Saturday, August 24, 2013

Development Of Levi Jeans For Men

By Ray Hauser


Levi jeans for men epitomize a quintessential American style renowned worldwide for its commitment to quality and fashion. The jeans are manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co, a privately held American company founded in 1853 by Levi Strauss. Still headquartered in San Francisco Ca, the company employs seventeen thousand people worldwide and generates almost $5 billion in revenue.

The history of Levi Strauss & Co is a compelling story of hard work, innovation and success epitomizing the very ideals of American business. In 1847, Levi Strauss immigrated to New York City from Germany to join his two brothers in their wholesale dry goods business. In 1853, he settled in San Francisco to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by the California Gold Rush. Strauss eventually opened his own dry goods business called Levi Strauss & Co and sold clothing, boots, tents, canvas and other products to general stores in the region.

Jacob Davis, Strauss's eventual partner, worked as a tailor in Reno, Nevada. He would often buy material from Strauss. The story goes that a working man's wife once asked Davis to make some sturdier pants for her husband since he was always ruining them at work. Davis began making pants with metal rivets at the corners of the pockets and the button fly. The pants were a big hit and held up well under very tough working conditions.

In 1872, Davis decided to contact Strauss about his rivet idea. He wanted to patent the innovation, but he didn't have the funds to file the application. Strauss agreed to finance the process and the two men would share the patent. Patent 139121 for the "Improvement in Fastening Pocket Openings" was issued in May 1873. This patent cleared the way for the manufacture of modern Levi jeans.

Davis soon moved to San Francisco where he joined Strauss in the manufacture of their "waist overalls" later known as jeans. The pants were sold under the "XX" brand name since nine ounce XX blue denim was used in their production. Each pair had a watch pocket, cinch, crotch rivet, arcuate stitching and suspender buttons. The rivets all had the "LS&CO" logo embossed on them.

The Two Horse leather brand was sewed onto the pants in 1886 to demonstrate the strength of the clothing and reinforce Levi's image as the inventor of the rivet patent. Strauss began using the 501 trademark brand in 1890 just after the rivet patent expired. This came about because the trousers were listed in the catalog as number 501.

By the 1950's teenagers began referring to Levi's as jeans and a zippered version of the jeans was introduced and called 501Z. By 1960, the word "overalls" was formally replaced by "jeans" in labels and advertising.

By the 1950's a zippered version of the jeans appeared and was called 501Z. Teenagers began calling Levi's "jeans" during this era and by 1960 the word "jeans" replaced "overalls" in labels and advertising. Levi jeans continue to be a world recognized symbol of American culture, fashion and style.




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