People ask: What jeans are you wearing this fall? My answer is always the same: I’m wearing the same jeans I wore last fall, which are the same ones I wore the fall before that.
Unless Levi’s gets caught in discriminatory practices against employees, factory worker abuse or some other horrible scandal, or unless they completely abandoned the quality standards I’ve enjoyed forever, they’ll keep my business. Levi’s has made the jeans I’ve worn my entire life, and I feel no need to change, abandon ship or “upgrade” out of boredom or some perceived urge to keep up with hipsters, bros, brahs or bruhs who work it out with premium $400 selvedge raw denim jeans harvested locally in a refurbished garage. I’m pretty loyal to brands that have taken good care of me.
My go-to Levi’s cuts are the 501 and the 511. To be more specific, my preferred pair of 501s is the Made-in-the-USA 501® Original Shrink-to-Fit Selvedge Jeans, and my preferred pair of 511s is the Slim Fit Selvedge Jeans. Pretty straightforward and simple, as jeans should be. No bedazzling, no special stitching and – for fk’s sake – absolutely no stretch. Regular, heavyweight, selvedge denim.
As I’ve said and written before, trends come and go and the 501 jean is still standing. We get skinny, we go flared or boot cut, but the 501 is still there. I don’t anticipate it going anywhere anytime soon.
The U.S.-made 501s are more expensive than those manufactured elsewhere ($160 as opposed to $60), but buying American is good for everybody. If more people do it, perhaps the prices will level out. As far as I know, a 511 is not available in an American made version.
With respect to my denim game, this fall, last fall and the many falls before that, that’s basically it. Other men have found other solutions with different brands, and that’s fantastic. Levi’s 501s and 511s just happen to be the jeans that work for me, and I’ve never had any real reason to go anywhere else.
5 Comments
I’m with you George. I just discovered the new Athletic fit Levis (541) and they are perfect for my sexy muscly thighs. After searching for years, I have finally found a pair of jeans that actually fits.
Don’t own ’em, don’t wear ’em.
The anti-stretch remark was worth the price of reading.
I am sure I have told you this before, but I have to say it again, I found you years ago, all because of Levis STF 501s. After years of wearing different cuts of Levis (and not really liking any of them due to my body size and shape) I decided that I was going to try Levis 501 STF. I had heard that there was this great way to tub wash and air dry that would shrink them the best. So after buying a pair, I went to You Tube to search out videos on what worked best. And that night I found your two Levis STF 501 videos. I ended up spending much of the night watching your videos. Videos on buying and installing blinds, defrosting a refrigerator, Smokey, bikes, men’s hygiene, hair and shoes (my all time favorite thing in the world), just to name a handful of videos I still remember off the top of my head to this day. And I still use Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint soap to this day (something else I had never heard of before your 501 video). You are my lifestyle guru. I wish you all the best George!
You just made my day. Thank you so much, Michael.