TCB S40's and 50's. Sewn in Kojima, Okayama.

A comparison guide

TCB S40's vs 50's Jeans.

Two straight-leg jeans from the same Kojima workshop, each built from a different decade. The S40's follows the wartime S501XX, made in the early 1940s under strict limits on metal, thread and cloth. The 50's follows a pair from the decade after, when those limits had lifted and jeans were becoming something people chose to wear rather than something they were issued for work.

On the hanger they look close. On the body they are not. The S40's sits higher and falls straighter. The 50's sits lower and narrows slightly towards the hem. This guide covers where each shape comes from, how the fabrics and construction differ, and how we size each one. We are comparing the regular, original-fit 50's here. TCB also cuts the 50's in a slim and a baggy version, which we come back to near the end.

+ The S40's: Jeans Made Under Rationing

After the United States entered the Second World War, the War Production Board restricted how much metal, thread and cloth could go into civilian clothing. Jeans makers complied by stripping their trousers back. Levi's wartime version was stamped S501XX, the S generally read as "simplified".

The changes were practical rather than stylistic. Decorative stitching was reduced. The rivets on the watch pocket went. Branded buttons were replaced with generic ones, often stamped with a laurel wreath or left plain, from whichever supplier could deliver. Pocket bags were cut from whatever cotton was on hand. The result is a jean that looks rougher and less consistent than anything made before or after it, and collectors value the originals partly for exactly that.

TCB was founded in Kojima in 2012 by Hajime Inoue, whose interest moved over time from the standard vintage references, the 501XX and the 66, towards the imperfections of the simplified models. The S40's is TCB's reproduction of the S501XX, and it keeps the wartime logic: a steel laurel wreath top button, plain one-piece donut buttons on the fly, belt loops cut wide but stitched narrow, and back pockets that do not quite match from left to right.

The shape follows the same thinking. Wartime jeans were still work trousers first. The S40's has a high rise and a straight, regular leg with room through the seat and thigh, cut for movement rather than line.

S40's. Laurel wreath top button, steel hardware.

+ The 50's: After the Restrictions Lifted

When the war ended, so did the restrictions. Through the late 1940s and into the 1950s the details returned: stitched back pocket arcs, the full set of rivets, branded hardware. The leather waist patch gave way to a card patch, cheaper to produce and prone to wearing away in the wash. Hidden rivets, covered by denim on the back pockets so they would not scratch furniture or saddles, stayed.

The wearer changed as well. In the 1950s jeans moved out of the workplace and into the wardrobes of young men who wore them by choice, and the cut moved with them. Patterns from the decade are generally trimmer than wartime jeans: a lower seat, less cloth through the thigh, and a leg that begins to narrow below the knee.

The 50's was the first jean TCB made, and it remains the foundation of the range. It was developed by studying a 1950s pair in the company's own collection, down to the yarn count used on each seam. TCB adjusted the stitch width and settings of its vintage sewing machines to match the original, and uses four thread colours across five yarn counts to do it. The result is mid-rise, relaxed through the top, with a slight taper to the hem.

50's. Hand-sewn paper patch, copper rivets.

+ Rise and Leg: The Difference on the Body

Most customers choosing between these two are deciding on two things: where the waistband sits, and how wide the leg is. The photographs below show the same person in both pairs, at the sizes we recommend, from the same angles.

Rise. The S40's is a high-rise jean. The waistband sits at or near the natural waist, the front rise is long, and there is more cloth through the seat. With a tucked shirt it reads as period workwear. The 50's sits lower, at mid-rise, closer to where most people wear jeans today. The seat is cleaner and the back rise shorter.

Leg. The S40's falls straight from thigh to hem with little change in width. It gives a column-like line and a fuller hem that sits easily over a work boot. The 50's is relaxed through the thigh but narrows gradually from the knee down. The difference at the hem is modest, but it changes how the jean stacks and how it sits over footwear.

Neither is a slim jean. Both are straight in the vintage sense, with more room than a modern straight cut. The choice is between the fuller, higher wartime shape and the slightly lower, slightly cleaner post-war one.

S40's

50's

S40's

50's

+ Sizing: One Size Up, Two Sizes Up

TCB cuts small. The brand says so itself: its jeans run smaller than most Japanese reproduction labels, and the tag size should be checked against the measurements rather than assumed.

Our recommendation, from fitting both in the shop: size up one from your usual jean size in the S40's, and size up two in the 50's. If you normally wear a 32, start with a 33 in the S40's and a 34 in the 50's.

The gap between the two recommendations reflects the cut. The 50's is trimmer at the waist and seat than the S40's, so the same tagged number fits closer. Buy the 50's at your usual size and it will feel tight across the waist and seat, and the leg will sit tighter than the pattern intends.

Both pairs arrive once washed, so most of the shrinkage has already happened. TCB notes that shrinkage varies from batch to batch, so a soak or a warm wash can still take a little out of the waist and length. Wash cold if you want to keep the size you bought, and hem after the first wash rather than before.

Two cottons, two yarns, two kinds of fade.

+ The Fabric: 14oz EMOT and 13.5oz Zimbabwe Cotton

S40's: 14oz EMOT cotton
A blend of cottons from Eastern Memphis, New Orleans and Texas, spun into hard-twisted yarns with visible neps. The warp is rope-dyed indigo and the weft is cream rather than bright white, which gives the cloth a warmer cast on the reverse and in the fades. Woven on vintage Toyoda shuttle looms, finished with a pink selvedge ID.

