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The Three Pairs: What We’re Looking At Today
We have $1,300 Levis from the 1960s. The denim is fluffy, the hems look like rope, and this is also the year that Levis cheaped out.
We also have supposed exact replicas of those jeans from Levi’s, and they now sell for $260.
Lastly, we have just regular old boring Levi 501s that sell for $80.
Everyone says, “Levi’s quality went downhill. They don’t make them like they used to”, and that’s true in some ways, but in other ways, the $80 jeans are built better.
So today is a certified jeana-palooza.
Setting the Scene: Moon Landings to Brooklyn
Hello everyone, it’s Michael. It’s a beautiful day. I’m feeling fantastic, and if these jeans could talk, the story that they would tell – from probably being worn on the day humanity watched the first man ever land on the moon to now being in my Brooklyn apartment where I was smelling them to see if I could detect signs of natural indigo versus synthetic indigo (I couldn’t, by the way).
For my entire life, I have heard the phrase “they don’t make this like they used to” – Levis, Carhartt, Eddie Bauer, everything is not made like it used to be made. So I would like to put all of that to the test if you don’t mind.
Quick Comparison: The Three Pairs Head-to-Head
| Product | Key Features | Materials | Strength/Durability | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s Levi’s Jeans | Higher stitch count, solid copper rivets, selvedge denim from Cone Mills, unsanforized. |
Long cotton fibers, steel buttons, Jacron patch. |
Durable but prone to leg twist; pocket bags made from heavy material; no bartacking on back pockets. |
$8 (equivalent to $80 today) |
| LVC (Levi’s Vintage Clothing) Replicas | Attempt to replicate vintage features, selvedge denim from Japan, unsanforized. |
Mimics vintage denim, modern Jacron patch, steel buttons. |
Comparable to vintage in stitch count and material weight; moderate leg twist. |
$260 |
| Modern Levi’s 501 | Bar tacking, zinc alloy buttons, uses projectile loom denim. |
Short cotton fibers, lower-cost materials, Jacron patch. |
Strong but lacks vintage charm; minimal leg twist; improved bartacking. |
$80 |
Quick Shoutout to the Vintage Jean Guy
I made a new friend – I don’t know if he wants me to say his name online, but “[email protected]” – email him if you have old jeans or anything of the like.
He’d love to buy them. He is a vintage Levis, Wrangler, Carhartt (whoever it may be) reseller, and he gets the craziest pieces that I have ever seen.
The Evolution of the Patch: From Leather to Jacron
We will begin with the smallest detail first and then get to the big baddies like stitching, like denim quality, if one is actually stronger – all that we’ll get into in a second.
But first, there are some small differences, which is nothing that you’d really notice, honestly.
The ’60s was a point where leather patches at Levis were already kind of out the door. They reintroduced them on their modern premium line, but I actually really like the patches that they use now.
All of these patches are called paper patches, but they are not actually paper, and they are not cardboard – they are made out of Jacron.
It was made in the ’60s, but now it is being looked into as an alternative for plastic materials in general because it does biodegrade over time.
Jacron is an extremely strong mix of cellulose fibers like in plants and natural rubber. At least Levi says it’s natural rubber, not synthetic. Jacron patches hold ink better; they hold up for a pretty long time, but leather patches hold up for a much longer time.
Handmade vs. Machine-Made: The Arcuate Detail
Next up is the arcuate. This does not affect the durability of the jeans at all, but if you pay attention here, there’ll be something you notice at the end when we’re talking about stitching.
The 1960s one looks like it was done by hand – it’s not totally even, one side is lifted a little higher, and it looks like the LVC line (the Vintage Recreation) tried to do something similar but in a more machined way.
I don’t think that’s done by hand, and then obviously, of course, the shape on the modern ones is perfectly symmetrical. Nothing is out of place, and it’s exactly even. I bet between a thousand pairs of jeans; there is so little variation between the designs that you can’t even notice.
