I own zero pairs of the jeans at the moment and my friend recommended I try Levi's since she loves them.

Alas, still no dice. 26" waist, 37.5" hip, very long abdomen area/high waist. 5' 3" tall, with about 26" inseam from crotch to floor. Most of the pants were too tight in the thighs, too loose in the waist, and were very difficult to move around in or sit down.

The 28" length pants were a surprisingly nice length for me, but they only had a few styles with that length in store. The sales associate recommended I might need jeans with elastic, but that they didn't carry them in stores and to check online.

I’ve been wearing 501’s for years but it wasn’t until I bought a pair of STF’s back in 2019 that I realized there truly was no better Jean for the price.

I rarely see anyone talk about 501 STF’s and it’s weird. I think most people hear 501’s and they tend to think “iconic” and then they try to find a pair and they’re met with disappointment. I blame Levi’s as a whole for not better marketing them as well as not having any stock inside their retail spaces.

I’ve never bought a pair of STF’s from a Levi’s store, while often they’ll keep a ready stock of 501’s in their outlets, most Levi’s stores I’ve been too have the cheapest pairs of Lycra filled 501’s in stock. This is likely why so many try and give up on 501’s which I think is a shame. It’s always the same things I hear too, either blown out crotches or inconsistent sizing.

Now I’ll admit there is a learning curve to sizing a 501. The first pair I bought I purchased my true size and after the first wash realized I made a mistake.

After that, I corrected and since then I’ve never had an issue.

For the uninitiated, my rule of thumb is to size up one to two sizes in the waist and one size up in length.

I’m short, so for me, a 31x30 after and shrink gets to about 30x28 which is ideal. The fact that you can get raw denim at a price point of ~$50 is pretty wild.

Plus they have enough colors to satisfy most people’s tastes. A little known secret is that Macy’s carries the true black 501 STF, not to be confused with “black rigid”. I’ve got all three, and they’ve been my most consistently worn jeans for the past few years.

What people don’t realize is that even the best vintage 501’s are old STF’s. Not the shitty ones sold in stores.

I’ve had a pair long enough now that they look like a beautifully worn vintage pair that I was able to shrink and wash down / distress within about two years. Now that may seem long, but with consistent washing and wearing you can get that down much much faster. The key is hot water and sand paper. The hotter the water, the more you wash, the quicker that dye will remove itself. The sand paper can be used to get some wear n tear, though I’ve never done this myself.

Anyways, after listening to the most recent TF pod in Chicago with Leo Gamboa and the watching Drew Joiner’s latest vlog about Levi’s, while both mention 501’s, they leave out the STF.