My Process For Dating Difficult Vintage Levis

What do you do with Levi's jeans that are missing information or have elements you've never seen before? Here is how I date them and discover the smallest date range I can for them.
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Questions about your vintage Levi's? Email us at [e-mail]

[@chriskellypoi]

Such good info. Went back to a local thrift today and picked up a pair of 517 from 1972 that I had passed on a few days ago. In my size too. I will admit I paid $13 for them.. but I couldn’t resist knowing they were 50 years old.

[@LootFam]

I’d pay that to find some 70s 517s. Great find!

[@umarlatiff9595]

what a steal

[@FlawlessKam]

I paid 90$ for an orange tab pair from the 80’s and 110$ for a pair from early 70s. An absolute steal

[@coley2340]

Very systematic almost scientific approach. Love it!

[@LootFam]

Glad you like it!

[@guavagirl8344]

How interesting! This was like a history class.

[@ivermectin3191]

Being from Canada I find a lot of oddly fashioned vintage Levi’s made here -/ I’m not sure if the value is the same - but it’s damn cool wearing Levi’s made here🤘🏼🤘🏼

[@denimbeardvintage6468]

Always learning with your videos. Great to know Levi’s branded their zipper in 1980. As always, thanks Josh!

[@LootFam]

Welcome!

[@mitchfroze2310]

I read somewhere that Levi’s added in the R next to the lot number on the back patch recently so that’s a good way to date it as a more recent pair of jeans. Do you know when they added the R next to the lot number on the back patch?

[@briandavis5471]

Hey Josh. Thanks for sharing your knowledge of the history of Levi’s. My two jeans have a 3 digit factory code but a Talon 42 zipper. One care tag does have 6 83. Could this mean that this Levi’s factory might have had some left over Talon 42 zippers?

[@LootFam]

Yep! Believe the date code first always. There a dew random factories that seemingly took longer to transition. But sounds like your right on track.

[@briandavis5471]

@@LootFam Thanks Josh.

[@brunonjezic6208]

That was super helpful! Thanks

[@officialspicejar]

Love the Balance and Composure tee! Balance and Title Fight are two of my daily staples lol love your content!

[@LootFam]

Bro! B and C is top ten for me. Been getting back into Superheaven recently too. Glad to have fans of good music watch the channel!

[@officialspicejar]

@@LootFam Absolutely man! Those bands have been super influential to us in our band (just realized I'm commenting from that page 😂). I started selling vintage within the last year and your channel has been beyond helpful for me, thank you for sharing your knowledge!

[@LootFam]

Oh sick I’m gonna check you guys out! My “band” (never tour and only release an album every three years haha) also draws from some of those bands, at least on our perpetually forthcoming unreleased record… I’ll probably announce it here when ever we finish it… Eventually, haha.

[@officialspicejar]

@@LootFam Dude thank you so much! I'd love to check your stuff out as well! Let me know where I can find it and support!

[@jontoyman]

Great video as always keep up the great work

[@RS-ry4lp]

Wonderful and informative as always

[@LootFam]

Glad you think so!

[@TheBoyz305]

Grey videos and love the series

[@Paul-g9b]

I picked up a pair of old “Levi’s Lady Style” jeans. I’ve never seen these before. They seem vintage but tag seems kind of different and a lot written in Japanese. Any suggestions on where to research these?

[@LootFam]

Interesting. Can you send some photos to [e-mail]?

[@JackieHotGirl]

Dude you're unbelievably helpful.

[@LootFam]

Glad I could help!

[@PrinceSalcedo-i6e]

Tge numbers indicated on my Levis are Factory code, 2920 05 05. Is it May 29, 2005?

[@richardbruce8869]

Help! I have a difficult to date, handed down, orange tag levis denim jacket. It has hand pockets so it could be mid 80s. Care tag is washed out and unreadable. The leather patch (brown writing) has no serial number. On the far bottom right of the patch (touching the stitching) has extremely small letters: BOLBORG (could be wrong, difficult to read with the stitching). Any help is appreciated, and happy hunting! 😂

[@LootFam]

Could you send me some photos to [e-mail]?

[@TNT580]

Any advice on a US made (stamped on leather and care tag) pair of 505s probably from 1988 with factory code 650? The only info I can find says 650 was a factory in Macau, not US. Did Levis import materials for finishing here? Thx

[@LootFam]

I believe this is one of the few cases where the factory codes were reassigned. I think the 650 was used in the 60s-70s, but later used for a us factory in the 80-90s. If you want you can email me a photo to [e-mail] and I’ll take a look.

