I recently treated myself to a new pair of Levi’s Vintage 501® jeans, made in the U.S.A. with selvedge raw denim from the dearly departed Cone Mills White Oak plant in Greensboro, North Carolina, the last selvedge denim mill in the United States. The mill shut its doors after 112 years in business on December 31, 2017, and Levi Strauss is using its remaining denim reserves from the mill for its Vintage line.

The denim is glorious. It’s tough, heavy and sturdy, the way denim is supposed to be. And like all raw and rigid denim, it will shrink if/when washed. With that, a question remains: What size to buy?