Lee 101

Lee 101 Cowboy Pants, mid-1920s Lee's answer to the riveted overall was a heavy 13-ounce jean built for riders and sold under lot number 101. Its lasting contribution is the zip fly: the 101Z, usually dated to 1926, is widely credited as the first jean with a zipper, nearly three decades before Levi's offered a zippered 501 for East Coast buyers in 1954. That head start is why a zip fly on an old Western jean does not automatically make it a late pair. James Dean's taste for 101Z Riders later carried the name well beyond the rodeo.