{"id":78538,"date":"2023-06-14T19:04:16","date_gmt":"2023-06-14T19:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=78538"},"modified":"2023-06-14T19:39:22","modified_gmt":"2023-06-14T19:39:22","slug":"levis-501-history-150-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/levis-501-history-150-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"How Levi’s Jeans Changed the Way the World Dresses"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Wardrobes change with the times, and trends come and go, but no clothing item has consistently been so relevant and such a necessity \u2014 not to mention prominent and revolutionary \u2014 as the Levi\u2019s 501<\/a> blue jean. Travel anywhere around the world and you can find the classic denim pant worn by people from every walk of life. This year, the style that\u2019s transcended decades is celebrating its 150th anniversary. And to fully understand how a pant made for workmen became a staple of counterculture movements, a sign of freedom during the Cold War and a fashion statement worn on the world\u2019s biggest stages, GRAZIA USA<\/em><\/a> is going back to where it all started.<\/p>\n

Surprisingly, it was Jacob Davis, a tailor, who created the 501 jean and not the brand\u2019s iconic namesake, Levi Strauss. As the story goes, a customer asked Davis to make a more durable work pant for her husband, so the craftsman started adding copper rivets to waist overalls so the seams wouldn\u2019t split as easily. His idea was a hit, and to keep up with demand, he approached Strauss, a dry goods supplier. The company applied the rivet addition to denim and duck canvas pants, and together, they patented the idea in 1873. \u201cI’m sure neither of them would have imagined the history that it now has,\u201d Levi Strauss & Co. historian Tracey Panek tells GRAZIA USA<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Miners and cowboys were among the first who sported the new riveted waist overalls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By 1890, Davis and Strauss started to refer to the pant by its lot number, 501. When Strauss died in 1902, he was childless and never married, so his four nephews took over the company. After struggling through the Great Depression, profits were at an all-time low, so the company focused on making its most successful product, the 501, even more durable. The original 501 \u201cwaist overalls\u201d were meant to be worn over workers\u2019 clothing and had a single back pocket, a watch pocket, button fly and cinched back for overalls and buttons for suspenders. Over time, two back pockets were added, and by 1922, belt loops were introduced to adhere to changing men\u2019s fashions.<\/p>\n

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Miners and cowboys were among the first who sported the new riveted waist overalls.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Back rivets eventually were moved under the pockets after customers complained they scratched furniture. The first 501 style for women, Lady Levi\u2019s Lot 701, were created in 1934.<\/p>\n

Just like today, trends often begin when famous faces champion a style. That proved to also be the case when Levi\u2019s 501\u2019s started transitioning from a workwear pant for blue collar society to a staple worn by Hollywood stars. \u201cWe have a wonderful letter in our archives from the silent movie actor William S. Hart, and in it he’s writing to fellow actor Rudy Valle\u0301e and he says, \u2018Come out to my ranch here in California, all we wear year- round are Levi\u2019s,\u2019\u201d Panek says.<\/p>\n

For authenticity, movie costume departments dressed actors in Levi\u2019s for Western films (\u201cPost-Great Depression, the brand chose the cowboy as their marketing symbol and marketed it in all the major Western papers,\u201d notes Panek.) John Wayne wore a pair of cuffed 501\u2019s for his first major leading role in Stagecoach in 1939 \u2014 and the jeans\u2019 cool comfortability caught on.<\/p>\n

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By 1922, the company was sourcing all of its fabric in North Carolina from Greensboro\u2019s Cone Mills, which created “red selvedge” denim specifically for 501 jeans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But what sets Levi\u2019s apart from other popular trends that come and go is how ingrained the pant became in so many different walks of life. The brand organically expanded when soldiers brought Levi\u2019s with them overseas during World War II. \u201cThe 501 goes abroad, and for some people, it\u2019s the first time they saw a 501 jean in Asia and parts of Europe,\u201d Panek explains.<\/p>\n

When rationing occurred during the war, 501\u2019s were stamped with \u201c501S,\u201d meaning \u201csimplified.\u201d \u201cThe brand starts selling jeans on military bases. GI\u2019s become the 501 ambassadors, and when they returned home, many of them joined and created motorcycle clubs to rekindle that feeling of brotherhood. And what were they wearing? They\u2019re wearing 501s.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Marilyn Monroe wore Levi\u2019s 501 jeans in her final film, The Misfits, in 1961, directed by John Huston. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A cool, rough-and-tough image became associated with the jean\u2014 around the time they became slightly slimmer in the leg and lost the back cinch and suspender shank buttons\u2014thanks to those clubs as well as the stylish youth and popular entertainers who loved to wear them, like Marlon Brando in the 1953 film Wild Ones<\/em>. The clothing then began permeating the counterculture during the Civil Rights movement and Vietnam protests. Bob Dylan wore 501s on his 1963 album cover for The Freewheelin\u2019<\/em> and became a global phenomenon, burnishing Levi\u2019s image even more. \u201cIt’s really by the \u201860s when young people begin wearing it and by 1969 at Woodstock, it’s a sea of denim,\u201d says Panek.<\/p>\n

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When the Berlin Wall was toppled in 1989, young people arrived wearing blue jeans, a garment that was banned behind the Iron Curtain.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Why the fascination with Levi\u2019s 501s decade after decade? \u201cYou can have so many people in the same jean, but they always look different because they wear it their own way,\u201d notes Karyn Hillman, chief product officer at Levi Strauss & Co. \u201cIt’s so recognizable and yet it has evolved over all the decades. From the original 1873 to now, it’s changed upwards of 30 or so times. But it’s really the people who\u2019ve worn it \u2014 we’ve adopted with them and really evolved.\u201d<\/p>\n

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501 \u201981 for women<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Hillman\u2019s design team looked back to the first official 501 made for women in 1981 (nearly 50 years after Lady Levi\u2019s 701 debuted) and the classic 1954 501 fit for men to re-release this season in honor of the 150th anniversary. \u201cWe’re really thoughtful and careful about what we tweak,\u201d Hillman says. \u201cWe don\u2019t move it too far forward. We have what we call the tenets of the 501 \u2014 from the button fly to the shrink, fit, fabric, to the way it fits to the copper rivets, to the pockets. We evolve and adapt with the times, and I think that’s why you can really still see in the modern blue jean that its tenets and character are still intact. We’re guardians, but we can’t just rely on the past. We have to push it forward to make it relevant for today.\u201d<\/p>\n

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during 2018 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival Weekend 1 at the Empire Polo Field on April 14, 2018 in Indio, California.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Today, 150 years later, the brand is sold in more than 110 countries and Levi Strauss & Co.’s reported 2022 net revenues were $6.2 billion. The company\u2019s clothing has been worn on the most important stages of our time in recent years \u2014 from Steve Jobs unveiling a new iPhone model in the jeans to Beyonce\u0301 performing in Levi\u2019s cutoffs at Coachella. \u201cI bet Levi Strauss would just be amazed to see the company he started is still going strong,\u201d Panek says. \u201cHe was a businessman and he dressed like Abraham Lincoln. He had a top hat and a three-piece suit. He never actually wore Levi\u2019s overalls or the 501, because it was blue collar clothing. That’s just a funny little fact about Levi, who gave blue jeans to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Read GRAZIA USA<\/em>\u2019s Summer issue featuring cover star Priyanka Chopra Jonas:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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