Better late than never, not quite pit-worthy, but this thread got me searching for information on why they changed the cut of 501’s to the new floppy-whitebread-rapper one of today. Were they hoping for a lot of bitching and free publicity as was the case for New Coke?
No I’m not dreaming this, and no, my ass hasn’t changed: I still have old pairs that fit my muscular gluteus maximus perfectly. (Please, let’s not get sidetracked here.) I’ve been wearing pale blue 501’s (even harder to find!) for a long time and they sort of became my basic “look”, but now I can’t find any new ones, and some of my old ones are making the seamstress who patches them up roll her eyes.
And since this is not the pit: Shame on you Levi’s, you are not smart businesspersons! Nibble me!
I last bought 501’s about a year ago, or maybe a little less, and they still seem to fit the old way. I have a couple of 505’s too, which I bought a little later, and they seemed to be a bit roomier, even though they’re supposed to be cut the same.
And here I thought I was imagining it…tried on a new pair a couple of months ago and the damn waistline was so low they slid halfway down my ass when I sat down to put my shoes on!
I guess it’s zippers for me from now on. This wouldn’t happen if we’d all just wear kilts.
Does anyone know when this happened? I just looked at their website, and the 501’s looked the same as ever. 'Course, I’d never buy clothes from a website; I have to go to the store and try them on first.
That’s supposedly correct, but the 505 zippered ones seem to be a tad looser. Prob’ly it’s just due to the structural differences between the two types of fly.
I have never been able to wear 501’s off the rack because I am too petite (and used to be really skinny!).
Have you tried the Levi’s stores where they will measure you and then make you a pair of custom-fit Levi’s for about the same price as an off-the-rack pair? I haven’t tried it yet, but I might if I ever stop getting pregnant.
Aw, MAN, and I was just getting out of this suit-wearin’ job, too. 501’s were standard issue for me years ago 'cause I think that a man who can’t button his fly maybe needs to sober up. It’s the deliberacy of the thing.
I guess i’ll just in fact start wearing my kilt more.
I agree. This problem goes way beyond Levi’s 501s/505s.
I recently tried on some black Bass jeans. FTR, I have an athletic V-build and when I tried on the 32-inch jeans, the waist was loose, yes, but the room for my rear and hips was ENORMOUS. And these were their CLASSIC fit jeans!
As Americans get supersized, the retailers are compensating by screwing with the sizing of their merchandise. Clothes get larger but the sizes stay the same, all to preserve our illusions of being svelt. This trend started with women’s dresses and shoes, and has now moved on to plain-old jeans.
When did this change happen? I’ve got some 3-4 year old 501s and some I bought just last week. But I can’t really compare them directly since I went from a 34 to 36 waist with these.
My jeans rant - why can’t stores stock my size more? I went to a big Macys in SF that had a large Levis department and found exactly 2 pair in 36 length. Big & Tall shops are useless since they cater for big AND tall, not big OR tall. Waist sizes at these places start at around 48 and go up from there!
Shirt sizing is a problem as well, though not exactly in the same way. I’m talking about tees and polos, pretty much any pullover type shirt. I don’t see the same problems with dress shirts. FTR I’m about 5’9" and in pretty good shape–no real belly or anything like that. Anyway, I’ve bought “medium” shirts that I could hardly get into, and elsewhere I’ve bought “medium” polos whose sleeves went past my elbows and whose hems nearly reached my knees. I mean, do people really wear shirts like that? It’s too long to tuck in; outside the pants it looks like a nightshirt.
Actually, now that I come to think of it, there’s always been a lot of variation within a given size, with 501’s. I usually have to try on at least a couple of pairs before I get one that fits the way I like. When I was a narrow 31/32 I’d go for the tighter pairs; now that I’m perceptibly wider but can still get away with 31/32, I go for the slightly roomier ones.
Sad but true: Levi’s are bound to change one way or another: they were the last jeans made in the US (still are, AFAIK) but the margins were slowly crushing them. Other fashion jeans companies use foreign labor at considerably less than what Levi’s pays US workers, and then turn around and sells many of these jeans for considerably more than what Levi’s are usually priced. - MC
Though from what I’ve seen, their offshore factories are maintaining the same quality standards. At this very moment I’ve got on one of the two pairs of 501’s I mentioned above;
it’s labelled “Made In Turkey”, yet seems to be absolutely fine. This is in marked contrast to when Guess went offshore (well, actually, south of the border). I still have a few pairs of those, some bought down in Ensenada, some bought here. Without exception, the fifth pocket (i.e., the coin or watch pocket) is way too small for the garment. They look like they were intended for children’s jeans. When I’d had enough of this shoddy workmanship, I went back to Levi’s.
Since reading this thread, I’ve been noticing this on new pairs of 501’s that I see people wearing. They all seem to have that “teenager cut”, like Gap khakis. Worse, I’ve seen a couple of pairs on women and they don’t look nearly as good as the old ones. What a sad, heartbreaking thing!
I was going to mention in the long “FAshions you hate” thread that I didn’t care for those new low-cut jeans on women. I know they’re supposed to be sexy, but they’re utterly unforgiving of the slightest imperfection of abdominal anatomy, which would probably result in a lot of women giving up jeans period. Furthermore, IMHO I think traditionally cut, fairly high waisted jeans look best on women because they accentuate the curves of the hip and butt region better. MMMMM…love those curves.
Hijacking my own thread: Do you think Joey Lauren Adams gets paid when she wears Levi’s in movies? She should! That’s worth the $8.50 right there. Let’s hear it for women in tight jeans…hip, hip…
