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Vintage Things That Will NOT Disappear In Your Lifetime

2jakes

I'll Lock Up
Messages
9,680
Location
Alamo Heights ☀️ Texas
Although they weren't referred to as "501"s until some time in 1890, they've existed in one form or another since 1873 (according to the Levi Strauss website). Approximately 144 years and still going strong. I hope they stick around at least until I kick the bucket.


"Originally, the pants were classified as “waist overalls” - have one back pocket with the Arcuate stitching design, a watch pocket, a cinch, suspender buttons and a rivet in the crotch. We don’t know the origin of the Arcuate stitching design. Stories about it representing the wingspread of a bird are myths; the loss of our records in 1906 (see below) makes it impossible to know why the stitching was first used. There may have been a tradition of pocket stitching on men’s workwear but this has not been found in any research done so far. The cinch and suspender buttons were standard on men’s pants. Keep in mind that we did not invent the cut or fit of the waist overalls; what we did was take traditional men’s work pants and rivet them, creating the new category of workwear which we today call blue jeans.
(Levi Co.)
levis-cinch-360x225.png
I found a
commemorative pair similar to the one described
above at a local outlet.
The style is not typical western jeans, but more like a work pant.

After my interview with the folks at Levi plant, I asked if I could
have some Levi ® rivets.
I grabbed as many as I could put in my pocket before they
left town for other parts of the world. :cool:
 
Last edited:
Messages
12,976
Location
Germany
Although they weren't referred to as "501"s until some time in 1890, they've existed in one form or another since 1873 (according to the Levi Strauss website). Approximately 144 years and still going strong. I hope they stick around at least until I kick the bucket. :p

In Germany, the 501 is mainly "out", since the 90s. Simply, because all people got the experience, the the usual massmarket-501 isn't more robust than any other massmarket jeans, but the price is of course not higher than usual massmarket, here.
So, I never got a 501.

BUT, I still got one Mustang jeans from the early 2000s, and this is a heavy Denim-piece, I tell you!! Thick and strong Denim, ultra robust, old-fashion metal-buttons. A real Cowboy-jeans, as we would say in Germany!!
Such heavy old-fashion jeans aren't available on massmarket, today.

But on the other side, the storebrand-jeans in Germany are really nearly to massmarket-A quality, today and you can get them for around 40 Euro!

Storebrand is the deal, today! Classic brand is OUT!! :)
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
The jeans I usually wear in the winter are so-called logger jeans. They are full-cut (not slim, that is), have suspender buttons and are high-waisted. They are available with a double front but I don't need that much. There are several brands available but I think they're all made somewhere else now. Of course, if something isn't made where you live, it's basically imported.

I can only remember one neighbor wearing blue jeans when I was little. They had the strap in the back and were probably referred to as dungarees. I believe that during the colonial period, full-cut and relatively short (calf-length) work pants were called "slops," a corruption of the French word "salopette," which translates as overalls. The term "waist overalls" was still used in the 1930s, although I never heard the term. Not to be confused with "coveralls." One American manufacturer of work clothes, apparently popular with a certain crowd, makes an overall with shortened legs for women. They call it "shortalls."
 
Messages
17,219
Location
New York City

Vicks is medicine in my girlfriend's family. They use it for any head / chest ailment. If everyone in the country used Vicks like they did, sales would go up 1000 times. To be fair, they almost never go to doctors because, as they would say, "just use some Vicks." Now, after twenty years with her, I find myself using it a lot - crazy.

Another true Vicks' story. We didn't use it growing up, so I wasn't familiar with it at all. Back in the late '80s, I went on a first date with a girl I had met recently: she dressed up a bit for our date and looked all fresh and cute, etc. - but I noticed a distinct / funny smell - somewhat medicinal, but also a bit weird for a person.

After several dates when we became comfortable with each other (and I didn't notice that smell after the first date), I mentioned it to her. She told me that on the day of our first date she thought she might be getting a cold but was afraid if she cancelled I wouldn't ask her out again - so she showered, put on some Vicks, got dressed and showed up.

When I made fun of her, her response was, "You're still going out with me aren't you?" Not much I could say to that.
 
Messages
17,219
Location
New York City
Although they weren't referred to as "501"s until some time in 1890, they've existed in one form or another since 1873 (according to the Levi Strauss website). Approximately 144 years and still going strong. I hope they stick around at least until I kick the bucket. :p

They do still exist, but they tinker so much with the fit, cut, material, etc., it almost makes you wonder what a 501 jean really is. That said, after growing up with the cheapest Army-Navy store blue jeans you could get, I remember buying my first pair of 501s in college (had a job then) and they were heaven. I wore that first pair all through college and they formed to fit me and aged and frayed perfectly.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
The mention of Vick's, which I don't recall that we used, nevertheless reminded me of some other things that we did use and which we used a lot.

Kids used to always be getting scratches, cuts and burns as well as poison ivy. So everyone had iodine or mercurochrome on hand. I think all they were, were disinfectants. There was also Unguentine, also for the same things. It was an ointment that came in a tube. The other things were thin red liquids. We don't have any of those things at home now.

The only home remedy, that is, a commercial product you would buy like Aspirin, was calamine lotion, but we never had any around the house. That's what some used for poison ivy, which seems to have been epidemic in occurrence. We don't have any of that at home, either.

I believe that petroleum jelly, sold as Vaseline, is supposed to be a useful as anything else for minor skin problems. Petroleum jelly is also used as a lubricant in things like soft-serve ice cream (frozen custard) and similar machines. That I know from my own experience but it probably isn't the same thing as Vaseline, but rather, it's thicker and colorless and probably tasteless. It came in a tube like toothpaste but it wasn't branded as Vaseline. Some hair dressing come close to being like Vaseline.
 
Messages
12,976
Location
Germany
I believe that petroleum jelly, sold as Vaseline, is supposed to be a useful as anything else for minor skin problems. Petroleum jelly is also used as a lubricant in things like soft-serve ice cream (frozen custard) and similar machines. That I know from my own experience but it probably isn't the same thing as Vaseline, but rather, it's thicker and colorless and probably tasteless. It came in a tube like toothpaste but it wasn't branded as Vaseline. Some hair dressing come close to being like Vaseline.

I think, a great invention is old-fashioned honey-salve on skin-injuries. The basic recipe, every apothecary can still make you, is just honey plus petrolatum. Minimum durabiltiy is six months.
 

BlueTrain

Call Me a Cab
Messages
2,073
I recall hearing a reference to someone in an old movie as a "vaselino," meaning someone who used a lot of hair grease. I don't think it was used as a compliment.
 
Messages
12,976
Location
Germany
Ah, it seems, that "Motrin" is the most popular name for Ibuprofen in the US? That could be that reason, why they mentioned it in "Dr. House" even on german tone?
 

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