LEVI’S TEAMS UP WITH HERON PRESTON TO CELEBRATE THE BRAND’S ICONIC 501 JEAN

Heron Preston Hailey Baldwin Beiber Levi's
by Stephen Garner May 21, 2019

In celebration of 501 Day – May 20th, marking the 146th year since the original blue jeans’ invention – Levi’s teamed up with Heron Preston to reinterpret its most iconic piece of clothing. Together, Levi’s and Heron created limited-edition 501s for both men and women that marry the 501’s classic appeal with Preston’s approach to streetwear.

Featuring two takes on the iconic Levi’s 501 jean—one women’s and one men’s—the new Levi’s x Heron Preston 501 jean collection is a juxtaposition of asymmetry, experimentation, and imperfection for a 501 that is at once fresh and familiar.

On the men’s side, using front and back panels from two different 501 jeans, Heron creates a black and white tie-dye pattern on the front with classic faded indigo on the back. There’s also a flattened out Red Tab attached to a reversed back pocket. Both jeans feature a special edition Heron Preston orange label on the front waistband, as well as a Levi’s Batwing logo tab sewed into the outseam on the side and an orange screenprint underneath the back patch.

Heron Preston Hailey Baldwin Beiber Levi's

“You can see the strength of the 501 jean — how absolutely iconic it is in its design when, after we chopped it up, colored it, and twisted it, it’s still unmistakably the 501 jean,” said Preston.

Both the men’s and women’s Levi’s x Heron Preston 501 jeans will be available in limited quantities, with only 501 of each being made for a special edition release. And to kick off the festivities, Preston, along with his friend Hailey Bieber, will debut his fresh new 501 creations in a special campaign shot by Meritocracy Inc.’s Matthew and Karla Welch.

“We had this basic premise of messing around with the Levi’s design language,” said Jonathan Cheung, senior vice president of design innovation at Levi’s. “Of putting a glitch into the 501’s DNA. Heron was sending over images of blotchy ink dyes, and I hit him back with images of cutouts and slits. The 501 is the base, then there’s little, deliberate missteps in the DNA.”