One Month of Denim - Day 20

I'm sick and tired of thinking about writing a post on denim on a daily basis, but as I promised, I will keep doing so, so it's just my good fortune, that we only have 10 days left.

- I'm kidding. I love writing about denim, and I hope it has helped some people out there. But I hope it hasn't made people believe that this blog is all about denim because that is not the case.

In the question the other day, I mentioned something called "Big E" in regards to vintage Levi's jeans. The red tab was introduced in 1936 as mean of identifying a genuine pair of Levi's jeans. Until 1971 one the red tab had LEVI'S written in all capital letters, and after that it was spelled Levi's. This was the end of an era for the most part.

Levi's decided to put the red tab on their jeans because they hadn't trademarked the arcuate on the back pocket by 1936, which meant a lot of competing companies were adding arcuates to their jeans. Wrangler and Lee even had an arcuate that looked VERY similar to the Levi's V-arcuate before they more or less settled on their W- and Lazy-S arcuate.

Levis arcuate (hand sewn) - pre 1936 

Wrangler jeans - 1940's

Lee jeans - 1940s

The arcuate is now conceived as the oldest clothing trademark. It was used by Levi's from the beginning basically, however it has been speculated that they weren't the first to employ it on the back pocket. Although they hadn't trademarked the arcuate by 1936, they did so in 1943.

Fun fact about the arcuate around that time (during the Second World War) is that it was painted on the jeans instead of it being stitched. This was done in an attempt to save on materials including thread.

Levis - painted arcuates - which would wear off in time leaving blank back pockets

In recent times Levi's sued a lot of Japanese denim brands because they used arcuates and red tabs that resembled the ones Levi's use. Read more about the lawsuit here and here on the great Swedish denim blog, Repeat to Fade, which unfortunately seems to be no more.

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 20

One Month of Denim - Day 18

"Ok, here's a question for you: I go to thrift stores a lot but tend to avoid the jeans section, I have trouble determining the age of a pair of Levi's for example. Can you share a few pointers on what to look for? The patch? The brand of the zipper? The rivets?"

I received this question from an anonymous reader, and I figured that it could be answered in an entirely new post. I'm very grateful for this question, so thank you very much and if I didn't answer your question in full, let me know and I'll try to add more information.

First of all, do not avoid the jeans section.

Secondly there are some give aways. Here are some in non particular order. 

1) Do the jeans have selvage? Turn the cuff - it's fast and effecient.

2) If they are Levi's jeans, does the red tab or orange tab on the back pocket spell LEVIS and not Levis. I'm refering to a thing known as "Big E", which was how LEVIS was spelled until 1971, when they changed the capital E to a small e.

3)Look for defunct jeans brands like Foremost (a JC Penney brand), Ranchcraft (Also a JC Penney brand), Key, Washington Dee Cee, Can't Bust 'em, Buckaroo by Big Smith, Roebucks - the list goes on and on.

4) If you are looking for zippers, the zippers you should be looking for are Talon (especially Talon 42), Scovill, Ideal, Gripper Zipper. 

This post may be of some help

5) Knowing this timeline from Levi's is good when you need to date jeans. Just look at the differences in arcuates (the iconic stitching on the back pockets) for instance.

This post may be of some help. And if you need some help, I'll gladly give some in depth explanations to understanding it. But please remember that there can be variations depending on the factory used even back then.

Finally I would recommend you look on the inside tags. If they are "made in USA", they are vintage and probably a lot more interesting than most new Levi's jeans. But try them on, so you don't end up in a pair of boot cut jeans - unless you are rocking a full "Freaks&Geeks" attire....

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 18