First off, this is a definite five star purchase. why? Because it’s a pair of authentic Levi’s jeans but with elevated details. These aren’t your standard 501s. You can cuff the hem to show off that unique red salvage ID, which adds a premium feel and looks incredibly cool. The indigo color is simply beautiful and the neppy texture has added so much character to the fabric. I’m confident these will age beautifully with fading overtime. I honestly can’t praise the classic 501 classic style enough. Plus, these are made from a cotton-hemp blend, making them more breathable and durable than one’s average pair. Also, although these are raw sanforized denim (meaning pre-shrunk and minimal shrinkage), they aren’t as stiff or heavyweight as other raw options. After just one soak they become much more comfortable and immediately wearable.

So this is was a rollercoaster of a product trial. The TLDR is that these are great jeans of great Levi's quality and a great example of raw denim. However, if you're not familiar with the raw denim movement, you may not like them. I received these for my partner who was looking for a wider leg jeans style than his usual 511 slim fit. The indigo 501s looked like a perfect option. When we initially unpacked them, these jeans were SO stiff and looked really wide legged. Not his vibe at all. The buttons were great, the stitching was good, but the fabric was just so rigid, like cardboard. He couldn't bend! We read the label and it said about shrinking after washes which scared us as we ordered his exact size (31/32) so any waist shrinkage would render these useless. I was prepping to pop them in the charity shop while he did some googling. We found the raw denim community who explained further. So we washed the jeans on a hand wash setting and before line drying them, he tried the wet jeans on for shape. Omg they were far better fitting already. The length (which had been too long) had shrunk, the wide legs had tightened to a better, more classic 501 fit, and the waist was still his usual size. After the jeans dried on the line, he tried them again. They were still rigid, and clearly will take a while to relax, but the positive shape was still there and it is clear these are high quality. Overall, I'd not buy these online again as the labelling needs so much more context and information about the care and sizing as you need to wash these to get a true fit, which means you can't return them if they still weren't right. However, I would buy these in store if I had a SA who was SUPER knowledgeable and could put me at ease.