For 150+ years, the Levi’s 501 has captivated us. A deceptively simple and hardy garment that clothed everyone from criminals to movie stars – and made them all look sexy as hell. Somehow despite changing styles, social mores, and steadily declining quality – this famous pair of jeans has managed to cling to relevancy.
Now, with a company that flatly refuses to manufacture their product with integrity or care – customers must dip into the vintage well to experience the quality garments their parents and grandparents wore – but now at a premium.
Even in the last five years, it’s grown harder and harder to get a good deal… so what’s the solution? I think it might be learning a little more about the 501’s less-loved (and usually cheaper) younger brother: the 505.
From Workwear to Fashion
By the 1960s, the Levi’s brand was a household name. It was a hard-won victory that people across the United States (and in places as far as Japan and East Germany) were now considering Levi’s as their first choice when shopping for pants.
In an era before the internet, it was quite a feat that a San Francisco brand was able to slowly disseminate its wares across our massive country – and into territories dominated by local workwear brands. Levi’s on the backsides of Hollywood hunks helped spread the word a great deal – as did GIs buying Levi’s on army bases during WWII, wearing them at home and abroad.
More economically powerful than ever before – and with a burgeoning youth market, the U.S. was transitioning to a modern consumer economy – suddenly you could have more than one pair of pants. Folks were starting to shop with style in mind and Levi’s wanted to get involved. The titan of workwear was going to have to get fashionable.
501 too sexy?
People were spending more money, but the country was swinging more conservative. Levi’s proximity to badass bikers, jaded veterans, and working women was alienating new consumers – so much so, that Levi’s were being banned in schools. To fight back, Levi’s began their “Right For School” campaign, a far cry from their cool cowboy advertisements. The campaign showed happy, well-behaved white boys (the girls were wearing dresses, obviously) wearing trim Levi’s with loafers – “good” kids wear ‘em!
Levi’s had to address this public consternation with their flagship product, while at the same time making something customers newer to their world could understand. Consumers on the East Coast, who were later to the Levi’s party, were sometimes confused by Levi’s 501s. Probably used to pre-shrunk, zip-fly Lee Jeans, the whole shrink-to-fit thing was just as confusing to them as it is to many of us in modern times. And a button fly?! They were not into it.
In 1967, the 505 was released to help quell some of these concerns and cater to a new, younger customer base. Abortive versions of the 501 with zipper flies had been released as early as the mid-50s, but a shrink-to-fit garment doesn’t work super well with a zipper.
By the release of the 505, the culture was changing once again. The 60s were in full swing – and the heart of the youth movement was in San Francisco. The Levi’s ads of this era were the first time the company used the word “jeans.” It was a big shift for the company that began producing cuts and colors that simply had no utility for the working customer – these were undeniably fashionable.
Cool (For A While)
The slimmer, slightly watered-down 501: the 505, soon found its footing. A far cry from the earnest teens of the “Right For School” ads, folks like The Ramones and Debbie Harry took to the pre-shrunk jeans enthusiastically. The bulge on the cover of Sticky Fingers is barely contained by the 505’s signature zip-fly. But this is where the conventional 505 story pretty much ends… what happened between then and now?
The mood-boards and pseudo-historians online really only focus on the 501. It’s an easier story: an anachronistic style in the modern world, not like the 505 – a garment that gave into consumer pressure and doesn’t quite have the same sex appeal.
505s Get Wider
Remember that from 1967, up into the Ramones era, the 505 was slim. If you come across an LVC reproduction of the 505, you will scarcely fit into it. Starting in the 80s, the 505 slowly became a more relaxed fit. A 1989 ad, screen-capped below, shows a construction worker, in a snug but straight leg, gazing over the New York City skyline.
Despite the paucity of remaining 505 ads and inspiration pics, one gets the sense the new “Regular Fit” was being pitted against the sexed-up 501. (There are some pretty raunchy 501 ads from this era.) The jean designed to appease a new generation’s need for “cooler” clothes was maybe too prescriptive and phony. Released too late for the 50s, too early for the hippies to care, and with only a brief period of relevance in the New York music scene of the 70s.
Whatever the case, the 505’s lack of historical popularity is now its greatest asset. It may never have had the evocative, straining button-fly at the crotch (and all that suggests), but it has a similar look (typically with a larger thigh measurement) and, on the vintage market, a slightly lower price. Because the 505 has so struggled to find its own identity, you will find some dramatically varied options on the market, but if you have faith (and a measuring tape) you can find the perfect pair.
As always, don’t buy unless you see a “Made in USA” tag, usually at the back of the inside waistband. I’ve also been instructed by experts to look for orange tab 505s and ones where the “505” is printed in red ink on the back tag. Happy hunting.
