Levi’s is on a roll these days, issuing killer collabs and covetable in-line fare with equal aplomb. Levi’s latest masterpiece is a set of strikingly attractive jeans from its Made in Japan line, with a few pairs taking the theme in a brave (and welcome) new direction.
Three classic cuts are on hand: the archetypal Levi’s 501,slightly looser 505, and slimmer 511, each boasting a distinctive wash (everything from dark rawness to a well-faded indigo) and, in one case, a tasteful patchwork pattern.
Accompanied by a matching trucker jacket, one pair of Levi’s wears a layered arrow pattern created through patched denim panels, an unusual adventurous look for Levi’s typically low-key Made in Japan collection.
Regardless, all of the goods in this line are made of denim sourced from Hiroshima’s inimitable Kaihara denim mill, where the vast majority of the world’s selvedge denim is born.
Only ancient looms, like the ones used by Kaihara and other Japanese mills in places like Okayama, are capable of slowly weaving cotton with a finished selvedge hem. Or, at least, only those historic machines (and their modern reproductions) can create selvedge denim to the proper level of quality one would expect of Japanese jeans.
Selvedge denim also typically costs a pretty penny when it’s done right, which is why Levi’s only rarely produces Japanese denim jeans these days.
Indeed, it’s a proper event whenever Levi’s goes back to its roots with some classic Japanese denim, which it typically only does a couple times a year (or when reissuing coveted made-to-spec 501s).
Not that Levi’s rests on its denim laurels in between making limited edition Japanese jeans: just recently, Levi’s partnered with Studio Ghibli on a Princess Mononoke-themed collection and dished a delicious denim clog with Crocs, which boasted similarly Japanese-leaning design inspiration.
