Ducks, miners and secret agents: LVC preview, Spring/Summer 2013

A few years ago, the LVC range was suffering from a simple lack of TLC; there was inconsistent supply, and the clothing itself was often repetitive and occasionall uninspired. In the last few years, though, I think they've got their groove back. 

LVC's relatively new policy of supplying a much wider range of clothing has annoyed some diehards, principally because of the "reissue" of fictitious items such as, say, last season's Navy Smock - an item never produced by Levi's. In contrast, though, we've recently seen some of the most accurate, intriguing reissues of LVC's history, like last year's beautiful Triple-Pleat Blouse. I think this year's Spring Summer collection is every bit as intriguing, and I particularly love the emphasis on non-denim items. So, here's a quick run-through of what I reckon are some of the highlights. 

While I'm personally not a devotee of washed items, this range includes some shirts which I think take washed finishes to a new level. In particular, I loved this 1910s Pullover Sunset Gingham Shirt. 

Gingham was a hugely popular fabric in late 1800s USA -  it was also, incidentally, very popular in Japan. I don't know if this is a reissue of a specific shirt from the archives, somehow I doubt it, but it's a beautiful shirt which resonates with many vintage items I've looked at. The wash is one of the nicest I've seen on a repro shirt, and gives a great impression of being bleached by an unrelenting sun. 

Several items are straightforward reintroductions of items we've seen in previous LVC ranges, like this pair of Lot 66 1920s Bib Overalls. I'm not sure of the source of 2 by 1 denim; Cone have supplied similar fabrics to LVC in the past. These are quirky items with beautiful detailing, in particular the bib straps. It's good too see these back in a raw version. Click for a bigger version of the picture. 

One major new step for LVC is the reintroduction of the women's range. For a brief period around 2003, LVC produced some beautiful customised, womens' items - what we have here is in a similar vein, such as this pair of Koveralls, in a customised cut and finish, called Gravel Bank. 

Along the same lines is the women's cropped Type 1 jacket, with three quarter sleeves and a customised A line shape. 

This is a new wash, named Bodie, of the original XX or Nevada jean - once thought to be an alternate version of what became the 501, it's now believed to be the precursor, with more workwear-style detailing, such as the pliers pocket on the left hip, and more widely-spaced stitching on the back pocket. It's a good wash, although to my mind now quite up to the level of some of the landmark LVC by the (mysteriously disappeared) Bart Sights. 

The 1874 Closed-Top Cotton Duck Jumper was one of the most historically-significant recent LVC repros; this is a similar one-pocket version, which IIRC was at one point repro'd by Levi's Japan. This version uses a Cone 2x1 9oz denim in a distinctive wash (if you can call a process that makes fabric dirtier a wash). Like the duck version, this will be a baggy fit, good for layering over other shirts. 

I'm not certain of this, but I believe there is a revision to the details of the raw 1966 501. On the left is the rinsed version, on the right is the raw. The raw had a new arcuate shape, not as shallow of the old one, which to my mind exaggerated the flatness of the original. 1960s arcuates did vary widely in shape, as the tooling used to make them was worn, hence we can't say there's on definitive shape, but I find this one more convincing than the previous version. It's this 1966 jean, of course, which features Cone's evocation of the original slubbier 60s denim, caused by the Magnadraft process. 

New Rinses

In addition, I'm told there's a new, simpler wash to replace the old Rough Rinse. Rough Rinse 501 used Cone fabric but were sewn in Turkey, and given a tinted wash. The new version, Rough Rinse, applies to the 1947 and 1954, and loses the tinted wash - which is a big improvement. 

Other nice items; a White Tag pants and 507 jacket (note the absence of rivets), in a paler Sky Blue denim, a late '60s (or early 70s) Laundry Bag (with oversized pocket) and, going rather further back in time, a Shield Front Henley.







I'm told that 2012 was a high watermark year for LVC, partly due to the James Bond effect; Daniel Craig wore a Menlo jacket in Skyfall, which caused a massive spike in sales (as did Bond's wearing a beautiful pair of Crocket and Jones Islay). It appears that only recently did a Levi's employee notice that one Menlo jacket in their archives is actually fully reversible. Hence this new version.

Now for more of my personal favourites, followed by a quick peek at the fall look.

