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Levi’s® Authorized Vintage

Levi’s® Authorized Vintage is a collection of pre-worn Levi’s® denim, which we take care of every step of the way from manufacturing and refurbishing to re-selling. Each beloved piece is inspected by our professional team to ensure it is authentic, made in the USA and from the 80s or 90s. The vintage garments stand the test of time, testifying to the unrivaled durability of denim and reflecting the vivid history and stories behind it.

Sustainability is at the heart of this collection. For example, up-cycling (also known as creative re-use) pre-worn jeans is a great way to reduce considerable industrial waste. To shop for vintage outfits is eco-friendly and a fashion-forward trend driven by sustainable and conscious consumption. Levi’s® Authorized Vintage 2019 Fall/Winter collection is only limited available at Levi’s® Silvercord store.

KEY FEATURES

Levi’s® Authorized Vintage

The vintage sourcing journey began in Los Angeles in the United States. The Levi’s® team worked together with Jeff Fuller, who owned an extensive collection of vintage clothing, to show the world more than 50,000 units of archive-quality masterpieces. All items went through our rigorous inspection process in the United States with their authenticity verified and were lovingly restored by hand, demonstrating exceptional craftsmanship and impeccable techniques for treating minor imperfections. We took care of each garment with a different approach, even for those of the same model. Each piece is one-of-a-kind and reflects the distinct identity of the Levi’s® brand.

BEHIND THE SCENES: Levi’s® Authorized Vintage

Vintage Levi’s® jeans and jackets are some of the most coveted items for people shopping secondhand. So, when Levi’s® Global Merchandising Director Matt McGivern heard about a treasure trove of old-school garments, he knew he was on to something big.

Levi’s® Authorized Vintage is our proprietary resale capsule in which we source and re-sell the most authentic pieces that have at least 30 years under their belts. We sat down with Matt to hear about the collection’s history, its sustainability mindset and some of the coolest pieces he’s come across.

How did Levi’s® Authorized Vintage get its start?

I’d heard about a vintage dealer in LA who claimed to have more than 50,000 units of Made in the USA 501® Jeans and Trucker Jackets that he’d been storing over his lifetime. He was looking to get out of the game, and as a nice, fitting end to the story, he wanted to sell the products back to Levi’s®. I went to LA a week later, to a really sketchy industrial area, and I met this guy called Jeff Fuller, who’s become a good friend of mine. He told me his whole life story, how he started selling vintage clothes as a hobby. He’d travel to Europe, and back in the day, he was able to pay for things with jeans. He was making more money out of that than he was his day job, and he fully transitioned into buying and selling vintage Levi’s® .

He showed me what he had in his warehouse, and it was indeed this really impressive collection of products. Nobody’s given me any information contrary to this, but it was probably the biggest hall of vintage Levi’s® that existed. I think it was 55,000 units in total.

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How does sustainability play into the collection?

There are some garments that aren’t wearable anymore, so we can use those to create new accessories. The ultimate goal is to not waste anything. First and foremost, it’s highly sustainable. What we’re really trying to do is make sure we’re at that intersection of style and sustainability, because ultimately, people won’t buy something just because it’s sustainable — it’s got to look great. A vintage pair of 501® s looks great, and it’s sustainable. Denim is one of those fabrics that looks better over time, so that’s one of our angles here.

Any cool, unique pieces you’ve come across?

The coolest thing, just because of the way I found it, was a 1944 WWII jean that I found in the warehouse restroom in a bucket under the sink. I saw the bucket, and I saw one of the rivets on the jean—and I thought, “Oh that’s really old, I wonder what that is.” There was only half of a leg, and it was torn to pieces, but it’s still probably worth quite a bit of money.

Levi’s® Authorized Vintage is fashion-forward trend as far as sustainable fashion. People are looking for one-off pieces and a story behind them.
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Is there any altering done to the jeans and jackets before they’re sold?

In some cases, we tailor the fits to meet modern, contemporary style. We don’t really touch the Trucker Jackets because consumers really want those vintage fits. We also have a 501® Original that we don’t tailor, mainly because the customer either wants that fit, or they want to tailor it to their own specifications, which I personally like to do myself.