Free Are Lobsters Ambidextrous? by David Feldman

jeans ever since. The design of the tabs and their position on the jeans are registered trademarks of Levi Strauss & Co.
    There are now four different colored tabs (red, orange, silver, and cream) and they do indeed signify something—the type of construction used to manufacture the jeans. Although the consumer may not be aware of it, Levi Strauss spokesperson Jill Novack told Imponderables that many stores place all of the red-tab Levi jeans together, the orange together, etc. Here, in descending order of sales, are the four different colored tabs and what they mean:
 
    1. Red . Red-tab Levi’s feature the classic, detailed construction: five high-sloped pockets; six rivets in the front pocket; single-needle work on the top stitching; double stitching on the back pocket, which flares slightly. All 501s have red labels, but so do many other popular styles: 505, 506, 509, 517, 550, 583, 584, etc.
    2. Orange . Orange-tabs often look superficially like their red-tab counterparts. In fact, some lines, such as the 505 and 550, have both red- and orange-tab versions. But orange-tab jeans have slightly less expensive finishing and tend to cost a few dollars less than red-tab Levi’s. Here’s why: Orange-tabs have five rather than six rivets in front; more gradually sloping pockets; double-needle rather than single-needle work on the top stitching; and their pockets are simpler, with the stitching on the back pockets parallel rather than flared. Most of the 500 series not named above have orange tabs.
    3. Silver . Levi’s “fashion forward” contemporary jeans line features silver tabs. These jeans are identified by names rather than numbers, and are often available only on a seasonal basis. Baggy jeans, anti-fit, and sport jeans are all placed in the silver line. The silver line tends to contain the most expensive Levi jeans.
    4. Cream or Natural . The rarest of the tabs is the so-called natural tab, with a cream color that is the untreated natural color of the tab fabric, with brown lettering. The natural tab can be found only on Levi’s “Naturals” line, jeans that are, appropriately enough, naturally colored. Levi Strauss spokesperson Brad Williams told us that Naturals are softer to the touch than all their other jeans because they are the only ones that contain no dye. For technical reasons, starch must be used when applying dyes to jeans. As the consumer continues to wash most jeans, the starch gradually is eliminated from the garment. This lessening of the starch content is the reason why jeans get more comfortable after repeated washings.
     
    Or course, we knew nothing about this color coding before we started researching this Imponderable. So the next time weare in the market for 501’s, we will undoubtedly become paralyzed with self-consciousness. Do we buy the red-tabs and prove that we are fashion snobs of the worst order, demanding construction details that we never noticed in the first place? Or do we try orange-tabs, and advertise to the rest of the world how cheap we are?
 
    Submitted by Cathy Pearce and Heather McCausland of Lakeland, Florida .
     
     
    How did Levi’s 501 jeans get their number?
     
    Levi Strauss (yes, there was a real Levi Strauss) was a dry goods merchant in California and sold a wide range of products. The original Levi jean was the 501, and this number was simply its arbitrary stock number, according to Levi Strauss & Co. spokesperson Brad Williams.
    Strauss disliked applying the word “jeans” to his garment, so he promoted the 501 as “waist-high overalls.” Just think, if his company kept that name into the 1970s, chances are that high-fashion designers like Gloria Vanderbilt and Calvin Klein wouldn’t have foisted “designer waist-high overalls” on a gullible public at triple the prices of Mr. Strauss.
 
    Submitted by Sharon Michele Burke of Los Altos, California. Thanks also to John Hyatt of Boise, Idaho .
     
     
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