‘Oldest-Surviving’ Levi’s Jeans From 1879 Look Just Like Denim Of Today

You’ve probably heard that jeans age well. This pair is testament to that belief—dating back to about 1879, they’re the earliest-known blue jeans, though they don’t look too far off from the kind worn today. 

While there are multiple accounts out there with varying claims of how old the first jeans are, the oldest-surviving ones appear to be stashed in the archives of Levi Strauss & Co itself, which is also attributed for producing the world’s first pair of blue jeans.

Oldest surviving pair of Levis jeans, 1879. Found in a goldmine 136 years later. from Damnthatsinteresting

Tracey Panek, a historian and the director of archives at Levi’s, told Livemint that the historic garments are being kept “in a fireproof safe,” locked away from the outside world.

Levi’s might not have invented denim, but it did pioneer blue jeans. The pants were created for miners, the working class, and continue to be the go-to for casual days out.

The knee marks in various spots of this pair indicate that it was handed down from wearer to wearer.

It’s labeled as ‘XX’, a mark of high quality—as determined by Levi Strauss & Co back in the day. Modern consumers would now gawk at its bleak undertones: “Superior” quality meant that the jeans were manufactured by white labor.

XX jeans “enjoy a national reputation,” noted auctioneer Daniel Soules, who had valued a similar pair of early Levi’s jeans at US$80,000. “It was post-Civil War. They wanted to make sure no slaves making these.”

The first-gen blue jeans would have a button fly, a single back pocket, and no belt loops.

They also used to have copper rivets at the bottom of the fly, though, as per Mental Floss, those were removed after supposed complaints from commandoed miners whose crotch areas had gotten uncomfortably hot as they squatted above campfires.

[via Livemint, Inside Edition, Nerdist, r/Damnthatsinteresting, images via various sources]