Correction: After thinking about this for 3 more seconds, I realized they were all done by machine, but I think Levi’s changed the pattern over time. I’m sorry about that.
Sizing Mysteries: The ’60s vs Today
There are two things about the fit of the 1960s jeans. The second one is a really weird fact I don’t understand, but the first one is vanity sizing in the ’60s – not a thing.
So, the same size back then was smaller than it is today. The really weird thing, though, which, to be honest, I have no idea why Levis did this, and maybe other brands did it too at the time, is the jeans are 2 inches shorter than the length that is on the back tabs.
The Small Details That Changed Everything
And finally, to wrap up the small section: number one, you’ve probably heard about this before – the red tab on the back of the ’60s jeans and the LVC jeans, that is in capital letters.
Now it’s lowercase, just the L is big. Big whoop.
The button material between modern Levis and vintage Levis changed – the old ones were steel, the new ones are, I think, a zinc alloy or something of the sort.
But the ’60s were really the year that Levis changed a bunch of things anyway. Before the 1960s, the rivets on Levis were 100% solid copper. Now, the front is copper, and the back is aluminum. Cheaped out a little bit, Levis, didn’t you?
Okay, anyways, enough with the small crap. Let’s get serious. Let’s stop talking about cellulose and rubber, whatever that stuff is.
Let’s talk about if these jeans are actually better and go over the big-boy details.
The Stitch Count Showdown
Stitches per inch – usually higher is better. That’s not true in every single scenario; there are also different ways to have very strong garments, but when we are comparing the 1960 Levis to the modern ones, the 1960 ones, for the most part, have a higher stitch-per-inch count everywhere, and I believe on modern premium Levis, that is where you get an equivalent amount of stitches per inch as vintage.
LVC Levis for almost $300 seems to come close or be exactly the same. So point #1 goes to 1960s Levi’s.
Pocket Bags: The Hidden Quality Marker
Okay, so if Levi’s corporate is watching this, uh, I promise that modern-day Levis will have a comeback at the end, but right now, another point goes to 1960s and LVC jeans because the pocket bags – the bags that you put things in your pockets in – they’re made out of a much beefier, heavier material that they lasted from the ’60s to today.
I don’t think modern Levis would, although these vintage jeans have not been worn a ton. It is, in general, just a better, beefier material than what we’re using today.
The Selvedge Situation: Cone Mills to Japan
Obviously, the 1960s Levis used selvedge denim, the modern ones do not, and the LVCs use selvedge denim from Japan.
The original Levis from the ’60s used denim from Cone Mills, which is the most famous US manufacturer of denim of all time, so it was a really big deal when they went out of business.
Levis didn’t save them – I don’t know if they could have, but they didn’t either way.
The Loom Revolution: How Denim Production Changed
So, very quickly, let’s compare shuttle looms to projectile looms and modern looms that we use today. Shuttle looms are four times slower than projectile looms.
They also produce half-width denim, so modern denim is 60 inches, and selvedge denim is 30 inches. Each yard of denim makes fewer jeans and is more expensive, so Levi switched to projectile looms, which can literally print denim out – it is incredibly fast.
Pretty vs. Practical: The Truth About Old vs. New Denim
The real benefit of selvedge denim now in modern days is that it’s pretty – it looks like the actual denim is finished, and you didn’t do a messy stitch over it to make sure it doesn’t unravel or anything like that.
What really matters is a lot of these old machines couldn’t make perfect denim like we can make today. The denim back then was a lot prettier, but that does not necessarily mean it was more durable – it could actually be less durable than the robotic denim made today.
The Cotton Fiber Debate
Interestingly, vintage denim uses longer cotton fibers that take longer to grow and are also stronger because there’s more friction when they are all wound together tight, while modern fabric is meant to be grown really fast, so it uses shorter fibers that are not as strong.
So there’s a push and pull either way. So, the durability of the denim without extensive testing, which I can’t do on the Vintage Levis, is TBD.
