During our stay in San Francisco, we visited the Levi's archives: a real dream come true for us clothing enthusiasts. And we really appreciate how lucky we are to have been able to see and touch all these pieces preciously preserved (unfortunately) away from the public.
Indeed, Levi's has preserved its heritage for several generations, and continues to hunt around the world for the pieces that have made its history. They even have a historian: Lynn Downey. His job is to preserve the precious relics and expand the collection.
And she also assists designers from Levi's and Dockers ( Douglas Conklyn ) in using old pieces to design current collections. Because very often, nothing beats the good old cuts and materials of the past, or the natural washes of years of work.
The safe containing some of Lynn's treasures .
The origins of jeans
For those who don't know, it was the Levi's brand that launched jeans in 1872, in partnership with Jacob Davis, a tailor from Nevada who had the idea but did not have the means to develop it.
Mr. Levi Strauss, or rather Levi for his employees. He was a modern boss, already with lots of great ideas about the company's responsibility towards society, the refusal of racial discrimination, and proximity to its employees. A real “provider” as Benoît would say.
The company (founded in 1853 by Levi Strauss) then specialized in what the Americans called "dry goods": hardware, clothing, and everything that workers needed in booming California (the rush for Now, does that mean anything to you?).
Miners from the mines of Salina, Colorado.
Enjoy the poses.
Jeans, although today an everyday item of clothing (see fashion product), were from the beginning a work item of clothing. And that's how it was sold for years: by emphasizing its solidity, its resistance to wear, and secondly on its comfort during work.
Illustration from the 1905 catalog.
LS&CO is a company that has long been very innovative in its marketing. From the beginning, buttons and rivets were marked with “LS&CO” sometimes juxtaposed with “PAT.” MAY 1873 SF” recalling that it is a patented object ( patented in English).
The first buttons, on the oldest jeans in the world (1875).
As the patent expired, Levis also introduced engraving with teams of horses each pulling on one leg of the jeans with the words " It's no use they can't be ripped " (there's no point in trying, it cannot be torn).
Lynn would not have liked us to try the experiment with the Ford Mustang.
In the 1930s, LS&CO homogenized its image, and it was of course the myth of the cowboy that was retained, at a time when the USA was industrializing and marketing was taking its first steps (if the subject interests you, watch the Mad Men series which traces the golden age of marketing in New York in the 1960s).
Post-war Levis pub.
This is also when the Red Tab appears, this little red label sewn on the right back pocket.
Also note the chain stitch wave, symbolizing an eagle.
The sign is as identifiable as the Nike "Swoosh" .
The design with the horses was first present inside the jeans on the pocket linings (using a lithograph), then it was passed onto the leather patch to clearly state the brand in store. difference in quality between Levis jeans and future competitors (the patent expired in 1890).
A stone used to print lithographs.
The leather patch from the first Levi's.
The main developments in jeans over 140 years
We often repeat on BonneGueule that each raw jean is unique, because it is modeled and washed according to the lifestyle habits of its wearer. This is even more true when we look at the different innovations that have evolved this garment: all the discoveries come from ingenious consumers who have adapted the product to their professions or their tastes.
The first jean was the 501, which was called XX until 1890, in reference to the fabric used (denim fabric from factories located far away, in New Hampshire). Besides, Lynn insisted that in no case does denim have its origins in... Nîmes 🙁
Here it is: the oldest jeans in the world, at a time when semi-slim jeans absolutely did not exist.
The design includes a chevron pocket, as well as the coin or watch pocket on the front. Also note the presence of a tightening strap at the back to adjust the jeans. The first jeans were first worn by miners. But cattle breeders, agricultural workers and laborers followed... They were called at the time " riveted waist overalls " which can be translated as "riveted short overalls": the term " jeans " only came later.
In the end it clearly looks like a recent model, with a wash similar to that you would find in good quality jeans. It's just wider and shorter. Here are some close-ups and admire this incredible wash:
The coin pocket, or watch pocket... was already there. At the belt level, you also note the presence of a button which was used to hang the straps (there are no belt loops).
We also had a rivet to reinforce the bottom of the fly.
