Muytjens-ometer Test: The J. Crew Levi’s 501

Exclusive to J. Crew: Levi’s 501 Jean in Indigo Ridge Wash – $59.50 (reg. $98)

Confused as to what the Muytjens-ometer is?  Click here to find out.

Gone are the days of J. Crew carrying just their own brand.  Instead, they’ll collaborate with any legendary clothing company they favor.  This time it’s Levi’s for an exclusive 501 jean you can only find at J. Crew.  The regular price on these jeans is an over the top $100, and the sale price of $60 is still twice as much as you’d pay for 501s at Macy’s during a sale.  Here’s J. Crew’s argument for why they cost so much more:

• Denim sourced from “the world-famous Cone Denim”
• Hand sanded
• Exclusive wash
• “Made exclusively for J. Crew” is printed on the interior pocket.

The Google tells me that Cone Denim of Greensboro N.C.  used to be the major supplier to Levi’s back in the early 1900s.  Times have obviously changed, and Cone Denim is no longer just in North Carolina.  From the Cone Denim website:

“…we continue to inspire the global market with state-of-the-art, vertically integrated facilities in the US, Mexico, Nicaragua, and China”

The regular price of $98.00 might be worth considering if they were made in the United States, but they’re not.  One word says it all in the item description:  “Import.”  To be fair, the denim could come from the Cone Denim facility in N.C. only to then be shipped off to be pieced together outside the US… (kinda like this blazer from Banana Republic  being Made in China of Italian Fabric) but with four of their five mills outside the country, that’s probably not the case.  Because if it was, wouldn’t that be highlighted as a selling point?   Final score:

On the Muytjens-ometer:  3.5 Heads

Somewhere between pricey and ridiculous.  At least the sale price is getting down towards acceptable.  But when my current pair of 501s set me back $29.99 on sale at Macy’s, shelling out the extra twenty for some printed words on an inside pocket just seems like foolish brand worship.

If you’re looking for true blue American Made jeans, Brooks Brothers offers a made in the U.S.A. 501 for $150.
And if you just don’t have that kind of cash?  Here’s the $30 pair from Macy’s:
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