50 Things You Didn't Know About Levi's

Image via Complex Original

Levi Strauss was born on February 26, 1829 in Buttenheim, Germany to a Jewish family. Strauss would not immigrate to the USA until 1847 at the age of 18.

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Strauss founded his own brand, Levi's Strauss & Co., in 1853 as a dry goods haberdasher as he arrived in San Francisco, the year he became an American citizen.

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There's an urban legend that Strauss first made pants out of sail canvas that he had originally intended to peddle to travelers who would toil in the gold mines of San Francisco. Unfortunately, this tale is just a tale. But he did make duck canvas pants to battle the rocky environment.

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in 1873, the first year that Levi's produced a pair of "jeans," they weren't called jeans at all. Instead, the brand's "waist overalls" featured a single back pocket and a cinch, a cinch on the waist, its soon-to-be signature "arcuate" on the pocket, and most importantly, a rivet on the crotch to keep workers from blow-outs.

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In 1872, Jacob Davis, a tailor from Reno, Nevada, contacted Strauss and initiated discussion that they should patent the concept of a riveted pair of denim trousers. Still, it wouldn't be another year until they made their first pair of jeans.

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It is well established that Strauss filed the first patent for blue jeans, but he did not invent denim. The word denim comes from "de Nîmes," or French for "from Nimes," a town in France that made a sturdy cotton fabric originally termed "serge."

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San Francisco is forever linked with Levi's, but at first, the brand manufactured its denim in Manchester, NH at the Amoskeag Mills—not in the city by the bay.

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If you've ever owned a pair Levi's, and even if you haven't (who are you?), you've seen Levi's world-known stitched-on logo, the arcuate. The usually gold, swooping thread has a shrouded past. The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake ripped and ravaged the city; setting the Levi's building on fire. All company records were lost, and the meaning of its most iconic image was burried in flames.

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Although the patch bears the date that Levi's first patented its jeans, May 20, 1873, this signature logo didn't show up until 13 years later. The purpose of two horses pulling at one pair of jeans? To show the strength of the pants' rivets.

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The 501, the most recognizable model in the jean world, wasn't given its signature name until 1890; a reference to the lot number it was produced in. However, Levi's considers its original straight-legged jean to be the same lineage of product.

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When Levi's started to name its products as its original patent ran out, it chose the number five to indicated the quality of each garment. It also made a lesser-quality 201 jean, which is indicated by the the "2" in the product's name.

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Levi's oldest known pair of jeans to still be kicking around is from six years after the initial production.

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A pair of jeans were pulled out of a mine in Nevada and sold to Levi's in a private auction on eBay. The "Nevada" jeans actually aren't a pair of 501s—they're more of a carpenter jean.

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If you've owned a pair of Levi's, you've probably seen the mysterious XX that's put on the brand's (and those who recreate Americana) jeans. The marking was created at the brand's New Hampshire mill to mean either "extra strong" or "double extra heavy."

Levi's has three original types of trucker jackets: the Type 1, Type, 2, and Type 3. But that's not their official names. The Type 1 is the 506xx, the Type 2 is the 507xx, and the Type 3 is the 557xx.

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Levi's now operates Dockers, too, but the workwear brand decided to diversify its portfolio and offer men pants they could also wear in the office. Still, like most of Levi's products, the khakis also found their way into hard labor. Above is a pair that was pulled out of an abandoned mine.

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Greensboro, NC's Cone Mills is the go-to source if you want American-made denim, and the mill's heritage looms large amongst denim bros and lovers of all things vintage. But it wasn't until Levi's had made jeans for 42 years that it called upon the now-purveyor of indigo greatness to produce jeans out of its fabric. This switch resulted from Amoskeag falling upon hard times, and would subsequently collapse as an operating mill. Come 1922, Levi's only received denim from Cone.

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Until this point, men were forced to keep their pants up with with suspenders. However, the first jeans with belt loops also featured suspender buttons, giving men a choice of how they wanted their pants to hang.

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Before Steve McQueen, John Wayne might have been considered the King of Cool. "The Duke" wasn't just a Western flick star, he was pretty stylish. In John Ford's 1939 film Stagecoach, Wayne wore a pair of Levi's 501s circa the 1937 model. Notice the actor wearing a belt, not suspenders.

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For the 18th century, men walked around with only a right back pocket on their Levi's. While some Americana bros are happy to rock the single back pocket, we're glad that Levi's decided to make the change.

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What's more eye-catching than a brand who puts a minuscule piece of red fabric right on the seat of its jeans with its brand name? Levi's didn't realize this innovation until it had made jeans for 63 years.

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Things weren't always equal for women in the denim world. Women first started to market "Lady Levi's" to women in '34, and they were only available for vacations out at the dude ranch. If the fairer sex wanted jeans before that, they had to wear men's jeans. This was the unofficial birth of the "boyfriend" jean.

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At the onset of the war, manufacturers were forced to cut the usage of unnecessary materials so that they could be put towards fighting the Germans and Japanese. Instead of stitching on the back arcuates, Levi's hand-painted the decorative logo. These models can still be purchased from Levi's Vintage Clothing as the "1944" model.