[@colinbernard3542]

Hey man, love the info about the levi jean jacket. I have an interesting trucker jacket that is Indigo, or a darker blue shade that after some investigation is from between the mid 60's to early 70's. Now I need you to give me your expertise to estimate the age of my jacket. First off, no care tags of any kind except the one behind the neck. Hard to see but I'm very sure it says 2032 75505 0127 size 46. It has size in french above it. Spr-005 on upper left corner. Two pockets, single stitch with black bar tack and no number(s) on the back of the button, but they have vertical lines across them. The black bar tack is on the cuffs too. The other obvious thing is that it's a small "e", but visually it looks identical to the 60's kind because it's cropped or kinda "boxy" looking. Basically I'm stumped. My father gave it to me and he got it from my uncle over 50 years ago.

[@LootFam]

Could you send me some photos to [e-mail]?

[@colinbernard3542]

​@@LootFamI'll send it tomorrow for sure. Also it's 16 ounces.

[@drwisdom1]

Mr. LootFam would be good at playing bridge. He possesses the logic needed to figure out who has which cards.

[@LootFam]

If i only knew how to play bridge…

[@frogzilla9186]

@@LootFam LOL, good one!

[@kevinbarrett9615]

I have a bunch of Canadian made Levi’s they are from the 80’s I believe but it is difficult to pin down the year. Any help would be appreciated.

[@LootFam]

So, the Canadian ones are tough. My currently theory is that the letter/number code in the tag is the date code. It would read as the first 12 Letters of the alphabet matching the month number and the number is the last digit of the year. So b/8 would be February 1988. So far that’s as good as we’ve been able to figure.

[@pollard1128]

I have a pair of (what I believe to be) vintage levis 505 that are LHT... care tag is too washed out to see and the back patch is gone. any info on what these could be? maybe theyre fake?

[@LootFam]

email me some photos to [e-mail]

[@cartersbread1432]

Do you know what the red and white Levi tag is, it’s kind of hidden in the jeans and it just says the size made in USA and care on reverse. The numbers don’t mean anything on the back. I’m not sure what year

[@Βενιαμίν-κ2ξ]

So at exactly 1980s levis engraved the zippers with a "Levis" one? Which means If I saw a levis pants with a random zipper brands/engraving I never sort of heard before means It is made before 1980s? 1972 - 1979 If small "e" one. Also I like the way you provide us informations on dating levis, May I ask where do you get those infos? Thanks.

[@LootFam]

I try to never use the word "exactly" as there are too many exceptions within the Levi's history to do so with certainty. There are examples of generic zippers after 1980, but as far as I can tell the earliest we see the Levi's branded zipper is in 1980. It's possible date is still kind of fuzzy and there might be examples in 79, but I doubt it. My information is a combination of experience, my own novel research, and what resources I've gathered from the internet and from other experienced people. Thanks for watching!

[@WowThingsThrift]

Awesome video ✌️

[@LootFam]

Glad you liked it!

[@stein3738]

just bought a 602 orange tab and it says 086 and 0878 on the tag. it has a levis zipper so in conclusion it must be produced in august 86 right?

[@LootFam]

Correct!

[@romulosilvestre3607]

thanks for sharing...appreciated!! i had a levis and i dont know the model and the year, how could i send you the photos? hoping you could help me thanks in advance

[@LootFam]

Sure! [e-mail]. Currently out of town but i should be able to answer on monday.

[@seniorpicker3928]

Is there a good reference Levi book you can recommend. Thanks,

[@LootFam]

Unfortunately, the only decent ones are in Japanese. One day I’ll publish one.

[@Getinlinenj]

I need help for mine the previous owner took the care tag off and the back patch off as well

[@johannhd1903]

Thanks ¡

[@doet707]

So many numbers, queue the Galifianakis math meme. I think I just had this problem

[@LootFam]

Tell me about it…

[@petemarkowski2198]

Can I sent you a difficult Levi's tag to decode?

[@LootFam]

Sure! [e-mail]

[@mihalyfreeman5928]

STOP WITH THE DAMN HAND MOVEMENTS dude. He didnt have to send you this pair to determine its date? So obvious!