LEVI'S Vintage Clothing Japan (LVCJ)

The whole idea of Levi's Vintage Clothing started with the Levi's Japan division in the late '80s. Due in part to an exploding interest in Japan for vintage American clothing, Levi's Japan began manufacturing replicas of Levi's jeans and denim jackets for the Japanese market.

  The earliest example of a repro type offering from Levi’s japan that I have found is the 701VB from 1986. This was a limited edition ‘37 501 type, with doughnut buttons and a linen tab. I think this variation sheds some light on the doughnut buttons found on the later 702 and the “201” designation found on the 555 ‘37s- perhaps the original model for this offering was indeed an early WWII 201 Jean. Offered in a light stone wash.

 In 1987 the offerings available from the "Vintage Levi's" section of Levi's Japan were:

     701XX (later renamed the 702XX, a '37 type 501 with doughnut buttons)

     502XX (a '60s type 501 with a zip fly and a straight leg)

     70701XX (a WWII 506 type jacket)

     70702XX (a 506 type jacket)

     With the 503BXXJ making its first appearance in 1988.

  All of these models were available in two modes- rigid or heavily stonewashed.

Above are images from the SS1988 Levis Japan catalog, courtesy of ajifurai_vintage.

I have a theory about this model- I think 503 was a Levi’s boys/young men’s line, and was popular as vintage in Japan in the ‘80s as the smaller sizes worked well for a lot of Japanese guys. I suspect that LVCJ created this model as a wider legged version of their '50s jean (no taper), and used the familiar 503 number.

If that was a 34W I'd take it off your hands!

I recently got a practically unworn pair of s702XX '33s from yahoo.jp that I'm really liking. Seems as good if not better than any LVC US product in construction and materials, though I think historical accuracy did improve gradually over the years.