This is an iconic year for 501, for by now the jeans have all the modern features: red tab, five pockets and belt loops: the suspender buttons, cinch, and crotch rivet have gone forever. The jeans still have a leather 2-horse patch, and the red tab is single-sided, ie it has the word LEVI'S printed on one side only.
These jeans were a slimmer fit than prewar models, and on LVC reissues these are made slightly undersized, emphasising the slimmer profile. The 1947 jeans probably were slimmer than their predecessors, but LVC's peculiar sizing exaggerates the difference. I guess they do this to reflect the way people actually wore their jeans at the time, ie it was fashionable for bikers to downsize their jeans in the late 40s.
Although often touted as antifit, the 1947 jeans are more fitted than both the 40s and 50s jeans. Fabric is red-line, and on the raw jeans the fabric is still supplied by Cone Mills. Note also the new arcuate design, sewn with a double-needle machine and a different jig, it's more symmetrical, with a small diamond in the stitching at the bottom apex of the arcuate. The stitching on LVC 1947 jeans is a darker, more copper color.
Features:
Pockets: 5, modern shape, smaller than, say, the 1937 jeans.
Rivets: Read " LS&Co SF"
Belt Patch: 2 horse patch in leather, size printed on, model number reads 501XX in a sanserif font.
Arcuates: double stitched with diamond, modern shape.
Cut of LVC version: These are the slimmest LVC jeans, with a straight leg, slightly anti-fit bum and narrow thighs. ( The 1966 version is the next slimmest, and being slightly tapered with broader thighs is better suited to downsizing). Denim weight of the repros, as per the originals, is 12.5 oz - this equates to roughly 14oz once washed.
Sizing: Pre 2009 1947 jeans are made slightly undersized: a 34W might actually measure 33. This will shrink to around 31, before stretching back to 32. But remember, the thighs etc will not stretch as much, so these will still be a fairly slim fit.
Jeans from the 2009 season, manufactured in a new factory with 4170 on the top buttin, are made slightly bigger; for these, size up by 1 inch for classic fit, buy your actual waist size for a slim fit.
Note these jeans feature heavy leg twist. This either means (a) the owner has had an unfortunate industrial accident or (b), as the fabric shrinks on unsanforized it tends to follow the direction of the weave - Levi's twist to the right, Lee jeans, with their left-hand weave, twist to the left. Why do some Levi's twist more than others? I don't know. Levi's lifted the idea for their Engineered range, though, and other manufacturers like Michiko Koshino, Teddy Smith and True Religion lifted it from them...
Note the diamond shape in the bottom of the arcuates, which are now being sown on a specially made jig. On Levi’s jeans up to 1953 or thereabouts, the red tag is single sided (ie it says LEVi’S on one side only). Original jeans don’t carry the ® symbol; LVC versions do.
A one-wash pair against a new pair, both made in 2006. As mentioned, a 34W 1947 501 will actually measure 33; so down-size at your peril. Quite a few people have sized up by one-inch, soaked and then dried while wearing them, and been fine.
More 1947 (search thru the thread to see the jeans above at 6 and 9 months)
501 model guide • 1880 Nevada • 1880 XX • ‘First Blue Jean’ • 1890 • 1901 • 1915 • 1922 201 • 1933 • 1937 • 1944 • 1947 • 1955 • 1966 • 1978 •