Levi’s Vintage Collection: 50s Pocket T
There’s many items I don’t mind spending a bit more on in order to land something really well-made or unique, although I’m not sure I’d put T-shirts in that category. T’s are just T’s, their whole point is to be cheap and replaceable.
Nonetheless, when I clicked onto the Nitty Gritty webshop to sift through their Levi’s Vintage Spring ’10 Collection the 50s Pocket Ts made a rebel out of me and I flippantly paid a premium (plus a shipped-from Sweden postage fee) in order to own one.
The 50s Ts, produced to exact historical Levi’s specifications are just cut so brilliantly boxy, as if bought at a dusty Des Moines dime store and shrunk in a shaky old Kenmore in your cousins’ cabin. It’s faded in a way that suggests it started as an altogether different kind of hue and will look better and better the worse the whole piece gets.
To an outside eye, it’s essentially a nothing-special, ordinary old T. Unworthy of an expensive trip across the sea to be seen in. But to me, the ways in which it is old and ordinary seeming is precisely why it’s special.
June 16th, 2010 at 7:43 am
I’ve developed a habit of going to Sweden, and when going, absolutely bingeing on clothing. I always feel a little foolish going abroad to buy classic American clothing– and avoid doing so, sticking, largely, to well-made and well-tailored Swedish brands (Acne, Nudie, Fifth Ave Shoe Repair, Resterods, Weekday, etc). But every once in awhile a store will have such an excellently curated selection of clothing that I can’t resist.
Other excellent shops–with websites–are the selvage-and-rockabilly emporium Sivletto (in Stockholm, and almost worth the trip itself) and Meadow, in Malmo.
June 23rd, 2010 at 4:51 am
hey william,
enjoy your posts. can you tell me how this tee fits? run small? been curious about it, but dont feel like a ticket to stockholm to find out.
thanks
June 23rd, 2010 at 5:18 am
Matt, I would say order up a size. The shirts are cut small and did shrink some, so although I usually take an S or an XS, my Levi’s T that I ordered in an S is almost/just almost too small to wear now. A Medium might’ve been better for me. They also have a more pine-tinted green one at the Steven Alan website, f.y.i.