Home / Style / Jeans

Levi’s Old Rival Is Giving It a Run for Its Money

Lee’s Fall 2025 collection, including the premium Lee 101, looks better than anything the brand has done in decades, and might reignite an old rivalry.

Dark denim fabric with orange stitching, featuring metal buttons and a small tag with the brand name "Lee" in yellow. The fabric also includes a section of brown corduroy material.Lee
black and white headshot of brad lanphear

By Brad Lanphear

Published

·

Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more

Levi’s is the undisputed king of American denim, but that wasn’t always the case.

From the late 1960s through the 1980s, when the world’s best denim was still made in America, the San Francisco-based brand was locked in a struggle for dungaree dominance with Lee.

Dark blue denim jeans pocket with yellow stitching, featuring a small black and yellow "Lee" brand tag on the upper left corner of the pocket. A brown leather belt with a woven pattern and a brown leather patch with the letters "ee" in black is visible above the pocket.
Lee has its own trademark pocket stitching.
Lee

Lee started out as a workwear brand in 1889. Following in the footsteps of Levi’s, it specialized in denim. In 1954, the brand expanded into casual attire as the popularity of jeans exploded. By 1969, it had completed a Carhartt-esque transition into a popular style brand.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Lee had a more hyped reputation than Levi’s, as it leaned into fashion trends and spent heavily on marketing. Thrifters and collectors covet Lee jeans and denim jackets from this period for their outstanding quality.

Close-up of the inside hem of a dark denim jacket showing detailed orange stitching, a small white tag that reads "Crafted in Japan," and a textured, multicolored striped fabric lining. The denim has a classic twill weave pattern and silver snap buttons.
Lee has utilized Japanese denim from Kaihara to replicate its former quality.
Lee

As American garment manufacturing collapsed in the 1990s, Lee’s parent company, the VF Corporation, lowered production quality to mass produce an affordable product, which damaged the brand’s reputation.

Back in blue

The VF Corporation restructured in 2019, and under new leadership, Lee began a concerted effort to regain its former respectability. Recent collaborations with designers like Ouigi Theodore of Brooklyn Circus and Paul Smith have shown flashes of a comeback.

However, Lee’s Fall 2025 collection suggests that said comeback is now in full swing. It’s heavy on mid-century workwear and utilizes Japanese selvedge denim from Kaihara Mill to match its 1970s-era quality.

A man wearing a dark denim jacket with a brown corduroy collar, a black shirt underneath, and dark denim jeans. The jacket is partially open, revealing a striped inner lining. The man is standing outdoors in front of green doors and a brick wall, with one hand in his pocket and the other arm extended.
The centerpiece of Lee’s Fall 2025 collection is the Storm Rider Jacket.
Lee

The collection’s centerpiece is the Lee 101 Storm Rider Jacket, a blanket-lined raw selvedge denim trucker with a brown corduroy collar. It’s rounded out with classic staples like button-fly jeans, denim western shirts and plaid overshirts.

Check out five of the best pieces from Lee’s Fall 2025 collection here. It is miniature compared to what Levi’s offers, but strong enough to turn heads and possibly reignite the old rivalry.

An affordable workwear masterpiece

The Lee 101 Storm Rider Jacket ticks all the boxes for classic workwear junkies like myself. It is made from raw 15-ounce Japanese selvedge denim from Kaihara Mill and has double-needle stitching throughout. The torso has a full blanket lining, and the collar has a wide-wale corduroy lining.

This trucker jacket design is pulled from Lee’s archive. It is emblematic of the workwear that made the brand successful in the early twentieth century.

Matching button-fly jeans

The S Jean, introduced in 1941, is Lee’s equivalent to Levi’s 501, the signature design that represents what the brand does best. This premium upgrade is made with 13-ounce Japanese raw selvedge denim from Kaihara Mill. It has a rivet button fly, leather belt loop patch and Lee’s signature tab sewn onto the back pocket.

The slim fit has a mid-length rise that sits right at the waistline and a slight taper from the lower-hip down. It is also available in a wider straight leg fit.

Lee’s signature trucker jacket

Lee introduced the Rider Jacket in 1948, and it did just as much as the Levi’s Type III to make the jean jacket an American icon. Surviving examples from the mid-twentieth century are pure gold on the vintage market.

Fortunately, Lee revitalized the design to match its former glory, and you can pick up a brand new one in either a washed-out fade or a shiny new selvedge. It is made with 15-ounce Japanese selvedge denim from Kaihara Mill.

A beefy plaid shacket

Brands like Corridor and Wax popularized this type of boucle-esque heavy knit plaid in the late 2010s, and it is now a fall menswear staple. Lee offers an exceptional example, made from 100 percent cotton and offered at half the price of those other brands.

It has double flap pockets on the chest and faux-horn buttons. Along with the orange, blue and white plaid pictured above, it comes in a blue, black and gray plaid.

An essential denim Western shirt

Along with jeans and denim jackets, Lee is known for vintage Western shirts. Fortunately, the brand has replicated its 1950s design with a slightly tighter modern fit.

It has single-point front yokes, a curved back yoke, spade flap pockets and white pearl snap buttons. The only shortfall for denim nerds like myself is that the cuff only has one snap and a standard button on the placket rather than the traditional three-snap cuff, plus one on the placket.

About the Author: Brad Lanphear is an associate editor at Gear Patrol covering watches and style. Before joining the publication, he previously wrote for Heddels and Men’s Health. Now, he’s on a never-ending quest to find the perfect pair of Japanese denim.

Read More

,