Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1852[2] when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware,[3] the company's corporate headquarters is located in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.[4]
History
Origin and formation (1853–1890s)
German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss was born on February 26, 1829. He grew up in Buttenheim, Bavaria. Strauss began business at 90 Sacramento Street in San Francisco, then moved to 62 Sacramento Street.[5] In 1858, the company was listed as Strauss, Levi (David Stern & Lewis Strauss) importers clothing, etc. 63 & 65 Sacramento St. (today, on the current grounds of the 353 Sacramento Street Lobby[6]) in the San Francisco Directory with Strauss serving as its sales manager and his brother-in-law, David Stern, as its manager.[7]
Jacob Davis, a Latvian-Jewish[8] immigrant, was a Reno, Nevada[9] tailor who frequently purchased bolts of denim cloth from Levi Strauss & Co.'s wholesale house. After one of Davis's customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he thought of using copper rivets to reinforce points of strain, such as on pocket corners and the base of the button fly.[10] Davis lacked sufficient funds to obtain a patent, so he wrote to Strauss proposing a business partnership.[11] After Strauss accepted Davis's offer, the two men received from the United States Patent and Trademark Office on May 20, 1873. The copper rivet was incorporated into the company's jean design and advertisements. Contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush (which peaked in 1849), the manufacturing of denim overalls began in the 1870s. In 1890, the rivet patent went into the public domain; the same year, lot numbers were assigned to company products, and "501" was used to designate the famous copper-riveted waist overalls. The company lost its records in the 1906 earthquake and there is no information why that number was chosen.[12]
There are urban legends claiming that the first pair of Levi's jeans were made of hemp, in despite being made from cotton by the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company.[13] This misinformation was likely spread in the 20th century by cannabis rights activist Jack Herer.[14] The first hemp jeans from Levi's were manufactured in March 2019.[15]
Growth in popularity (1910s–1960s)
Modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working people of the western US, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. Levi's jeans were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales (and usually examples) of the hard-wearing riveted denim pants. Another boost came in World War II when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and sold only to people engaged in defense work.
Between the 1950s and 1980s, Levi's jeans became popular among a wide range of youth subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers, and hippies. Levi's popular shrink-to-fit 501s were sold as labeled, sized as manufactured, and had substantial shrinkage upon laundering.[16] Although popular lore (abetted by company marketing) holds that the original design remains unaltered, the crotch rivet, watch pocket rivets, and waist cinch were removed during World War II to conform with War Production Board metal conservation rules and only the watch pocket rivets restored after.[17] Additionally, the back pocket rivets, which had been covered in denim since 1937 to prevent scratching furniture, were removed in the 1950s (and replaced by bar tacks) as they eventually wore through and caused the problem anyway.[18]
Blue jeans era (1960s–1980s)
From the early 1960s through the mid-1970s, Levi Strauss experienced significant business growth as the casual look of the 1960s and 1970s ushered in the "blue jeans craze". Levi's, under the leadership of Walter Haas, Peter Haas Sr., Paul Glasco, and George P. Simpkins Sr., expanded the firm's clothing line by adding new fashions and models, such as "stone-washed" jeans through the acquisition of Great Western Garment Co. (GWG), a Canadian clothing manufacturer, a technique still in use by Levi Strauss. Simpkins is credited with the company's record-paced expansion of its manufacturing capacity from 16 plants to more than 63 in the US – and 23 overseas – from 1964 to 1974.
