Levi Jackets

The denim jacket may seem an odd item to find in the leather museum, but it was as much an essential item clothing as the leather jacket. Often worn under the jacket, over it, or with the sleeves cut off as a waistcoat over it. Quite often studded and covered in badges so the leather jacket it covered remained intact and water tight.

In the seventies people tended either wear Levi or Wrangler Jackets. My preference has been towards Levi's as they looked better as they showed all the wear points after they were washed. By contrast, Wrangler faded more consistently when washed. One serious defect with Levi's in the sixties and seventies was the lack of side or internal pockets, on this point, the Wrangler scored higher marks.

This is a more recent (post millennium) copy of the classic nineteen sixties or seventies Levi jacket, having just breast pockets and a small internal label. It suffered from the lack of side pockets, so you had nowhere to stick your hands when walking. The breast pockets being too small to hold anything useful and still button down.

This style of Levi Jacket was possibly introduced to compete with Wranger and redress the lack of pockets. The style is almost a copy of the Wrangler design (shown on right) having both internal pockets and side pockets. This jacket purchased secondhand in 2018 may never have been washed in forty years. The internal label is printed in Brown with an orange pocket tab, like many of the classic style Levi's of this era.

I got a new jacket of this design in 1982, the internal pockets are of plain white cotton and has a small internal label printed in red with a red pocket tab. The internal label is marked with chest size in inches. The one photographed below was purchased second hand in 1994 although manufactured in June 1983 and still going in 2018.

By the time of the nineteen nineties, the design was slightly different. The internal label is larger, about the size of those on jeans and sewn in with orange stitching visible on the back of the jacket. The label is sized as S, M, L, XL and XXL and not inches. The internal pockets are made from denim too. There was a choice or Dark Blue, Light Blue or Stone Washed, whereas previously the only choice was Dark Blue which you had to wear and wash to get the desired colour and fading.