The first Levi’s 501 jean came out in 1873, even though the 501 name didn’t appear until 1890. That means 2023 marks 150 years — a fitting anniversary — since the blue jean’s grand debut. To celebrate, Levi’s is launching a limited-edition reproduction of the pair that changed everything: the 501 ’54, a nod to the year Levi’s ventured east, expanding from San Francisco and elsewhere in California to New York, the then-fashion capital of the world. (It still is, if you ask me.)
“The Levi’s 501 is really the modern template for what everyone thinks of as a blue jean. It started as this innovative riveted work pant, and then became this icon, with only minor tweaks over its 150 year history,” Karyn Hillman, Chief Product Officer at Levi Strauss & Co., says. “Today we have amazing 501 fits from a range of eras, like the 501 ‘93 and the new 501 ‘54. But through it all we’ve always stuck to the blueprint of the Original.”
And the new 501 ’54 definitely sticks to the blueprint, despite being slightly different in several ways. For one, the anniversary 501 ’54 has a button fly, not a zipper one like the jean that dropped in 1954, the 501z. (Z is for zipper.) The reversion to the button fly is a reference to Levi’s 501s as we know them now — with button fronts.
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Levi’sIt also has a higher rise with a noticeably slimmer, slightly tapered leg. The 501 Original is much more straight-fitting, with wider opening, too. The new fit is meant to mirror that of the 501 from ’54 they have in their archive. The washes are mostly original, though, and range from super faded to stark, dark and distressed.
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Levi’sLevi’s is adding a few easter egg anniversary details, too, like a 150th anniversary backpatch, a special Red Tab with “Levi’s” stitched on the front and “150” sewn onto the back, an special-edition woven anniversary label within, a stamp on the interior pocket back and another stamp on the inside of the shank buttons which reads “1873-2023” — an obvious nod to the anniversary, too.
