Most of you probably won't remember the incredible blog post I wrote, back in 2013, about my first pair of Levi's Vintage Clothing 1967 505 jeans. We all know sequels are never quite as good as the original so if you’re interested in reading that post click here to hit 88mph in the Oi Polloi DeLorean.
In summary, I basically proclaimed that these Levi’s were the best thing ever. Whilst wearing them almost every day, I moved to Canada, climbed a mountain and encountered wild Grizzlies, toured both coasts of the USA and… erm… sat at a computer writing Oi Polloi product descriptions.
Well, here I am telling you again, they are in fact still the best thing ever.
In that 2013 blog post I said “I think when you buy raw denim, you can never be exactly sure if they’re completely right for you until you wear enough that they bed in.” I stand by that, but one thing I didn’t mention is that you can never be exactly sure what the jeans you are buying will become and with raw denim you’re getting an ever changing item of clothing.
It has almost been five years since I bought this pair of Levi’s Vintage Clothing 1967 505 jeans and they’ve changed drastically, even since that blog post in 2013.
Since then my jeans have continued to fade with wear. I generally put my keys in my back pocket and finally the denim gave way leaving a pretty big hole in the back pocket. For at least a year my belt wouldn’t tighten small enough and I was constantly pulling my jeans up from the back, eventually the yoke gave way (the yoke is that seam that runs along the back between the waistband and back pockets – but of course, you knew that). One morning after getting up late for work and getting dressed in a hurry, I managed to put my foot through the left knee – tearing a massive hole in the denim. The little ‘coin pocket’? Well thats a whole new pocket and only about a year old.
Now, this may not actually be the best advertisement for the hard-wearing nature of Levi’s Cone Mills denim, but this isn’t the point. Various stitches, repairs and patch-ups actually only makes these jeans even more important to me. They’ve become truly unique and now will fully remind me of the second half of my 20s.
I currently have three pairs on the go - at three stages of wear. It’s almost like a timeline…
Five years later and I’m still not ready to retire them.
Next update in 2018…