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The 501 might be the best jean ever, but the jean went through an excessive amount of changes and revisions until it became what we know it as today. The 1947 model was slimmed down to a regular fit, and would become the model that most denim bros would purchase reissues of.

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"I'm not sure if I can swagger out in gold-threaded finery." Have you ever read better words from a more stylish man?

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While not as awesome as Grant's, Eastwood's letter should be nostalgia to denim bros all around. Not just because of how cool Eastwood is, but because of his significance as a Western actor.

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Before the 1950s, jeans and Levi's were always associated with hard-working men--not the ultra-cool symbol of rebel and biker culture. When Brando wore the jeans in 1951's The Wild One, the actor's passionate and defiant character introduced Levi's to a new generation of outlaws.

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In 1951, the singer was on a hunting trip in Vancouver, B.C. and tried to get a hotel room. Crosby showed up in his jeans and hunting gear, and at first, was denied service. When Levi's had heard of this event, they gifted Crosby with a bespoke denim tux that he would wear from then on. The jacket featured a lapel flower made out of Levi's red tags.

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It seems like denim is an American thing, no matter which state you go to. But until the 1950s, Levi's jeans were not available on the East Coast and only available for West Coast residents to support their ranch and open-range lifestyle. Easterners who wanted to get their fix for a pair of Levi's normally bought them from a dry goods store at a dude ranch on vacation.

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If you've worn raw denim, your girlfriend you might be confused at first with getting used to a button fly, but you're not alone. In 1954, Levi's first introduced a zipper to its 501 jeans for its newly-found East Coast crowd.

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Sometime in the '50s there became heavy competition in the denim world, while Levi's was now selling the jeans (and shipping) them to the East Coast, it removed the leather patch and replaced it with a heavy card stock to cost down the cost per pair.

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Maybe Levi's had a hankering that the '60s would be too tumultuous/awesome of a time for people to waste hours sitting around in a steaming bath tub waiting for their jeans to slim down an inch or two in the waist.

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And what did capitalistic-minded Americans do when on vacation in Europe? Sell pairs of Levi's that would make their way to the USSR on the black market.

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This was done as Levi's rolled out a new logo, the Batwing, and the brand wanted its patch to reflect its founder's name, Levi. If you have a pair of Levi's jeans with a big E on them, then you have yourself a piece of denim gold.

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In a galaxy far, far away, people still wore the iconic American brand. It's funny how a simple yet classic piece of clothing can reinterpreted as space age, but George Lucas can work wonders. In fact, these jeans were recently sold at auction for $36,100.

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They don't call him "The Boss" for nothing. One of the biggest post-War pieces of Levi's Americana is Springsteen's butt clad in a pair of faded Levi's on the cover of his 1984 album. Interestingly enough, Springsteen doesn't let his music be lent out for commercial use or to advertise other people's products.

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The '80s brought about change, and Cone Mills started looming wider sheets of denim, which took away the selvage property. In turn, Levi's would launch its "501 Blue" campaign which would be wildly successful.

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Levi's hasn't always been worn by stoic cool guys, cowboys, or rockers. In '84, the brand enlisted Willis and Alexander to dance around the street in its 501 "Blues" commercial. Levi's quality never goes out of style, but thankfully this type of advertising has.

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In 1987, Levi's Japan started to crank out models that would become the inspiration for LVC, and especially whet Japan's appetite for everything Americana.

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However, the brand didn't specify in archival models like LVC does, it was more so a generic reproduction.

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Baggy jeans were big business, but Levi's chose to focus on its traditional Americana looks that it had been producing for over a 120 years at the time. People wanted extra big jeans, but they weren't exactly getting them from Levi's. In retrospect, maybe this was a good idea that Levi's didn't budge. But in '96 the brands profits were $7.1 billion, by '97, the number had shrunk to $6 billion.

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Levi's sold jeans in Europe that had a glossy finish, but apparently, these jeans weren't good for your skin and could cause irritation. The brand was forced to recall around 100,000 products from the market. Lesson of this debacle? Keep jeans simple and these situations can avoided.

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The commercial featured a woman dressing/undressing in front of a "blind" man, only to find out he was holding a white cane for his friend. Awkward. 

Although Levi's is an indefinite piece of American history, the brand closed its last two operating domestic factories midway through the 2000s, as the brand dealt with a competitive market, slowing sales, and rising production costs. You can still score American-made products through the Levi's Vintage Clothing line, but the items are sourced through Cone Mills.

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It pays to have something trademarked. While imitation is the highest form of flattery, it sucks if a brand is going to just copy your legacy and re-appropriate it as its own—with no signs of paying homage. Levi's wasn't looking to strike rich off suing other brands, instead it just wanted to keep its legacy as its own. And we agree. Plus, where's Von Dutch and Jelessy now?

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This release was super limited, and even if you are able to get your hands on the right sneaker size, it's tough to find a pair with your coinciding pants size.

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With these jeans, you didn't have to wait six months until your first wash. The intent was for the die to remove quickly from the jeans with each wear.

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The Levi's x Nike SB collaboration in 2012 was great, but now Levi's also makes clothes for skaters, too, via its "Streetwear" collection.