Brands - Lee Archives, the equivalent of Levi’s Vintage

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Lee Archives, the equivalent of Levi’s Vintage

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Topic: Lee Archives, the equivalent of Levi’s Vintage

Posted By: Emmers
Subject: Lee Archives, the equivalent of Levi’s Vintage
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2022 at 11:03am

Hi,

I was looking for a Lee 101Z and came across this:

https://edwin-mall.jp/shop/g/gLM6611-89-28" rel="nofollow - https://edwin-mall.jp/shop/g/gLM6611-89-28

We can see the center tag attached to the back of the waist belt: UNION MADE Lee RIDERS SANFORIZED.

Union Made? With this tag I’m assuming that they are Made in USA and sanforized and therefore will not shrink. Am I wrong?

I can’t find this “MADE IN USA” label, this pre-owned Lee Riders has it:

https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/F3YAAOSwcaJh8f8i/s-l1600.jpg" rel="nofollow - https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/F3YAAOSwcaJh8f8i/s-l1600.jpg

I also can't find where to buy these "Lee Archives" outside of Japanese sites. Has anyone bought any of these jeans?

Replies:

Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2022 at 3:24pm

Those Lee Archives jeans are made in Japan by Edwin under licence from Lee (or the global corporation [VF?] who owns Lee). The workers who made them may or may not be members of a trade union in Japan. The tag is reproduced for historical accuracy.

Although they’re sanforized, there will still likely be some shrinkage, more in the leg length than the waist.

You’ll have a hard time finding them for sale outside of Japan and some Japanese retailers (including Edwin I think) will not sell directly to international customers so you may need to use a Japanese proxy to buy them on your behalf and send them on to you for a fee.

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Helixing my inner beanie

Posted By: Sansome
Date Posted: 03 Feb 2022 at 3:38pm

Didn’t warehouse make Lee archives too?
When I was in Sweden (2012) A shop there
Carried Lee archive pieces, think the store name
Now is- Second Sunrise?

Posted By: Maynard Fried-San
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2022 at 3:14am

Warehouse and Real McCoys have both made Lee repros in the past, in fact Warehouse made these (non-Lee branded) https://www.ware-house.co.jp/?pid=161274129" rel="nofollow - Lot 1002 last year. They’re for sale on the Warehouse website, directly to international customers. TCB make their own brand Lee repros too.

There were many shops that sold Lee Archives 10 years ago - I bought 2 pairs of Edwin-made 1930s 101B in the UK in 2011 but this is not likely to be relevant a decade on.

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Helixing my inner beanie

Posted By: Sansome
Date Posted: 04 Feb 2022 at 7:55am

That makes sense- 2012 was close to the peak heritage/cosplay days.