Anyone who follows this blog will know that I'm intrigued by Levi's early cotton duck items. The very first riveted pants ever made by Jacob Davis were sewn from white duck; and recent research has brought new insights into the fabric used on early Levi's duck items - the wide selvage line suggests the fabric was probably made for ship sails.

Now it appears that Levi's and Cone have developed a new shade of the tan cotton duck, to try and provide a better match to some early samples (it is of course impossible to be completely definitive about fabric colours, due to the ageing process). There is a Youth's Waist Overall in the Levi's archive in a more brick-coloured tan; a second variant of this fabric, it appears, was in a more mustard shade. This is used in a new version of the Single Pocket Duck Waist overalls. Note that this pair feature a double stitched yoke (some early examples had only single stitching or, in some examples, no yoke whatsoever). Note the wide selvage, visible either side of the busted seam. These are very nicely-made items, sewn in LA I believe.







Secondly, we have two beautiful variants of the Triple Pleat Jacket I featured last year. This is one of the simplest, most attractive and indeed earliest Levi's jackets; I was hoping they'd introduce a duck version, and here we have it, in the new Cone fabric. The unadorned, low, riveted pockets give it a very different look from most other blouses; plainer, more utilitarian and to my mind, drop-dead gorgeous.

It's not as abounding in selvage lines as the Duck Jumper, but they're still a beautiful part of the detailing:

This second version was comparatively unexpected; a Triple Pleat in a lighter, indigo gingham. It's like  cross between a jacket and a shirt and would probably work best over a simple T. I'm wondering if this might be a Nihon Menpu gingham - I know they're worked on similar fabrics and supply some shirting fabrics to LVC - but whoever made it, it's unusual and, like the closed top shirt earlier, the wash complements the indigo-and-ecru fabric.

We know from Mike Harris's discoveries that workwear makers often used fabrics they had to hand, such as ticking, so there's historical precedents for this, and I'm told that there are indications Levi's produced early items in ginghams. So this is an interpretation of what might have been available. It's an extremely quirky item - and hence, like a couple of items here, it's possible it will only be stocked at Levi's own XX stores, like Cinch.


 



FInally, a sneak peek at the Fall range. The big news here will be the re-appearance of Orange Tab, all made in the USA.

Orange Tab items were priced slightly lower than the 501, and often came in more fashion-oriented cuts. They also tended to use Open End yarns - this gave a very different look. From the 90s onwards, Rin Ring yarns have become so popular that the Open End versions, once cheaper and hence more mass-market, are consequently becoming more esoteric. Open End yarns can give great fades - not necessarily worse than the classic 50s look, just different. The "new" fabric comes from Cone, and  I believe the new range will include, for men, the 606 Super Slim (Ramones jeans), 605 regular fit, and 607 bootleg. The women's jeans comprise a customised skinny 606, and a bell bottom 648.

The samples I saw are a brilliant evocation of the little e Levi's era, and they come at a time when the originals are prohibitively rare and pricey.

Shawl Thing

There was one lovely piece of workwear I only just restrained myself from buying at Ueno market; Buzz Rickson's Shawl Collar navy deck jacket. I figured that shawls are maybe too omnipresent at the moment. I think I was wrong...

When I trekked into town in mid December to pick up my scarily expensive Stones ticket, I saw David White of Ragtop had the real thing.

The wider stitching configuration alongside the buttons indicates that this jacket dates from the 1930s, David told me. The workmanship is beautifully plain; no chainstitch, flat seams, and that lovely 2 by 1 denim. This is the coastguard variation, with the appropriate buttons. Yours for less than the lady next to me paid for a Stones ticket.

The Twisted Truth: Leg Twist

Superfuture reader maxbit posted the following question: I just bought my first pair of vintage Levi's 501 jeans. They fit perfectly, with one caveat: The jeans seam twists on one side. So much so that the side sam is in the front at the bottom of the right side. I'm just curious what causes this and more importantly, are there any fixes?

Although maxit doesn't like the look, many do. 
AS the look of vintage jeans has become more prized, so has the phenomenon of leg twist - a property of older twill fabrics that was originally seen as a drawback or irritation. 

