Unlike fine wine or Matthew McConaughey, clothing doesn’t necessarily improve with age. Your bespoke suit, for example, has a half-life of around 10 years, depending on how often you wear it, and how cavalier you are with the calories. But, providing they’re cut from quality denim, jeans generally look better after five, 10, maybe even 20 years of wear. How to guarantee they’ll go the distance? Get them made for you by the team at Lot-1, Levi’s lesser-known special-order department.
The story begins with a visit to the service’s London HQ, a vaulted, sunlit space near Carnaby Street in Soho, and a meeting with Lizzie Radcliffe, Lot-1’s master tailor. First, you choose the denim from a book of swatches that indicates how each will perform over time. Everything is un-distressed, straight off the loom, from a selection of the best mills in the business, including Kaihara in Japan, Isko in Turkey and Cone Mills in China. The selection of denim is crucial: some fabrics will take many wears and washes to be broken in, so you need to have some foresight. Lot-1 pitches itself as an investment, rather than a purchase; to an extent, the success of that investment is on you.
“Customers coming in have an understanding that bespoke quality takes time,” explains Radcliffe, of the 12-week lead time from first fit to final pair. She has seen the Lot-1 demographic shift during her 10 years in the job. Since the pandemic, as the need for formal workwear has lessened, it’s shifted even more. “The whole office wardrobe has changed,” she says, “and we cater to a wider range of people for whom suits or suit trousers are no longer a necessity.”
Next come the details — things such as the stitching colour, buttons, rivets and branding. In the main, people order classic jeans and denim jackets, but there have been a few unorthodox commissions over the years. One couple requested a pair of matching denim waistcoats; another client ordered jeans with an exposed circular zip around the front opening. Radcliffe has a particular soft spot for secret pockets designed to house sentimental items: “The idea being that, over time, the items will fade through the jeans, revealing themselves on the fabric,” she explains.
Finally, the fit. Beyond the actual measurements — which take into account each client’s unique undulations — the team at Lot-1 will ask how and when you intend to wear your jeans, what you do for a living, and how you get to work, all to draw up a picture of how the
garment’s proportions will suit your lifestyle. Radcliffe trained across Regent Street at the fabled tailor, Edward Sexton, and that spirit permeates the Lot-1 studio. “The Savile Row model of knowledge sharing recognises the strengths of each [team] member, allowing for the best garments to be made,” she says. “The last person in is taught by the last person in before them and no one is too old to learn something new.”
Much like a tailoring house, the Lot-1 studio evolves, but stays true to its codes. It just happens to be that the codes cater to slouches and lounge lizards too. ○
Prices start at £750 for jeans, £1,150 for jackets; levi.com/GB/en_GB/features/lot1
