How much are your pants worth?

[stevej37]

$87,000? I'd sell mine for half that.

https://news.yahoo.com/levi-jeans-1800s-found-abandoned-132251441.html

[masraum]

Wow!

That's even more than dragon azz jeans! Tabby is going to have to step up his game.

The good news is that after 100+ years, the lice, crabs, and whatever else the PO had are probably long gone!

[GH85Carrera]

Long ago shortly after I bought my first house in the early 1980s, I was cleaning up the back yard. Mowing, and removing dead bushes. I needed more gasoline, so I went to the gas station and realized I was hungry and decided to get a burger at the fast food place next door.

I was wearing an old worn out pair of jeans, both knees had holes, and they were my yard work and work on the car jeans. Some guy with a very thick accent came over to me and asked where I bought my jeans. They were old, and I truly had no idea where I had bought them, and I was puzzled why he cared where I got them. They were old 501 jeans available everywhere.

I hated 501 button fly jeans, but in the 1970s every single pair of jeans with a zipper had the stupid bell bottoms or even worse elephant legs. Only the 501s were the same old jeans. I was really happy when bell bottoms went away, and the 501s became yard work clothes. Screw the stylists and fashion designers, I hated the 1970s styles, well except for the mini-skirts the women wore!

Anyone that has really needed to use the bathroom has done the "I hate button fly jeans" dance.

Anyway, I told the guy I bought them new and in perfect shape, and I wore them out in honest hard work. I have walked through the mall (shudder) and glanced at the jeans for sale. All of them are beat up, and they even sold some with blobs of paint on them to look like a sloppy painter wore them. I do not understand buying new jeans that are pre-worn out. Just insane. Get off my lawn!

[aschen]

($19.99 X 1.08tax) * .98 (2% cash back)

Vintage denim collecting: everybody has their kink I suppose

[A930Rocket]

I read the article and was surprised that the jeans were there for 100+ years without anyone taking them. Maybe someone did look and say, eww?

In my teens (early 70s) I wore my jeans out to the point, those old ones look great in comparison.

[VINMAN]

I'll stick with my daily wear $19.99 Wranglers.. I go through them pretty quick. I do have a few higher price "dress jeans" for going out.

My wife's the one with the $100+ plus jeans.

.

[stevej37]

A couple things that surprised me from the article...
How clear the inner label was with the Levi logo and info

And this from the article...
"The inside label reads: “The only kind made by white labor,” which dates the pair to the late 1800s, in reference to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbid Chinese workers from the US. The slogan was dropped in the 1890s, said The Wall Street Journal."

[jcwade]

Depends on whether I'm in them or not.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

I'll stick with my daily wear $19.99 Wranglers.. I go through them pretty quick. I do have a few higher price "dress jeans" for going out.

My wife's the one with the $100+ plus jeans.

.

For most of my life I bought Levis. I've often had 1 pair of 501s, but most often, I'd end up with some of the other models (they usually seem to have 10-20 different types, 505, 508, 581, etc...). A few years back, my wife bought me some more expensive jeans, they are very nice, I mostly wore those to work or to restaurants. When we moved to the country, two of the local hardware stores had CHEAP jeans, so I thought, I'll give those a shot for wearing while working in the yard. I tried the wranglers. I don't like the fit. Then I tried what I think are "Key" brand and they were, I think either $12.99 or $15.99. They are fantastic. They don't have rivets, but then I don't need rivets, but otherwise they remind me of old school Levis. The fit well and are comfortable and are durable and are cheap. I've got a couple pairs.

[cassisrot]

In my long enlivening life I don’t think I ever wondered how much my pants were worth.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by cassisrot

In my long enlivening life I don’t think I ever wondered how much my pants were worth.

Then you've never REALLY lived!

[Arizona_928]

only worth that much bc they're made in America by whites...

[masraum]

Originally Posted by Arizona_928

only worth that much bc they're made in America by whites...

FIFY

But wow, that's quite a piece of history on so many levels, not only for being old Levis which are as American as apple pie, but also for the other bit that displays a bit of history.

There are probably people that think they should be burned for that text.

[mjohnson]

That those jeans were bought by someone in San Diego is interesting - I thought that the Japanese collectors were the ones that were outbidding and hoovering up all of this very old vintage stuff.

And here I thought I had "vintage" 501s when I noted that they still said "Made in the USA". From 1995 or so I think. And BTW a 1995 32x32 is not a 2022 32x32 in a similar way that mrs mjohnson is a size 8 or 10 in the fancy section of Nordstrom yet somehow a 0 or 2 at Banana Republic.

Me, I've moved on from Levis as their fits got really inconsistent and the denim quality went quickly downhill in the last 20-30y. Yes, they're a splurge, but Naked and Famous is proper Japanese fabric woven on pre-war US looms (so it's very "interesting" with old school character) and have no Chinese slave/Uyghur cotton content, then they're built by happy Canadians up there in Canadia. I'm a desk jockey but even with that use they last at least 3x as long as Levis and they have slim fits that work for normal skinny-ish guys that don't want to look like hipsters.

[Tobra]

Depends on whether or not I am in them.

Those are old, they quit with the rivet below the button fly forever ago. Apparently it would get really hot if you were sitting cross legged in front of a campfire.

[VINMAN]

I buy my wranglers from Target usually. One thing I noticed is the lack of consistency in fit and material each time I buy a pair. I guess when they are cheap that will happen.
My more expensive ones always fit better.

.

[herr_oberst]

^
That sizzling sound you hear is my gonads when I get too close to the fire...

Interesting construction. The jeans still have the little change pocket but no belt loops, just buttons for suspenders - and it appears that one of the buttons pulled out and got re-set. I guess without that flaw, they would have made it up to 100,000.

[Bill Douglas]

Mine look like that in no time. Maybe a new career for me.

[dw1]

Not to get PARFy about it, but the tag on these include something of historical significance, something that the company recently made a statement about, saying something like: "We always strive to be an inclusive company, but sometimes in our history we didn't always succeed."

The inside label reads: “The only kind made by white labor,” which dates the pair to the late 1800s, in reference to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which forbid Chinese workers from the US. The slogan was dropped in the 1890s, said The Wall Street Journal.

[stevej37]

If I were buying Levi's in 1890 for working in a mine....I would have surely bought lined jeans for knee comfort.
Maybe they didn't make them at that time, but I love mine. Warm and super comfortable.