On the 31st of December 2017, the denim industry took a gut punch! The iconic Cone Mills White Oak plant that had produced the quality selvedge denim for Levi’s since 1913 closed its doors. Forever. 

This marked an end to an era. At this point, there are no producers of selvedge denim in the United States. Truly “Made in the USA” jeans have now (at least at this point) been consigned to the annals of the denim history.

Now what?!?

It left a lot of our favourite brands scratching their head. Just where would they turn for their denim? But it must be Levi’s, the Levis’s Vintage Clothing division at least that faced the biggest scrutiny in this regard. They ARE denim history! And so much of this history is intertwined with the jeans being made in the US, and made of Cone  Mills denim woven in the White Oak plant. 

Yip, that seems smart…

Well, given what’s been popping up on Instagram the last few days, we seem to have our answer. They will get their denim from Japan. 

Makes sense. Most would argue that the best denim in the world comes from Japan. So who else would they turn to?

Now, there is not much info out there on just what will be produced from the denim. They did let slip that “our historic shrink-to-fit fabrics now being produced in Japan”. So our guess would be that all their Levis Vintage Clothing 501XX will be sewn from the Japanese denim.

You’re probably not getting one :(

To celebrate this, Levi’s have released a special 1966 Japan 501. All the geeky details we love have been translated into Japanese for these limited-edition babies. So the patch, pocket flasher, guarantee label and (as far as we can see) even the Red Tab!

Right, so you want a pair… course you do! Well, unless you are lucky enough to be bumming about Tokyo right now… and we do mean RIGHT NOW. Then you’re out of  luck I’m afraid, 

The jeans are being released to celebrate the opening of Levi’s new flagship Harajuku store in Tokyo. This is happening today, and given the time difference, I would guess the party is in full swing,. So, if like us you are stuck in the confines of the West we will just have to be happy and content to drool over the pics and take solace in the fact that Levi’s Vintage Clothing will continue to make the 501 out of damn good denim.