5' stamped on top button with 8 more common on little e single stitch models. but the fact that the red tab is missing would strongly indicate it was robbed for its big E tab which was normal practise with overlock big E's.

Jacket - 0 stamp is good!! buy it! Early 60's will have yellow stitching under pocket flaps and large patch! here is mine

http://bluegoldblues.com/post/7686455098/early-1960s-big-e-large-patch-557-xx-type-iii-jacket

[brightbill]

Cool pair of old-stock jeans I picked up, no brand but probably some department store's make from late 70s (?). Nice thick denim, 12-14 oz I'd guess, pretty even and smooth. Fits slim in the leg, high in the waist. No-name button on top of a YKK zipper fly. Non-selvage, of course.

Front:

Back:

Pocketbag:

Inner yoke, bartacks, and a handwritten "28"

Denim details

Edited December 29, 2011 by brightbill

[Madder_Lake]

Posted these on another thread a while back. These are my last good pair of off-the-shelf Levis. They were 80's and small e, but they faded well, as no Levis that I had after did. So I kept coming back to these and wearing them out. They look pretty similar to bluegoldblues 80's levis I think.

[Paul T]

Just did a couple quick snaps of the nipper's 302.

THis was a fascinating pair of jeans, because it gave me the chance to watch a pair of 60s jeans wear in from rigid, using much the same wash techniques as I do on modern repros. These had maybe four or five hand washes, but just the one machine wash.

They look good, surprisingly enough; throughout the ageing process there were some effects you don't quite get from, say, modern LVC - particularly a kind of graininess. And, as has been commented here before, the rayon red tab crinkles and wears, in a way that the LVC nylon ones don't. Modern Cone is disliked by some because it fades more slowly than much Japanese denim - if anything, I'd say these vintage ones wore even more slowly, in that you only get a high contrast fade when they're about to wear out.

As you all might know from my blog and elsewhere, the yarn on these jeans was made with Magnadraft spinning - it's the slubbiest denim Levi's produced in the old days .But it's very subtle compared to much of what we know.

I just did a comparison of the Roy x Cone loomstate competition denim vs these - the look is very similar indeed after the machine wash, both in terms of the slub, the graininess of the fade, and the highly worn and unworn look. I'll post comparison pics when I can.

While, after its machine wash, this fabric bears a very strong resemblance to the similar Cone fabrics, I did note one significant difference - you don't get the broken threads, in the honeycombs and elewhere, which seem to afflict both modern Cone denim, and similar fabric like SDA.

More than anything, these jeans reminded me of what a few old gits like me will remember from first time around - these old jeans were really hard to wear in. Very little these days, apart from stuff like the SDA103XX, is comparable.

Edited January 30, 2012 by Paul T

[Dr_Heech]

Just thought I'd bump this thread up with a cross post from the Levis vintage clothing thread.

(@ BGB - btw, the 557/558/559 early button stamps had both '0' and capital 'D', but the earliest button-back # were '17'.)

Picked up this original 1962 Levis 559XX the other week from greedbay. Not bad condition for a jacket that is 60 years old this year!

'Every garment guaranteed' tag dates it to between 1962-64 -

But the button backs (stamped #17) and the shirt-weight denim on the inside of the pocket flaps date it to 1962, as these are the last remenants of the type 2 (507XX) -

Years ago, I used to hear plenty of claims from various dealers and collectors alike, that the 507xx and 557xx were in simultaneous production for a few years. Whether this is true or not I cant be sure, but only speculate.

Some more details I like are the 'finishing off' of the thread, similar to all Levis jeans and jackets made before the early sixties -

and a little oxidization on the real copper buttons -

.

Edited February 6, 2012 by Dr_Heech

[bluegoldblues]

Having a big clear out so i have a few bits for sale in the supermarket!

Anyone after a big E jacket for a reasonable price check it out!!

http://supertalk.sup...denim-for-sale/

[Bleu1950]

bumping this oldie up..

does anybody notice the fading difference between the denim in 40's and those repro jeans LVC etc? I really like how those oldies fade.

[Flash]

Some ww2 era Levi's pics I have saved ( most are from marvins vintage , love looking through that site and dreaming about how I'm gonna spend that lottery win )

Notice how these still have the coin pocket rivets

Allways loved this pair posted by horriblyjollyjinx , and great to see them worn

Edited December 27, 2012 by Flash

[aho]

^Always fun to look at...I wonder what the date range was for the laurel buttons and if all these variations were just a product of what was available by the various factories? ie no real hard standard, just being practical

[Flash]

Yea I love seeing all the different details on pairs from the same era , realy just was whatever was available

The number of fly buttons vary as well but I'm not sure if that depended on the size of the jeans ?

[aho]

Thread bump! Guess there was a vintage thread after all...

 

This is my favorite item in my possession:

[Flash]

great looking pair mate , love the repairs 

[poly800rock]

really enjoy this thread, as well as finding all the japanese sites that sell old vintage stuff as well. Always much more interesting.

[setterman]

After seeing the pair of Flat Heads posted on rawr denim last week with the jumbled mess at the knees, and then Aho's vintage pair, I'm reminded how over the high contrast aesthetic I am.   

[Sigur Rós]

Hope the jeans been wash I see blood stains :s

[aho]

^Sigur Ros, hard to tell in the pics but they're actually red paint stains! The jeans were from an Ohio farm, so it wouldn't surprise me if they were painting a barn, etc. 

Edited February 23, 2015 by aho

[Maynard Friedman]

Here are a couple of snaps of Maynard junior's deadstock 60s 501s with Scovill zip fly, still raw. It'll be a few more years before they fit him, so they'll continue to lurk with my unworn pile until then. I'll take some more photos when the light's better.

Patch