In the 1980s, the company closed approximately 60 manufacturing plants because of financial difficulties and strong competition.[19]
The Dockers brand, launched in 1986 and sold primarily through department store chains, helped the company grow through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to wane. Dockers were introduced into Europe in 1996 and led by CEO Jorge Bardina. Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the company's $2.6 billion outstanding debt. In May 2025, it did agree to sell Dockers for $311 million to brand management firm Authentic Brands Group.[20]
Brand competition (1990s)
By the 1990s, Levi's faced competition from other brands and cheaper products from overseas and began accelerating the pace of its US factory closures and its use of offshore subcontractors. In 1991, Levi Strauss became implicated in a scandal involving pants made in the Northern Mariana Islands: some 3% of Levi's jeans sold annually with the "Made in the USA" label were shown to have been made by Chinese laborers under what the U.S. Department of Labor called slave-like conditions.[21] As of 2016, only a few of the costlier higher-end styles are made domestically.[22]
Cited for sub-minimum wages, seven-day work weeks with 12-hour shifts, poor living conditions, and other workplace abuses, Tan Holdings Corporation, Levi Strauss' Marianas subcontractor, paid what were then the largest fines in US labor history, distributing more than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees.[23][24][25]
Later developments (2000–present)
In 2002, Levi Strauss began a close business collaboration with Walmart, producing a line of "Signature" jeans and other clothes for sale only in Walmart stores until 2006.[31]
In 2002, the company closed its Valencia Street plant in San Francisco, which opened in 1906.[32][33] By the end of 2003, the closure of Levi's last U.S. factory in San Antonio ended 150 years of jeans made in the United States.[34] Production of a few higher-end, more expensive styles of jeans resumed in the U.S. several years later.[33] Levi Strauss closed several factories worldwide and took control of GWG's operations.[35]
Cultural impact
Levi's have been worn by people of all backgrounds – from miners to actors to Nobel Prize recipients. Marlon Brando and Albert Einstein wore Levi's, and Einstein wore a 1930s-era Levi's leather jacket, which sold at auction house Christie's in July 2016 for £110,500.[61]
Levi's is aggressive in advertising, marketing, and trademark protection. It has used its signature arched stitching on the back pockets of its jeans since 1873. In 1943, the firm trademarked the design in the U.S. and has done so in more than 100 total jurisdictions as of 2019.[50] It has also trademarked various word marks, including "Levi's", "Red Tab", "Orange Tab", "Silvertab", "501", "505", "517", "550", "569", and "Dockers".[62]
During the Cold War, Levi's became a symbol of the west in the Soviet Union. According to historian Kristin Roth-Ey, the association stemmed from the 1957 World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow: Americans wore Levi's jeans to the event, resulting in widespread interest within the
Corporate structure and staff
Levi Strauss & Co. is a worldwide corporation organized into three geographic divisions: Levi Strauss Americas (LSA), which is headquartered in San Francisco; Levi Strauss Europe (LSE), which is based in Brussels; and Levi Strauss Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Strauss passed the company to his nephews, Jacob, Sigmund, Louis and Abraham, the four surviving sons of David Stern, upon his death in 1902. Walter A. Haas, who married Elise Stern, the daughter of David's son, Sigmund Stern, became president in 1928, and the company remained under the ownership of the Stern–Haas family until first going public in 1971. However, in 1985, the Haas family recaptured ownership of the company, taking it private once again for the next 34 years.[68][69] In February 2019, the company filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering to be traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol LEVI.[70][71]
Current products
As of 2019, Levi's are made in many developing countries, including Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Lesotho, Sri Lanka, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Mexico. Some top-end styles in the "Levi's Premium" and "Levi's Vintage Clothing" lines are produced in the United States.[76]
In addition to jeans, Levi's sells a full line of shirts, jackets, sweaters, underwear, socks, eyeglasses, accessories, dresses, skirts, and leather products. All jeans and pants are categorized by fit – skinny, slim, straight, bootcut, taper, relaxed, flare, and "big & tall" – identified by trademarked three-digit numbers. The 501, the company's original modern design, is available in styles for both men and women.[77] The rest of the 500 series is designed for men, and the 300, 400, 700, and 800 series for women.[78]
Gallery
See also
- Jean jacket
Further reading
External links
References
- FY 2025 Annual Report (Form 10-K) U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, January 28, 2026^
- Levi Strauss & Co. Celebrates 150th Anniversary May 1, 2003, retrieved February 1, 2017^
- In the United States Patent and Trademark Office Before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board – Notice of Opposition as seen by Aubrey Plaza