The Flat Head 3003XX 3 months

After the Samurai contest I needed a break from jeans and wore a pair of 1940's Blue Bell chinos a lot, and occasionally my LVC 1920 201s. After some months of just wearing what I felt like for the day, I finally got around to wearing my Flat Head jeans and have been doing so for three months.
I had seen pictures of the Flat Head 3000-series denim so I knew that it held its color well through washes. Lucky for me, because it didn't take more than three months before I really needed to wash my jeans.

This is before the first wash.









Compared to the Samurai Texas denim, the Flat Head 3000 denim is darker and less slubby, but it still has very pronounced vertical threads.

I washed the jeans in 40*C with a phosphate-free and of course also bleach-free detergent.





As you can see, the color didn't change much with the wash and that's the mark of great jeans.

At the time of writing this post I've actually wore them one or two more months and am waiting for them to dry after their second wash. They won't be getting much more wear after this though, because I'm getting another pair of contest jeans in just a week or so.

Haberdashery

A haberdasher is a person who sells small, commonly used items of clothing via retail. These can include ribbons and buttons or completed accessories such as hats or gloves. A haberdasher's shop or the items sold therein are called haberdashery.

Stockholm's own Haberdashery just so happens to be dealing with the fine cotton product that is jeans. Hard to find and requiring a small trip outside the usual shopping districts, but it is well worth it.

The store carries the familiar brands The Flat Head, Iron Heart, FreeBee, Pace, BayIcon and the new acquaintance Studio Zero.
It is also the first and only place in Sweden to get your jeans chainstitched. We've so been waiting for that!

Herkulesgatan 24 is where it's at.




Iron Heart 21 oz type 3 jacket.




Sugarcane, models 1947 and Union Star, the jean that was originally produced for the U.S. Military.




The Flat Head 1005, a 16 ounce 50's model.


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FreeBee 101, made from the same denim as my FreeBee jacket.


Studio Zero. On the left is the 100% cotton version and on the right the 40%/60% hemp/cotton version that Sivletto carries.


BayIcon's hemp denim that's coming out this fall.


Chainstitcher.


Pace limited edition.

So, good times roll by..

I had been eyeing the Flat Head 3003XX for a while already when word came of the Levi's lawsuit, and it gave me a pretty good reason to finally buy them.
I'm sure they will continue making the 3003xx, but not with the painted arcuate nor with the red tab, both of which are essential details in my opinion.

The 3003XX is The Flat Head's World War 2 model, which is the reason why the arcuates are painted. During the war, cotton and copper was scarce and thus the War Production Board decided that Levi's should cease putting their arcuate stitching on the backpockets, as it was a "wasteful use of cotton".
The cinch back and the rivets on the coinpocket disappeared because of the same reason.

The cut is straight with a high rise, and slightly on the loose side. It depends on how you size them though, I chose a small size, which obviously makes the jeans slimmer.
The hip is much straighter than on Levi's own 1944 reproduction, which means the bulge is smaller. Personally, I quite like this, but it also takes away some feel of authenticity.

The denim used in the 3003 series is really dark, because the yarn has been dipped 24(a very high number in this context) times in the indigo solution.
It also has a distinct vertical fade like the Eternal 811.









I like these jeans a lot, it will be a long time 'til I can start to really wear them though.