Iconic Products

Zu Beginn waren sie nur Arbeitskleidung, inzwischen gehören Levi’s Jeans zu den beliebtesten Modeartikeln weltweit. Von JULIAN EARWAKER

Blue with a red tag: Levi’s jeans

Two horses pull this pair of jeans in different directions — but they don’t tear. The rivets hold. The pants are blue and made of cotton denim with a small red tag. The stitching on the back pockets is shaped like a double arch. What started out as work pants eventually became a casual classic: Levi’s jeans.

In 1872, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant, was shown a pair of work pants by one of his customers, Jacob Davis. Davis had found a way of making pants last longer by putting copper rivets at the corners of pockets and seams. Strauss loved the idea and, in May 1873, the two men were given a joint patent. Levi’s blue jeans were born. Cut from nine-ounce denim, these pants had a straight leg, five pockets, and were called “XX” jeans. In 1890, XX were renamed “lot number 501.” Miners, ranchers, farmers, and builders in the American West all loved the comfortable, hard-wearing 501s.

In 1934, Levi’s produced the first jeans for women. The red tag was added in 1936. During World War II, the US government decided that Levi’s were important to the war effort, and production was controlled to keep the prices low. By the 1960s, jeans had become a fashion garment — Marilyn Monroe wore Levi’s in the 1961 film The Misfits. Today, we can buy Levi’s in every color, style, and texture, but in 2020, it’s the classic 501s that Americans voted the most iconic fashion item of all time.