Had anyone successfully dyed Levi 501's?

[Highlighta]

I took a chance and bought some preloved 501s (so can't be returned), and they fit me amazingly well.

They are a few years old but it's obvious they haven't been worn much at all. One thing I didn't notice on the photo is that they have quite noticeable 'whiskers', I don't know the correct term for it. Not an acid wash but white lines across the front in hip area and on the leg, what I can only describe as a star type bit which is lighter (bleach washed). The jeans themselves are the darker blue denim so the stripey part and leg part are quite noticeable. I know these were quite in fashion a few years ago, these are from 2017 if it helps at all.

I've never dyed blue jeans, only black and also never a pair that have this type of acid wash.

If I take them in to be done it will no doubt cost more than I paid for the jeans, so I'm tempted to just give it a go myself.

Just wanted to see if anyone had done this successfully before. And did the stripey bleach bit blend in with the darker rest of the jeans?

Generally I'd say that it might take a few washes in dye to get a more uniform effect, but also i can't really picture what you're describing. Do you have a pic?

Thank you @dudsville .

Here is a picture of them. Whenever I take photos of jeans the acid wash (bleached part) always seems to show up much lighter on the pic, and not so noticeable irl. But in this picture the whiter parts have actually shown up less white than they actually are. Do you see on the leg, there seems to be lines running off the bigger bleached part as well. Just seems a little odd, I've not seen that before.

Oops it didn't add

It's impossible IME to get a proper blue denim coloured dye. The Dylon 'Jeans' dye comes out a dark, uniform blue.
Dying jeans black is usually pretty successful. Just did a pair of my own 501s that had faded.

You won't be able to hide those lines with dye.
But they look nice just the way they are.

I’ve dyed 501s but never a denim-wash type finish…only a solid colour like black or navy.

I suspected that the bleached parts, if it dyes at all, may come out darker. I think I might just have to wear them as is and see how they wear in. Also, I usually only buy solid colour jeans so these are a bit out of the ordinary for me.

They fit so well, they are the skinny leg version so not skinny but slimmer in the leg than the reguakr 501s.

You could always bleach the whole Jean instead, to make the lighter parts less obvious?

I've never seen that, fancy! I'd also opt for black, and do a few washes.

Would washing them with non-colourfast dark blue jeans work?

Maybe?

But its murphys law that this would only ever happen when you don't want it to..... 😀

They are probably meant to be like that. Wear them, they look great.

A small update.

I put them on this morning to try wear them in, thinking the 'whiskers' will blend in after a few wears. And I think I looked ridiculous. They aren't tight, as I like the looser look. So the lines are in the wrong place iyswim. Anyway, the point is that I have to feel comfy/confident wearing them, and I just feel I won't.

So I took a trip down to my drycleaner/tailor who seems to think there is a work around to get them solid. It involves high heat (I suppose they use a Dylon-On-Steroids) for the process. They even unstitch the Levi's badge and resew it on again after. Costing just under what I paid for them, which wasn't much for them to be fair, seeing as they are unworn.... So I will update you all next week if you like.

Thanks for all of the advice. I would have just bunged them in the machine to do a dye, didn't even think of what it would have done to the Levi's leather badge.

So what was going to be a budget buy isn't one anymore, but these fit well. I have tried on a whole bunch of the newly released 501 options, the Wedgie and what seems like every other pair (I have Ribcage and love those). These seem softer, the rise is higher, the leg is slimmer.... they are just right in every other aspect.

I am a big fan of DIY, but this time they just fit too right for me to chance a DIY disaster.

I know I am probably being a bit of a fusspot about them really.

Thanks for the update. Let us know if it works.

If you dye jeans the dye just dyes everything the same shade of solid colour so then they look like an strange pair of solid coloured trousers you've just bought, all the subtleties around pockets and label etc as someone says are gone in the uniform deep colour and they don't look like denim anymore. it'd take a lot of washing to tone this down and you couldn't even wash them with other jeans coz the colour bleeds forever. I too am a fan of DIY but not for jeans

I think they look great, and dyeing will just give you a weird block colour.

I think giving them to the dry cleaners was the smart choice. When you find THE jeans it’s worth the investment. (I bloody love my jeans!)

Yes loads of times, they will all be the same colour if you dye them black or navy.

I like them as they are though!

Yes exactly my experience. I have dyed black jeans successfully when they've become faded, so presumed blue denim would be successful too. My jeans went a horrible colour, really odd solid shade of dark blue and they'd lost all the subtle tones that you get with blue denim. If you look at blue denim closely it is never solid, it has white running through the threads, turn your jeans inside out and you can see the white.

I didn't know shops for this op, will you please show the outcome?