Levi's 501 in a mid indigo worn to a strong, honest contrast - deep whiskering through the hip and thigh and a soft even fade across the seat. Button fly, copper rivets, five pockets, arcuate stitching on both back pockets.
The care tag dates it precisely: model 501, made 8/82, factory 558, with the size at W32 L33. Most vintage 501s cannot be pinned tighter than a decade; this one says the month on the label. The tag also carries the shrink-to-fit instruction - "no soak, no hot wash, wash alone before wearing, shrinks about 10%" - and the odd L33 inseam is itself a shrink-to-fit tell, since unwashed lengths were cut long to shrink down. The waist comes to 32 inches around.
The red tab is a blank Tab - the registered mark and no lettering. That is a deliberate Levi's production feature rather than a worn-off or counterfeit tab: Levi's holds the trademark on the shape of the Tab itself, and has to keep genuinely blank ones in production to maintain the registration. Around one pair in ten carries it.
Condition: worn, and the fade is the reason to want it. The hems have been cut - raw and frayed at both openings, not original, and priced accordingly rather than as an untouched pair. The denim itself is sound with no thinning at the seat or knees.
