The Introduction Of The Lady Levi’s 701 Jeans
Levi’s introduced the first pair of women’s jeans in history back in 1934. This pair is known as the Lady Levi’s with lot number 701. With the release of this iconic jeans, the American denim brand created a significant moment in the fashion and denim history. A women’s jeans design that shook the market. Back then, denim was still dominated and mostly worn by cowboys, farmers, and miners and used as workwear in general.
The History Behind The Jeans
The Levi’s 701 jeans was released during the Great Depression period in America. The Great Depression was the biggest economic downturn in the history that lasted from 1929 to 1939. Despite this weak financial situation, Levi’s came with this pair of women’s jeans. The brand is known for its revolutionary milestones within the denim industry. First, they kicked off in 1873 with the famous rivet-on pairs of waist overalls for gold miners to strengthen their pants.
Just a few years later in 1890, they started using the 501 lot number as the exclusive rivet patent expired that year. So everyone was allowed to develop their own version (more about the history of the rivet here). That same year they released the cheaper version of the 501. The 201 pair of jeans was born to serve a wider market (more about this pair here). During the early 1900’s the fifth back pocket was added, the left one, on waist overalls by Levi’s. This pocket addition made it a five-pocket.
Before the release of the Lady Levi’s 701 jeans, some women were wearing their boy’s jeans. A sort of frontrunner of the boyfriend fit. As women weren’t allowed to wear jeans at all, only lower-class blue-collar workers were using these workwear pants until then. But as the so-called ‘Dude Ranches‘ and Western lifestyle grew, women wanted to have a pair of jeans that suited their body type too. The rest is history…
The Key Features Of The 701 Lotnumber
The release of the Lady Levi’s came just on time. The lot number 701 has a straight leg, high rise, and curved silhouette. And not to forget, a beautiful pink selvedge ID instead of the regular red for men. Another key element is that the Lady Levi’s 701 has a donut button fly instead of a zipper. This was something new and groundbreaking for women. Next to these specific details, there’s a cinch back and cloth label on the back.
The Lady Levi’s 701 jeans was made of a light-weight 100% cotton denim fabric. This first five-pocket jeans that was specially desgined for women set a new standard for many other jeans designs that followed. A true blue icon.
Fun Fact! The Lady Levi’s was worn by Marilyn Monroe in her last film The Misfits in 1961. Therefore this jeans is often called ‘The Monroe’ model amongst denim collectors.
The highlighted Lady Levi’s 701 jeans was produced after 1936 as that year the brand introduced their ‘Red Tab’ on the back pocket. This pair was part of the denim expo by the Italian Elleti Group in Milan, Italy at the denim fabric trade show Denim by Première Vision.
