Why are old denim jackets so dark?

[Jasonissm]

Are old denim jackets really particularly dark? Here is an example of a 40's Levis jacket which is deadstock and unworn. It doesn't look any darker than modern jackets to me.


Here is another example, darker but not much darker than similarly made denim today:



For your reference, modern day Levi's Vintage Clothing jacket, this looks certainly darker to me but it also doesn't have years of wear from storage, UV rays, etc.:



There certainly are modern jackets which are lighter, notably some "greencast" denims, but throughout repro brands like Warehouse, TCB, Sugar Cane, etc. they pretty much do get similar colour to vintage jackets. Heck my Benzak Denim Developers jacket is darker than all of these examples listed and that's a very modern design.

 

[navetsea]

I was born in 78, so when I was a kid through the 80's in my country we don't have levi's but we have mall brand jeans I remember my first jeans was dark rinse blue but nowhere as dark as raw jeans today and it was not selvedge, and I can't remember how it faded perhaps I outgrew it after a year of weekend wear as I grew a bit chunky as a kid, I remember my second pairs actually from my junior highschool it was my first levi's from early 90's and it was silver label baggy style of those days... I wish I was baptized in 501 but I only met button fly jeans the first time in 2018

I'm happy with present day options, there are specific jeans for every desire, back in the days you will get what the flavor of the era, when you life in the 80s probably you will get normal dark wash or acid wash, in the 90s everything was baggy and stone washed, in the 00s every pair is low rise. however today the fashion is spinning too fast all of those options are available