IF you’re still calling your blue jeans maong, you were probably a teenager in the 1980s and 1990s and if you were, you’d know that the coolest jeans then were the Levi’s 501. You’d know a fashion item is a classic when they’re still cool now, and the 501 is as cool in 2022 as it was in the 1990s.
The 1990s silhouette of loose and relaxed jeans is the anchor of the new Levi’s 501 campaign, dubbed “The Number That Changed Everything.”
The Levi’s 501 1990s jean is a more relaxed fit through the seat and leg, looser and even a little slouchier, capturing just right amount of attitude to channel the perfect 1990s vibe.
Featured in the campaign—and showing off the versatile style of the Original 501 and the 501 1990s—are hip-hop innovator, actor, and producer Kid Cudi; artist, designer and cultural arbiter Tremaine Emory; sonic innovator and founding member of legendary Beastie Boys Mike D; fashion icon Nathan Westling; model, creative director and style innovator Gia Seo; stylist, sartorial taste-maker and first Black woman to style a Vogue magazine cover Gabriella Karefa-Johnson; and model, musician and member of the punk band The Paranoyds Staz Lindes.
The campaign kicks off the 150th anniversary celebration of the Classic 501 next year.
In May of 1873, Levi Strauss & Co. was officially granted a patent for the copper rivets on their blue denim “waist overalls.” Though it wouldn’t acquire its famous lot number for another few years, the Levi’s 501, the blueprint for the denim blue jean, was officially born.
By the middle of the 20th century, the blue jeans would become one of the most iconic pieces of clothing ever made.
Every generation has worn 501s. As a teenager, I swiped my dad’s old 501, a faded blue pair, and wore them throughout the 1990s until I could afford to buy my own. The Levi’s 501s I bought in the 1990s are still kept at home. I honestly don’t know if there are zippered 501s but mine have always had buttons for closures.
For the new campaign, the brand recreated a vintage aesthetic, simulating the fit of a trouser lived evoking both the grunge mood of those years and the style of skaters, who wore oversized trousers because they were easier to train in.
Levi’s has also launched a green version of the 501 Original jeans, made with organic cotton and post-consumer recycled denim. The jean is designed to be recyclable and use far fewer natural resources and fewer chemicals to produce.
Last year, I got to interview Paul Dillinger, vice president for global product innovations at Levi’s, and he said the company was moving toward sustainability.
Part of the journey is the launch of a multi-platform global campaign, titled “Buy Better, Wear Longer,” which focuses on creating quality clothing that lasts for generations by employing sustainable production practices and investing in alternative materials and technology. The campaign also urges consumers to be mindful about their purchases and, hopefully, even in the way they care for their clothing.
In the long term, Dillinger said Levi’s is focusing on four key issue areas: water, climate, chemicals and people, leading to the development of its 2025 Water Action Strategy, its science-based targets on climate, Screened Chemistry and other efforts to keep hazardous chemicals out of the supply chain, and its worker wellbeing program.
“If you know that you can make your products more responsibly, where it is cleaner, it saves more water, it reduces carbon impact. If you know it can be done and you don’t do it, there is such a thing as business ethics and morality,” said Dillinger.
About 76 percent of all Levi Strauss & Co. products and 70 percent of all Levi’s bottoms and trucker jackets are made using water technology that follows certain water recycling regulations. These regulations have saved more than 4 billion liters of water and recycled nearly 10 billion liters of water since its implementation in 2014.
“We’re finding ways at creating our products by using fresh water,” said Dillinger.