To celebrate Levi’s® Vintage Clothing’s historic Shrink-to-Fit™ fabrics being produced in Japan, we made 501 hand-numbered pairs of our 1937 “Japan” 501®. These 501® Jeans are made in Japan from Japanese selvedge denim, and they feature every single archival detail—back leather patch, Red Tab™, rivets, packaging, and even the stamping on the buttons—translated into Japanese.

1937 was a challenging year for America. The Great Depression was in full swing, work was scarce and many Americans had lost their farms and homes. As the country adapted to the times, so did the first-ever blue jean. These 1937 501® jeans bear witness to three major shifts in the iconic style: the removal of suspender buttons, the covering of the back rivets and the addition of one of the first iterations of the now-famous Red Tab™.

With the growing popularity of belts, suspenders were no longer the only method of adjustment and off came the suspender buttons. Instead, the press-on metal buttons were provided to those who couldn't live without them.

Additionally, in response to consumers who complained about their jeans scratching their furniture and saddles, Levi's® began sewing the back pockets in order to cover the metal rivets. To emphasize this point, they introduced the first pocket flasher. Made with a warm salmon color and placed into the right back pocket, the flasher had arrows pointing to the corners of the pockets with the words, “The Rivet's Still There.”

Last, but certainly not least, these jeans mark the rise of the iconic Red Tab™, a device first introduced in 1936 to differentiate our jeans from competitors in the marketplace. Needless to say, the Red Tab™ stuck.

• A reproduction of the Great Depression era 501® jeans crafted from premium denim
• We worked with a Japanese artisan mill to painstakingly recreate our rigid selvedge denim from the 1930s
• True to the original, these jeans feature a cinch back, but no suspender buttons
• Back pockets made with concealed rivets
• Better clothes. Better choices. We made this garment with organically grown cotton, which uses no synthetic pesticides and saves water
• Crafted in premium Japanese selvedge denim from the renowned Kaihara Mill
• Made in Japan by expert artisans using traditional techniques
• This is a limited-edition piece