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Levi’s Vintage
- Thread starter blackrat2
- Start date
stanier
Well-Known Member
Just keep wearing them, and if they pong a bit wash ‘em, or better still stick them in the washing line outside for the day, freezing cold or hot sunshine, it will sort the pong. You will get there, but most of all enjoy them. Just be aware that if you wear them 8 months, for arguments sake, then wash ‘em, you’ll always be wondering, what if.... Buy a pre-washed pair to interchange with if you must which I find is a good way to break down the time.
Look at it this way, if you’re prepared to wait circa 2 years for a jacket from GW then a bit of time invested in your denim is nothing! And like anything worth waiting for it will be so much more rewarding.
Each to their own, but I don’t get obsessing about the details of a VLJ original or repro, then pairing it with modern Levi’s (or Walmart / George at Asda etc denim
) and Reeboks etc.
And dmar, if you need to try with rockabilly, just take more beer with it. Try at rockabilly? that’d be like trying at sex...how can you try too hard?!!!
Sorry just a bit of gentle fun.....
Look at it this way, if you’re prepared to wait circa 2 years for a jacket from GW then a bit of time invested in your denim is nothing! And like anything worth waiting for it will be so much more rewarding.
Each to their own, but I don’t get obsessing about the details of a VLJ original or repro, then pairing it with modern Levi’s (or Walmart / George at Asda etc denim
) and Reeboks etc. And dmar, if you need to try with rockabilly, just take more beer with it. Try at rockabilly? that’d be like trying at sex...
how can you try too hard?!!! Sorry just a bit of gentle fun.....
Stanier,
No offense intended - too many hot rod videos lately. I'm tattoo free but love vintage style, love to fabricate, weld, sew, paint, pinstripe, build engines - all of it. Hard to find anything in mechanics and fashion that hasn't been done before but some have discovered it recently.
I also recommend crawling on concrete and abusing the crap out of jeans. If you can keep paint and dark dirty oil off of them they will look awesome! Naptha took oil stains out of my A-2 cuffs so there is hope. In the depots in WWII acetone was the recommendation for cleaning prior to a redye, etc.
Dave
No offense intended - too many hot rod videos lately. I'm tattoo free but love vintage style, love to fabricate, weld, sew, paint, pinstripe, build engines - all of it. Hard to find anything in mechanics and fashion that hasn't been done before but some have discovered it recently.
I also recommend crawling on concrete and abusing the crap out of jeans. If you can keep paint and dark dirty oil off of them they will look awesome! Naptha took oil stains out of my A-2 cuffs so there is hope. In the depots in WWII acetone was the recommendation for cleaning prior to a redye, etc.
Pics please or it's like you aren't wearing any pants!
Dave
stanier
Well-Known Member
I sure wish I could find someone to do old school repairs on my denim. I’ve got several pairs that need repairing but just haven’t yet been able to find someone I feel comfortable trusting them to.
My favourites are a pair of Japanese LVC ‘44’s from the early 2000’s that I wore raw for years and have faded beautifully. They’re made with all cotton thread and have a deer skin leather patch. Trouble is the thread has worn off in places, it’s also come off round most of the patch and on some of one back pocket which means in particular I risk losing the patch and the pocket bags are destroyed where they connect to the denim round the handhole, I’d love to find somebody who could restitch the factory thread and restore their structural integrity. So anyone with recommendations in the UK let me know please.
My favourites are a pair of Japanese LVC ‘44’s from the early 2000’s that I wore raw for years and have faded beautifully. They’re made with all cotton thread and have a deer skin leather patch. Trouble is the thread has worn off in places, it’s also come off round most of the patch and on some of one back pocket which means in particular I risk losing the patch and the pocket bags are destroyed where they connect to the denim round the handhole, I’d love to find somebody who could restitch the factory thread and restore their structural integrity. So anyone with recommendations in the UK let me know please.
EmergencyIan
Active Member
I know I’m the odd man out with this point of view, but I don’t understand why not to wash, dry and wear new US made denim. It was always done in the past decades and the denim looked great. I was born to parents who were in their early 20s and they always did it. They weren’t hicks. They both spent all of the 60s in LA while growing up. Everyone they knew did the same thing with their blue jeans. The generation before, who wore denim, practiced the same wash and wear practices. This thing about not washing jeans, etc is new and not wrong, but it’s not they way most vintage people treated their denim.
