The archtypical, straight-leg Levi’s are the 501’s, with the
button fly, red tab, fifth pocket, and rivets. But in the 70’s, I always noticed that the flared jeans had the zipped fly, an orange tab, no fifth pocket, and no rivets. Also
they seemed to fit differently around the hips, and the shape of the back pockets was different, though it’s hard to
verbalize it.
So does anyone know why L.S.& Co didn’t just design flared jeans based on the 501 model…i.e. why didn’t they keep
the rivets, red tab, etc., and just flare out the legs? Did they test market such a product and it failed?
Thinking back on it, I think at that time some of us thought that straight legged jeans were too ‘square’, or cowboyish, but is that what L.S. thought, too?
P.S. I owned nothing but flares in those days…can’t believe it!
You want the “why?” of the whole fashion industry in 25 words or less? Can’t be done, son.
My advice to you is not to think about it too much, you’ll make yourself crazy. (Especially try not to think too hard about the 60s bellbottoms you threw out in 1974, and should have kept 'cause now they’re collectible) :rolleyes:
Who knew? [shrug]
Levi Strauss is one of the great users of focus groups and surveys. They are desperate to preserve their kingdom, and test everything.
They invented Dockers when they felt the end coming for jeans, and it got them over a lull in that market.
They also felt correctly that brand loyalty would carry their teen customers into the workaday world.
Based on the comments above, then I’d assume they must have conducted focus groups and so on, back around 1967-68, before they introduced their flared jeans. I never quite understood the aesthetics involved, unless perhaps the participants suggested that they would prefer their bell bottoms not to have so many brand marks. And that might be the one thing which sums up all the variances between the bell bottoms and the 501s. The flares had only the back-pocket design, the orange label on the right, and the words “LEVI STRAUSS & CO” on the fly-button. The 501s have
all that, plus the rivets (each one marked LS&CO), the leather patch (also brand marked), and the leather patch which I forgot to mention in my OP.