I feel like there have been two types of menswear guys in quarantine – the sartorial guys who have downgraded from sportcoats and trousers to denim and sweaters, and everybody else who has been wearing nothing but sweatpants for the past year (the folks who are still wearing tailored clothing “just because”….well, I don’t know what to say about that). While my loungewear consumption has definitely gone up, I still find myself wearing a lot of denim – even moreso as my lifestyle slowly creeps back to a bit of normalcy.
A bit over a year ago I got two pairs of Levi’s “premium” denim – essentially their mainline product – in their 501 cut, simply because I needed some jeans in a pinch and didn’t want to go through the song and dance of laboring over which $200+ pair to get and hoping they broke in as expected. I’ve worn both pairs extensively and have decided that the 501 is, in fact, good (I may have been the last living person to learn this). Here are my thoughts overall and why I am thoroughly enjoying these ~$60 jeans:
First, about the cut. The 501 is the quintessential jean, the most famous cut in denim history. Even as such, it has undergone many iterations (one only needs to browse the LVC catalog to see that). I have no doubt that these have been updated to reflect current trends (mainly, slimmer than most historical 501s), but the overall silhouette is very reminiscent of its namesake. As far as sizing goes, I am usually a 30 or 31 waist and went wither a 30 here. It was comfortable from the beginning, so I would stay true-to-size or go down if you are in-between.
While the 501 cut as a whole is certainly an enduring classic, I think many men are afraid of it because the leg is wider than what some are used to in this waning era of slim pants. Personally, I would not describe these as a loose cut – I found them to be very flattering and still plenty trim. I am wearing a 30×30 here so that’s part of it, but even as such I wouldn’t describe the 501 as roomy at all. My pair has a 7.5″ leg opening, which I think is an excellent “slim straight” shape for my waist size. For guys that pinch every bit of fabric that isn’t clinging to the body and declare it as “extra fabric,” the 501s will seem big. But from a broader perspective, these jeans are well-proportioned. Overall it reminds me of the popular 3Sixteen SL-100 cut, which I’m sure was at least partially based on a 501-style pair.
Aside from the approachable leg profile, though, the main thing that attracted me to this model is the rise – it’s basically the only non-low rise option in the Levi’s mainline catalog. Unlike the women’s catalog, which spans a wide variety of fits, the men’s denim still caters mostly to the slim and skinny crowd. The mid-rise and button fly make this stand out immediately from the rest of the hip huggers, a style that I have no patience for.
The material isn’t much to talk about, as it’s a fairly flat 12ish ounce denim. There’s no selvedge to speak of here – these are mass produced pants, with probably hundreds of thousands of pairs made every year. While there are plenty of washes and fabrics to choose from, these are not made of denim that has any special features to note.
I got the “dark wash,” which is exactly what my denim preference is – washed, but not distressed or faded. The older I get, the less I see the point of raw denim – the benefits of “molding to your body” and “sick fades” seem to be present whether the product is unwashed or washed once. I have had several pairs of once-washed denim that fades just as well as rigid pairs, and with the added bonus of being comfortable from the get-go and taking the guesswork out of shrinkage. This pair is no different, and fade marks appeared over time. They aren’t impressive, but that’s more due to the fabric than the fact that they are washed (and it’s not why anybody is buying a $60 pair of Levi’s, anyway).
The MSRP of 501s vary a bit, generally between $60 and $90. The pair I got retails for $89.50, though there is also this pair that’s $20 less. The only difference I can see is that one is “Premium” and one is not – and Levi’s does such a poor job of explaining what “Premium” is that I honestly have no idea what it means. I’m quite happy with my Premium pair, but I imaging any differences in the two aren’t particularly significant.
Regardless of MSRP, getting them on sale is easy. You can get 20% off any time by signing up for their email list, and sitewide sales are common. But at that point, we’re talking about a difference of maybe $10 at most if you wait for a big sale – if you’re curious to try it out, I would just grab that signup code and pull the trigger.
Finding that perfect pair of high-end raw denim and breaking it in over months and years is something of a menswear rite of passage, one that’s probably worth experiencing at least once. But there can still be plenty of satisfaction with a exceedingly average product that just gets the job done well. This is one of those products – not fussy or fancy, but very good at what it does. The 501 is a good reminder that a product doesn’t have to be expensive to be great, and that sometimes the best option is the one that’s easiest.