- Ian
- Ian
Grant
Well-Known Member
Ian, To each his own I guess. I grew up working in factories, helping out on farms and always appreciated the old timers worn and beat up denim that rarely saw the inside of a washing machine. At the end of a work day they'd take off their work clothes and hang them up til the next day. My sister runs a farm in northern Wisconsin and still does that with her overalls. She thinks I'm a freak when I tell her how beautiful they are.Rarely did they see the inside of a washing machine.
Like Dave said, maybe it comes down to an aesthetic thing and an appreciation for the look of vintage denim. Here's a pic of of 60's Hercules dungarees that've probably only been washed a couple times. I think they're freakin amazing looking.
Like Dave said, maybe it comes down to an aesthetic thing and an appreciation for the look of vintage denim. Here's a pic of of 60's Hercules dungarees that've probably only been washed a couple times. I think they're freakin amazing looking.
stanier
Well-Known Member
EmergencyIan
Active Member
I'm just saying that the average person in the 50s, 60s and 70s washed an wore their jeans even if they wore them for a few weeks before doing so. They weren't thought of as some garment to "baby", as say a suit would be. When your jean jacket got dirty, it went into the washer and dryer, as well.
I may live in NYC, now, but I grew up in Indiana, on a farm in a farming community and spent 4 years of my early adulthood in Iowa. Farm people are great and they, often, do things differently than a city or suburban person would. And, that's all I gotta say about that.
- Ian
I may live in NYC, now, but I grew up in Indiana, on a farm in a farming community and spent 4 years of my early adulthood in Iowa. Farm people are great and they, often, do things differently than a city or suburban person would. And, that's all I gotta say about that.
- Ian
blackrat2
Well-Known Member
Cheers guys
Stanier, try Stuart’s of London for repairs
I recently got some European 44’s with same repairs that Grant posted pics up of a friend of his wearing on page 1 or 2 of this thread
I will try swapping round with them a bit more as they actually look pretty nice
I am happy to spend the time on them just worried my wash may have stuffed things up but as a look st them compared to a while ago they are looking pretty good
Stanier, try Stuart’s of London for repairs
I recently got some European 44’s with same repairs that Grant posted pics up of a friend of his wearing on page 1 or 2 of this thread
I will try swapping round with them a bit more as they actually look pretty nice
I am happy to spend the time on them just worried my wash may have stuffed things up but as a look st them compared to a while ago they are looking pretty good
blackrat2
Well-Known Member
Dmar, I will take some pics later on Sunday, am off out for a ruby in my Euro 44’s, Red Wings and despite the drizzle GW Aero!!!
If you ask Roughwear..he will know I generally have to take the pics then ask him to post them up...my son aged six has better computing skills
I have only just started using Instagram n looked at Eastman and Aero yesterday..some great pics and I have to say both of them have better images of there jackets than there respective sites...the depot re-dye from Eastman has really grown on me
If you ask Roughwear..he will know I generally have to take the pics then ask him to post them up...my son aged six has better computing skills
I have only just started using Instagram n looked at Eastman and Aero yesterday..some great pics and I have to say both of them have better images of there jackets than there respective sites...the depot re-dye from Eastman has really grown on me
stanier
Well-Known Member
Grant, lovely pair of ‘47’s. On the ‘47 front I’ve got a pair of LVC Japan ‘47’s and a pair of Sugar Cane ‘47’s that I managed to pickup raw and new with tags with the arc’s and red tab from the pre-Levi’s law suit era. Both have never been washed and I just keep wearing them as and when I feel like it. As an aside, just over a year ago I bit the bullet and got a 1930’s repro by Ace Western belts of a jewelled western belt that I wear with them and love.
As a sobering lesson to anyone thinking of washing their vintage denim, in about 2000 I was just getting into real denim as opposed to whatever 501’s Levi’s produced that year. Not quite realising what I’d got I managed to score a pair of 554 (not 555 but nonetheless very nice) raw LVC ‘47’s from the San Antonio Texas factory. They were fantastic jeans with a great cut stunning hairy dark blue (almost black) with a deep red red line selvedge denim and thick leather patch. And what did I do? I ruined them, washed them in a hot wash, shrunk the things right up, the leather patch disintegrated and the redline almost disappeared. If I’d treated them properly they’d be stunning now. You live and learn but hopefully my regret will help someone.
