Ah, thanks. I'll dig up his Etsy shop.

I noticed those Lion of Troys (not the popovers but the tabbed collars and ocbd's) on eBay last week.

Blimey, if I win the lottery and eat some pies I'd have those Spikes - cracking stuff.

^They are on the large size for most of the Japanese collectors I know, otherwise they'd have been sold within seconds.

^ spikes were an odd one, initially a chino 4 pocket style and then relaunched as a slimmer 5 pocket style ( a very tapered sta prest look to them).
A contrasting colour levis label on the bottom of the waistband above the back right pocket of original 4 pocket version and a similar style contrast label on the back pocket (classic levis style) of the 5 pocket version.
Also a very 'regional' product for Levis, was never marketed in the southern USA and limited advertising on the East Coast but on the West Coast was heavily marketed at the 'younger consumer' (which also might explain why they only go up to a 34 or 36 waist).

This 606 label is a bit of a misnomer, Levis used that for a number of different styles in various fabrics up to the mid 60's when it became the product number for the orange label, zip fly pre-shrunk slim-fit (that the ebay post seems to refer to).

Love to hear your knowledge AB, always makes me want to go out an find the item!

Last edited by Liam (2013-05-03 07:13:47)

Brilliant insight. 

What of the black and gold tab on the ebay pair? Does that have anything to do with Sta Prest material or  was this just a tab used on non red/white tab pants pre the introduction of the Sta Prest brand?

Thanks.  It's daunting to think how much I have to learn on the subject but st the same good to know we have someone like you Acton to fire questions at when in doubt.

In 1959 they were on sale in boys sizes (14-18) in Lemon, Lime and orange, and in mens (29-36) in those colours as well as black, sand and turquoise. Levi's saw them as a leading line because they put ads for them in lots of local Newspapers across the U.S. They're seems to be two formats for the ads. The ad would be either encased with a half or full page advert for the store that was selling them or the store would simply add its name on the top or bottom.

The patter was...

LEVI'S SPIKES are the slimmest, trimmest pants you've ever worn-with a terrific taper from the hips to a 14-inch cuff! Handsome button down flaps on the back pockets too! And LEVI'S Spikes come in popular wash and wear polished cotton-in the worlds brightest colors! No wonder everybody likes the new LEVI'S Spikes. Get a couple of pairs today.

Price? $4.95

You can find anything on google. Seemed a bit odd that they only made them for one year but they still used the name 10 years later. Levi's had a patent on the name of Spikes that creased in 2001 BTW.

Love the line "get a couple of pairs today". Very cheeky.

GW,
Levis held a 'registered trademark' for Spikes and not a patent,
the patent is for the method of construction - US patent no 139,121- which is concerned with the reinforcement of garment 'stress points' and not specific to Spikes.
It's a bit of a 'nebulous' early patent as it's a bit vague and could almost apply to any stitched and riveted garment.
Levis pull it out of the bag frequently and use it to sue almost everyone who makes jeans ( very successfully against Ralph Lauren and Guess Jeans in the 90s for big bucks), currently they are going after G-Star and a couple of boutique Japanese denim producers.