Yes!

Yeap, talking about 501s. I had questions for Levi’s about the dye and especially the “leather” patches on the back of the pants. I specifically asked about the higher end, premium selvedge line too (that appear with a darker, thicker “leather” like patch). So I fired off an email to customer service and received this response.

Christine here from Levi’s(R). Thanks for checking in with us.

All of our products have leather like construction paper for the label on the back that displays our logo. None of out labels are made of real leather currently.

As for our dyes none of them are tested on animals.

If there’s anything else we can help you with, be sure to email us back or give us a call at 1-800-USA-LEVI Monday – Friday from 6:00am – 4:30pm Pacific Time.

There you have it. Sport those Levi’s with pride.

Update #1: I have a friend who worked for Levi’s a few years back, I asked him to chime in on this one. He says Levi’s stopped using actual leather on their regular denim back in the 50s. But he doubts the super-high end line don’t use leather, especially the LVC line, anything that retros the pre-50s models. He also claims some of the Capital-E or perhaps some of the Levi’s Red line would have leather. I’ll get back to Christine on this one, and let you know more.

Update #2: I hit up Levi’s for more info on the high end line. Here’s the response.

Ana here from Levi’s(R). Thanks for checking in with us.

Some of the products from our Levi(R) Capital E and LVC Collections may have a Leather Patch. The availability of the Leather Patch can vary among the different styles.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!