The Shrinkage Factor and Leg Twist
All three of these jeans are unsanforized – that means they were not treated for shrinkage at all.
They will shrink up to 10% when you wash them for the first time, and the leg twist on the Vintage Levis is insane.
The leg has almost completely rolled over to the other end, which does not happen with LVCs – you can get some leg twist, but it’s moderate – and it barely happens at all with modern Levis.
Modern Wins: The Bartacking Revolution
Is there any place in modern Levis that beats vintage Levis? Yes, it is called bartacking.
Bartacking has been around for a while now. In the ’60s, it was not around for that long, and you’ll see there are rivets obviously on the front part of your pants.
They used to also be on the back pockets because that is what set Levis apart. That is what made their jeans so strong. It wasn’t just stitching that could rip apart easily – it was riveted like a boat, it was super strong, you couldn’t pull them apart with two horses.
The Evolution of Strength: From Rivets to Bar Tacks
Technology and stitching, in general, got better, and the bar tack was invented, which is equivalent essentially to the rivet. So, the rivets on the front of the pants that you are wearing right now are decorative.
You could just bar-tack those. Uniqlo does a lot of bar tacking and not a lot of riveting, but with all that being said, these vintage ’60s Levis were some of the first Levis that had bar tacks on the back pockets instead of rivets, it was just not as robust as it was today.
You’ll see that the bar tack on Modern Levis goes all the way through the top of the jeans to the bottom, and on Vintage, I think they skipped a layer of denim because they didn’t have a machine that could go through all of that denim.
Correction and/or edit: The belt loops on the vintage jeans are all bar tacked all the way through, so I think it’s more possible that Levi’s hid the bar tack for style, although it is not as durable.
The Price Factor: Then vs. Now
Levis, in the 1960s, went for $8. Adjusted for inflation today, that is just about $80, which I did not expect to be exactly the same price as they are today.
It looks like they adjusted perfectly for inflation over time. Same thing with Wranglers – I think they went for $5.
Today that gets to $50 or close to there, and it’s exactly the same. It’s not the same thing with Filson – Filson, technically, by inflation, should be $124, but it’s closer to $500.
But I will say Filson did stay in the US, and I am making clothes in the US right now – it is very expensive, so I can’t actually comment on that.
That being said, in order to get that price, modern Levis moved production to Mexico, Egypt, and other countries where the cost of labor was lower.
They did the same with the production of the denim. I’m assuming they used a lower grade of cotton fiber in general – there are a lot of things that they had to change in order to keep Levis for $80, and with that being said, Levis, there’s usually some sale going on so I would say in the US at least it’s like $50 or $60.
And I obviously think they could be priced a lot lower than what you were actually buying them for now because marketing and everything goes into that price. It goes up, and people want to make more money.
Watch This Review
The Final Verdict
The difference in quality between modern and vintage and durability is not as much as you probably would think.
All of the things that I really like – the charming things on Vintage Levis – don’t necessarily make them a better jean. They make them a cooler jean in my opinion, but modern technology has essentially got us to the level of perfected denim, and without all the faults that vintage denim has, modern denim can hold up to a similar strength even if it is of lesser quality on the inside.
Do they make Levis like they used to? The answer has to be no.
Thanks so much for reading! I’ll see you all soon!
This article was adapted from Michael Kristy’s video on The Iron Snail, with edits from FashionBeans, and was reviewed by Michael to ensure the integrity of his original content. Watch the full video here.
The Iron Snail is a men’s fashion vlog (and now article series!) starring a young man named Michael and featuring a snail no bigger than a quarter. The two are set on taking over the world of fashion by creating a clothing line to end all clothing lines. Until then, we’re here to tell you EVERYTHING you need to know about the best clothing out there, from the highest quality raw denim jeans to the warmest jackets to the sturdiest boots…the Iron Snail has got you covered.