50's: 13.5oz Zimbabwe cotton
Zimbabwe cotton is a long-staple, hand-picked cotton that spins into a softer, more even yarn. TCB weaves it on vintage looms and leaves the natural variation in yarn thickness alone, so the surface still carries slub and irregularity. This is TCB's signature 50's fabric, also used on its 50's Type 2 jacket.

How each one fades
The S40's coarse, neppy yarn resists full indigo saturation and wears into a high-contrast, textured fade. The 50's fades in the vertical streaks typical of 1950s denim: small white points appear first, then gradually join into lines.

Where the two decades show in the details.

+ Construction: What Was Removed, What Came Back

Hardware
The S40's uses steel throughout: a laurel wreath top button of the kind found on period military and work garments, simple one-piece donut buttons on the fly, and steel rivets. The 50's uses copper rivets, as post-war jeans did once materials were available again.

Back pockets
On the S40's the two back pockets carry different stitch patterns, with uneven top corners and angled stitching at the base, as you see on wartime originals sewn quickly with little finishing. The 50's back pockets are secured with hidden rivets beneath the denim, set using the most durable method TCB could reproduce.

Belt loops
The S40's loops are cut in the wide wartime shape but stitched narrow, and sit with a slight gap from the waistband. On the 50's the loops follow the tidier post-war pattern.

Patch
The S40's carries a TCB-branded deerskin patch. The 50's has a hand-sewn paper patch that cracks and tears as the jean is worn and washed, exposing the darker denim beneath, much as the card patches of the period did.

Thread and pocket bags
Both are sewn in Kojima with 100% cotton thread across five yarn counts; the 50's uses four thread colours matched to the original. Both have cotton twill pocket bags, and on the 50's they are deliberately sewn roughly, as the original's were.

Worn in. The S40's and the 50's after wear.

+ Which One Suits You

Choose the S40's if you want a high waist, a full straight leg and the rougher character of wartime denim. It suits people who wear their jeans with work boots, tucked shirts and heavier outerwear, and who like a jean that looks a little uneven up close. At 14oz it is also the heavier of the two.

Choose the 50's if you want something nearer to where most people wear jeans now: mid-rise, relaxed at the top, slightly narrower at the hem. It is the more versatile of the two shapes, in a slightly lighter 13.5oz cloth, and for many people it makes the better first pair of reproduction jeans.

If the 50's details suit you but the leg does not, TCB cuts the same pattern two other ways. The Slim T 50's drops the rise and tapers the leg. The Baggy 50's widens the original into a loose, relaxed silhouette. Both are worth trying against the original if you sit between shapes.

TCB Jeans

29 items

JEANS STRAIGHT

21 items

MOMOTARO JEANS #100 Standard Straight - 14

JEANS TAPERED

14 items

TCB Jeans Slim T 50's XX Medium Rise Slim-Tapered Denim - 13

JEANS WIDE

21 items

Japanese Selvedge Denim

50 items

+ Wearing Them In

Both jeans are built to be worn hard and repaired rather than replaced. Wear them consistently for the first few months and wash only when they need it. The fades in both fabrics come from the creases you put into them, at the hips, behind the knees and at the hem.

Hem length matters more here than on a modern jean. The S40's full hem suits a single or double cuff, or a length that breaks just over a boot. The 50's taper suits a clean single break or a short cuff. We chain-stitch hem in store, which is how both jeans would originally have been finished, and the roping it produces along the hem becomes part of how the jean ages.

When the crotch thins or a pocket corner gives way, bring them back in. Our denim repair service covers darning, patching and reinforcement. Repair is part of owning jeans like these, and a well-repaired pair carries more of its history than a new one.

+ Frequently Asked Questions

The S40's reproduces the wartime S501XX: high rise, full straight leg, 14oz EMOT cotton denim and simplified steel hardware. The 50's reproduces a 1950s jean: mid-rise, relaxed through the thigh with a slight taper, 13.5oz Zimbabwe cotton denim, copper rivets, hidden rivets and a paper patch.

We recommend sizing up one from your usual jean size. TCB runs smaller than most Japanese reproduction brands, so if you normally wear a 32, start with a 33.

We recommend sizing up two from your usual jean size. The 50's is trimmer at the waist and seat than the S40's, so if you normally wear a 32, start with a 34.

Both the S40's and the 50's are sold once washed, so most shrinkage has already happened. TCB notes that shrinkage varies between batches, so a soak or a warm wash can still take a little out of the waist and length. Wash cold to keep the size you bought.

It refers to the S501XX, the simplified version of the jean made during the Second World War, when restrictions on metal, thread and cloth led to fewer rivets, generic buttons and reduced decorative stitching.

The S40's hard-twisted, neppy EMOT cotton yarn produces a rough, high-contrast fade with plenty of texture. The 50's Zimbabwe cotton denim fades in vertical streaks, starting as small white points that gradually join into lines.

The S40's is the heavier of the two at 14oz. The 50's is 13.5oz. The difference in feel comes as much from the yarn as the weight: the S40's is coarser and more irregular, the 50's softer and more even.

Yes. Alongside the original 50's, TCB makes the Slim T 50's, with a lower rise and a tapered leg, and the Baggy 50's, a wide, relaxed version of the original pattern.

Yes. We chain-stitch hem in store, which is how both jeans would originally have been finished. We recommend washing them first and then hemming, so the length is set after any remaining shrinkage.