Pre -70s jeans suffer from Leg Twist, to differing degrees. Leg Twist is simply a natural adjustment of the fabric, which tends to follow the direction of the weave as the fabric moves or shrinks after washing. Stefano Aldighieri, who was Director of Fabric & Finishing at LS&Co. explains it thus: “Levi’s denim were mostly right hand twills; the twill line rises to the right. During the weaving process you basically ‘force’ the fabric to be straight, perpendicular to the selvage, but at the same time you give it this direction in the construction. You lay and cut the fabric; in the early days LS&Co. patterns were cut straight along the selvage. When you wash the garments, the fabric will try to follow the direction of the weave and will pull in that direction.... hence the twisted legs, the result of the movement of the fabric. Because Lee started to use left hand weave denims, their legs would twist the other way.” 

As Stefano points out, Leg Twist is much more noticeable on jeans than on other fabrics because of the construction, with the selvage edge used on the outseam. 

Leg Twist was eliminated in the 1970s by skewing (which contorts denim to its after-wash shape) - and later revived with Levi’s Red and Engineered twisted seams jeans!

What's intriguing abut Leg Twist is that is seems to vary so much between different examples of vintage jeans. I've seen it more often on early 1970s Levi's - although, of course, I've worn more original '70s Levi's and, sadly, only one original pair of '50s. Some vintage jeans have marginal leg twist, but on the odd example, you can have the seam on the left leg rotate so it's almost on the front of the jean. So what are the variables that would cause leg twist, some but not all of the time? I asked Ralph Tharpe, who oversaw the development of many of Cone's finest fabrics and now oversees the Artistic Fabric Mills in the US, what causes so much variation in leg twist. 

"That's a good question. I think partly it has to do with the type of seam that's sewn on the inside. I think the way the jean is sewn when the operator is sewing the jean, when she sews up the right leg and down the left, if she's pulling too hard coming down the left, then she's accentuating what the fabric want to do and making the skew worse. It can be really, really bad. 

"I also have another theory, which I've never been able to prove. When I started working at White Oak I was in the quality area, and we were grading loomstate denm. They had a defect they call long sides. Long sided means one side of the denim was stretching out or was longer than the other. Maybe this was something wrong with the loom, maybe the crank arms weren't adjusted exactly the same on both sides, so the pick is going in slightly at an angle. If that were the case, and again this is totally theory, than if that were the case the skew the fabric wants to move to would be really accentuated. On the other hand, if the pick is in the opposite direction it would be reducing the skew. Anyway - it's just a theory."

So, leg twist is a product both of fabric movement, and the garment construction. 

I didn't ask Ralph whether it's possible to alter jeans after they're sewn to eliminate the leg twist as, in practical terms, it's impossible. You just have to live with it, taking comfort from the fact it's a mark of cool, old jeans. 

When my LVC '47, both pairs, started showing heavy leg twist  after their first wash, I was pleased. But plenty of people will comment that I'm twisted already.

Wabi Sabi

I recently spotted this beautiful item, which exemplifies the occasional but startling resonances between Japanese and American fabrics.

It's a Sakabukuro; a persimmon-dyed canvas Sake bag, or bucket, which I spotted on the (intriguing) stall of Yosuke Fukudome. He thinks it probably dates from the 1920s or 30s. We chatted for some time about Wabi Sabi. His stall has lots of it. It was fascinating to see so many vintage Japanese fabrics, especially the canvas and other basket weaves, which were reminiscent of vintage American items.

Apologies for the brief post, and the time that's elapsed since the last one. I've been busy on a couple of bigger denim-related pieces I'll tell you about fairly soon.

Tokyo Denim Tour part 2: Harajuku and Ueno

My post on the Naka Meguro area was pretty comprehensive, as many of the shops are comparatively new. In contrast, most of the Harajuku and Ueno stores are pretty well-known, so this is more of a quick and dirty update.

Harajuku

Harajuku is well-established as a centre for youth (ish) fashion; it has a decent sprinkling of vintage stores, none of them earth-shattering. For me, the key destination was Full Count. Full Count were, with Evis, as they then were, one of the key companies in what we now call the Osaka Five. Before the rise of Evis and Full Count, Japanese denim was pretty well-established via two companies, Edwin and Studio A'Artisan. Meanwhile, Hidehiko Yamane and Mikiharu Tsujita worked for Lapine, a small store in Osaka, which imported vintage denim - together, they both speculated about producing vintage-style denim in Japan.Yamane was the first to do so, with his company Evis, which started volume production in 1992 - Tsujia followed a few months afterwards, with Full Count.

