The Levi’s 501, Explained: Celebrating 150 Years of the Perfect Jeans
Sadly, time travel is still not a reality for us in 2023. But the next best thing, Levi’s 501 jeans, are available at Glue Store. Living countless lives though the late 1800s as a gold miner’s trusty work pants, the 1930s as a cowboy’s favourite cuffed jeans, the 1960s as an English Mod rioting in Brighton with the Rockers, the 70s as the preferred pants of punks, the 80s as the hottest black-market item in the Soviet Union, and the 90s on the pins of a supermodel. Wearing 501s allow you to evoke any of these time periods or a new one of your own creation.
Challenging the space-time continuum, Levi’s have continued to prosper well into 2023 and isn’t set to leave our wish list any time soon. 150 years on, Glue Store is celebrating more than a century of culture-changing moves by this iconic brand.
Early Beginnings & Struggles
The 501 jeans were born as a sturdy workwear alternative to regular drill pants, with copper rivets to reinforce points of wear. Patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in 1873, the beginning of looking good was born. However, by the turn of the century, the brand saw a dip in sales and struggled to reclaim their universal appeal. In 1925, Levi Strauss’ nephews, the Stern brothers, added some fashionable updates to the jeans such as belt loops, and reset the brand to the heights of success.
Howdy Pardner
In the 1930s, Western films took off, and so did Americana western workwear. Not their first rodeo, Levi’s had already been embraced by real life cowboys but the romance of sweeping sand dunes and rugged outlaws tapped into the popular imagination. John Wayne wore a pair of cuffed 501 Originals in his film, Stagecoach, lending the jeans not only the gentle distressing of the wild west’s golden sands, but the shimmer of Hollywood glamour as well.
Did Marlon Brando invent counterculture? Maybe not, but he certainly lent definition to the concept on the big screen. Appearing in the 1953 film, The Wild One, Brando went down in history as the actor’s actor, and immortalised the rebellious appeal of a leather jacket and Levi’s 501's.
The Kids Want 501s!
From the 1960s onwards, the 501 became the canvas on which subcultures built their visual identities. They were worn to Woodstock music festival and could be spotted throughout some of the most high-profile protest movements of the day, including the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War protests. Worn on the cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album by the man himself, it seemed no one was left untouched by the 501. As they had come to represent rebellion and counterculture, blue jeans were often banned from schools, which of course, only made the kids want them even more.
During the Cold War, people in the Soviet Union could not get access to jeans as trade between communist and non-communist states was shut down. Moreover, the Soviet Union discouraged interest in Western trends and ideas. A black market for American jeans burgeoned with American tourists selling their jeans at a greatly inflated price.
But it was worth it. Pop sensation, Kate Bush wore hers torn, as did grunge legend Kim Gordon. Run DMC and NWA set the standard hip hop aesthetic with a dark and crisp denim. Later, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs would wear them as well as bikies in Oakland, Chicanos in LA, and Bobos in Paris.
Go for another 150 years?
Named by Time magazine in 1999 as the “fashion item of the 20th century,” Levi’s have continued to make a case for simple, timeless denim well into the new millennium. With such a varied and vibrant history, who’s to say what more the 501s will come to symbolise in the next 150 years? The time machine can take us back, but only we can go forward. So don your pair of 501’s and venture forth into your own story.
