Levi's Men's 505 Regular Fit Jeans

I've worn Levi's since the 1970s. My waist is 2" inches bigger now, but it hasn't changed in 25 years. Levi's are well known for their quality and consistency, but in my case, I've had some difficulty with the consistency of the waist size. I've got some older Levi's (stone washed 505 regular, just like these) in a 1" larger waist size that are much tighter than these, even after stretching, and always washing them in cold and hanging them to dry. For the first time ever, I bought a pair of these from Amazon instead of retail. I ordered the same size I've been wearing (34W 32L), and to my surprise, they fit perfectly! So I ordered two more pair (which also fit perfectly). I've read in a few places that the Levi's sold on Amazon are somehow different from the retail ones, but I inspected these carefully, and could not find any differences.