Levi Strauss

What began as a tentative partnership in 1853 between a tailor who wished to patent his enduring pants with rivets and German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss who moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria to San Francisco to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry fruitss business… transformed into an American fashion brand renowned for its denim jeans. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware, the company's corporate headquarters is in San Francisco.

Levi Strauss- creator of the blue jeans- was born in Buttenheim Bavaria in 1829. Two years after his father died in 1846, Levi and his three sisters shifted to New York where his two brothers were running a dry fruits business. When news of the California Gold Rush reached him, Levi travelled to San Francisco to make a fortune though he wouldn't make it panning gold. He represented the family business on the West Coast and named it 'Levi Strauss and Co.' 

Levi Strauss and Co. has an interesting history. In 1872 Levi got a letter from one of his customers- Reno Nevada-based tailor Jacob Davis- who revealed he had designed long-lasting pants using rivets at points of strain and suggested that the two take out a patent. Levi agreed.. the patent was granted to Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss and Company on May 20 1873 — and blue jeans were born. In 1886 the logo was introduced.. depicting two horses attempting to pull apart a pair of Levi's overalls and symbolised its strength.

After Strauss' death in 1902 the reins of the company passed over to his nephews and post- 1918 to his in-laws- the Haas. In the Twenties Levi's jeans were largely worn by cowboys, lumberjacks and railroad workers. It was introduced to the East during the dude ranch phase of the Thirties when tourists returned home with the hard-wearing pants with rivets and gleeful tales. Another catalyst happened in World War II when jeans were declared an essential commodity and sold just to people in defence work. The rivet and waist cinch were removed to conform to War Production Board requirements to preserve metal. Its appearance in Hollywood blockbusters, worn by John Wayne and Gary Cooper, made the blue jeans a must- have in the Thirties. Ginger Rogers and Carole Lombard wearing it convinced women that denim was for them too.

The fashion brand's impressive growth happened post- 1946 when it left wholesale and manufactured under its own label. In the Fifites the shrink-to-fit Levis 501 became legendary among the youth and is in huge demand till date — in order to differentiate it a Red Tab was added to the right back pocket. During this era Marlon Brando and James Dean popularised the image of denim-clad teenage men with sex appeal; hippies wore it in the Sixties while feminists and women's lib organisers chose jeans to show gender equity. Some high schools banned denim which served to further enhance its status. So it's no wonder Levi's experienced significant growth during this 'blue jeans craze' in the Sixties and Seventies. When the company went public in 1971 it was present in fifty countries and annual sales in 1997 were estimated at $7.1 billion. Levi's then added stone-washed jeans through its acquisition of Great Western Garment Company.

In the Eighties however the brand closed roughly sixty manufacturing plants due to a financial slump. In 1985 the Haas along with other descendants of Levi Strauss staged a buyout and the brand took on multibillion-dollar debt to finance it. Dockers- launched the following year- transformed business attire as young professionals adopted the khaki pants. It helped the brand grow in the Nineties when denim sales declined. But Levi’s lost its flair for combining heritage with current trends.. and in the early twentieth century sales fell to reportedly $4 billion.

In 2011 the company hired Chip Bergh as President and CEO. During his tenure, the company has experienced a dramatic turnaround marked by outstanding performance, a return to the center of culture and purpose-driven leadership and he is credited with modernising its e-commerce division and expanding the overseas markets. Per Forbes 'He believed he could reinvigorate the brand, support and lead ever-strengthening humanitarian values and principles and guide the company to sustained financial strength. It's a decade later and by all accounts he's done so despite the financial hit from an unprecedented concurrence of ravaging global crises this past year.'

Sustained, commercial growth while preserving the values and leadership standards that helped the company to flourish. It reinvests a portion of its annual earnings to champion equality, support vulnerable communities and build a sustainable future for the planet.

Levi Strauss Co. embraces its heritage of designing the most iconic blue jeans and khaki pants while staying relevant by placing customers’ needs at the center of everything it does. 

Denim apparel and accessories