Levi's 517's boot cut used to be nice, tough denim that lasted years. The more you wore them, the more comfortable they got. The denim they use now is thin crap. The ones I bought recently have a soft, 'designer jean' feel to them, and it's horrible. It just Ticks me off. More on reddit.com

these are the jeans that i wear. the difference between them is (supposedly) the stitch count, the thickness of the denim used, and the tags/labels used. The premiums are said to have a higher stitch count (which is unnoticeable to your average wearer), thicker denim, and the back Levis tag is made from real leather as opposed to a cheaper material for the non-premiums. Both the premium and non-premium are dyed the same and there is no color distinction. I regularly purchase and am quite satisfied with the non-premiums. Unless you are a stickler for a better stitch count I say go with the pair that costs less. The higher cost of the premiums just doesn't seem worth it to me, but everyone is different. More on reddit.com

In my experience, any time you have cowboy boots - you’re gonna want a boot cut so you can’t see the shaft of the boot under the jean. More on reddit.com

Great find! They are my fave Levi's model. Those are raw denim bootcut 517s, and they are made with a 14oz denim, whereas the STF 501 unsanforized denim feels more like a 13oz denim after being fully shrunk down. And they will fade great, even better than STF raw denim 501s IMO. Levi's colorway name for your 517s are "Rigid", which means raw denim. The model number, Levi's PC9 (9-digit Product Code) on the care tag inside, should say "00517-0217", where the "0217" stands for the "Rigid" wash, but they aren't washed yet by you or by Levi's, so not really a wash at all. They are sanforized, so they will shrink when finally washed, about 1" in the waist (which should stretch back out some) and about 1" in the inseam if washed/dried like normies do. They will shrink much less if hand-washed in cold water and hung to dry. They are still sold at many western wear stores, such as Cavender's, and at Amazon too still , but with a higher price these days. More on reddit.com