Although they're long-established, Full Count still seem modest in size, if we go by their Tokyo showroom. It's just off Harajuku Street; follow the main market street, which you can see from Harajuju, pass the KDDI Design Studio, and their shops is on the left, at the next junction. I've added it to my Tokyo denim map.

I 

I don't have too many photos, because I didn't do too much looking in this store. I was buying. In this case, a pair of Full Count 1108. I'll probably do an update on these later; along with the SDA 103XX, these represent the definitive, vintage style,  Japanese reinterpretation of 1947 Levi's. I love their subtlety, especially in terms of the pocket shape, and the stitching. The cut is great, too, again, very subtle. All their classic cuts are available in both raw and one wash - which is very handy for making sure your raw pair will shrink to the right size, of course. 

I saw these intriguing, 1920s-style prototypes in the shop, too. No idea if these are intended for volume production. I wasn't really supposed to photograph them, I was told afterwards - so I've left this tiny photo in to intrigue and frustrate you.










Full Count's washed items are terrific, too - they show, again, superb attention to detail. Full Count washed denim has the train tracks and crinkling at the seams  that are found on vintage Levi's but which remain very hard to mimic.

It's worth having a good, leisurely walk down Harajuku Street itself - a lot of interesting stores, although I got the feeling the halcyon days when it would take vintage buffs a day to peruse all the stores are long-gone. It looks as if OK & Emotional, which stocked a range of denim and was near the new Full Count location, is now closed.

Lee Concession, Laforet

This is tricky to find - unless you realise it's within the LaForet department store. A lovely little shop, with very helpful staff (who, like many others, ask you not to photograph but seem to wait until you've finished to do so). They feature the full range of Edwin-made repros, which at around 17,000 Yen are distinctly less expensive than many Japanese repros; you'll also find the Bluebell Wrangler repros, too.

What I especially liked was the selection of accessories, perfect for presents. I picked up a Hickory Stripe book cover, and a couple of aprons. The accessories are keenly-priced - unfortunately, they're made in China, which seems particularly ironic for items that are so distninctly branded with the "Union-Made" tag.



I was somewhat foxed in my attempts to find the Edwin showroom, just over the road. It's still there in Google Maps but in reality has disappeared. The Lee staff told me the shop has indeed closed, but that Edwin plan to open a new one.

Other nearby stores include Nudie (another concession within LaForet), Raw Drip (opposite side of the road from LaForet, with a decent selection of US brands including Rag & Bone, White's and LVC), and, a little further down, a large Levi's store, with a selection of LVC. (The main LVC location is at Aoyama, it's a beautiful store and is well-worth visiting).

In Shibuya proper, the 45RPM store is worth a look - there are several interesting shops in the same block. Sorry, the location for 45rpm on the map is a guess, as my iPhone battery died around this time.

Ueno Market

Ueno market needs little introduction - it's always been a key part of Tokyo culture. The two main stores, Hinoya and Americaya, are easy to find. The only trick is to look for the Shinobazu exit from the station (it's clearly marked). The stores are under the railroad tracks, at the end of that street to the right of Uniqlo. 

Hinoya

The first Hinoya stocks lots of Sugar Cane, Buzz Rickson (like the lovely shawl collar jacket, above), a good smattering of Mr Freedom (including older stock, but mostly washed), and of course their own brand, Burgus. Hinoya PlusOne is next door, and stocks Hawaiian shirts, Iron Hearts, some nice Heller's Cafe, including the H-094 early 1920s Repros, that took my eye...

Just a little further down are Hinoya PlusMart and Americaya.

Hinoya Plus sells some of the same items as its neighbour, plus more of the Burgus Plus Range. 

Immediately adjacent is Americaya. They have an excellent selection of Freewheelers/Union Special items including their lovely, albeit pricey, Wabash shirts. 

Note also these Toy's McCoys Lee Steve McQueen repros.

There are several others shops in this block selling interesting denim. The most notably one is probably Sun Dial - it's owned by the Hinoya people, I would guess, and features interesting items by Engineered Garment and Junya Watanabe, as well as more Burgus Plus Chinos. 

There are other great Tokyo stores I've left out. In time, I should be able to add these to the Google Map. Please feel free to email me with reminders, or locations. As mentioned before, I would have liked to visit the Kapital and Freewheelers stores. Maybe next time. 

Here's the map again - hopefully, you'll now find Full Count and others on there. 

View Naka Meguro, Daikanyama & Ebisu denim in a larger map