This has since disappeared.
Very practical: the clamping pliers, but always
the possibility of adding straps if not available.
And already at the time: good big selvedge canvas. In the photo, the subsequent repairs are visible, they were already there when Lynn got the jeans, much to her chagrin. The canvas is a 9 oz, but at the time the measurement was different, so it corresponds to a 13 oz nowadays.
The two rear pockets were added later. Some workers customized their jeans with patches to line them at the back. This innovation eventually became widespread because it was very popular.
On this other pair of jeans, also among the oldest in this world,
there are many patches .
Note that the canvas is so good that the crotch is still in good condition: only the canvas subject to wear from stones and tools had to be patched.
Other patches.
Here it is a pocket from another pair of jeans which was used to repair the first one.
The canvas after more than a century, and even damaged by the wearer, is magnificent.
Notice the many nuances in the wash.
Other jeans quickly followed, notably with designs that were more flared at the bottom, intended for factory and mine executives.
In 1917, an underground miner bought a pair of jeans in Arizona. In 1920 he returned the pair to Levi's saying that it was not as durable as the old one, although covered with patches and added material to make it more solid. Upon inspection, what didn't hold were actually the patches, but the original pair of jeans remained intact.
They're a bit like Frankenstein's jeans. There are so many patches that it weighs quite heavy.
The back is (a little) less patched:
it is especially the front which must have been subject to wear.
And no: it’s not the work of a crazy designer!
In the 1930s, the American middle classes discovered the comforts of modern life, beautiful furniture and pretty car seats. Only one problem: the rivets scratch all this. Levi's innovates again by keeping the rivets but hiding them under the seam of the back pockets.
Yes, yes: the rivets are still there! And we can see very clearly the stopping point of the pocket at the top right.
And the chain stitch seams too. It’s the golden age of denim!
The Second World War broke out, and with it the war effort and rationing. Half practical innovation, half marketing stunt: Levi's replaces its ornamental seams with paint to save linen thread. This fashion will then last after the war for its patriotic dimension.
Look closely: the wave is painted in dotted lines.
A little off topic: it was during the Second World War that the minimalist movement in US fashion particularly developed. Minimalism rhymes with elegance and the enhancement of extremely noble materials in Europe of the Roaring Twenties (watch the film on Coco Chanel on this subject).
But in the America of the two world wars, it responded to the imperatives of rationing, patriotism and assembly line production (the simpler the garment, the easier it was to mass produce it). However, the two visions of minimalism have many similarities.
Over the 60 years that followed, the firm would adapt to follow the different expectations and fashions followed by the younger generations: slim (1950s), bootcut (1969), flare (1970s), etc... The big point black, it will be the abandonment of the old selvedge looms for others that are more modern and productive, but with an output product of lower quality.
This era will also see the gradual abandonment of all the details and little touches that characterized this exceptional product: chain stitch, interior rivet, reinforcements, et cetera (look at the old Levi's jeans lying around in your closet and you will see what I speak). During part of the 80s, it was even a product that disappeared! But the fault does not only lie with the brand: it is also the fingers of the careless consumer that must be hit 😉
But all was not lost for everyone: because it was the Japanese, then in the midst of reconstruction, who bought these lines of machines: hence the improper term " Japanese fabric " to designate selvedge denim fabrics.
Small Japanese poster (probably recent) with a selvedge loom.
The fabrics used will then be of lower quality, finer: this light denim is called slack . In the 1960s, the nasty bad washes would also arrive: pale copies of what you could get by buying your jeans in their raw state and wearing them for a few months.
I remember the labels of my Levi's around 2005,
who told me to wash them so that the product would become more beautiful.
The result usually ended up looking like this.
Now go back to the beginning of the article on the 501 jeans from the archives and tell me if it's normal for jeans that have been through everything to be magnificent, whereas recent jeans struggle to hold up after 3 washes.. The sublime washes have completely disappeared.
It was not until the third millennium that LS&CO reconnected with selvedge through the Levi's Vintage, Levi's Made & Crafted ranges and certain models from the Red Tab range. Today we find interesting items again at Red Tab or Made & Crafted after crossing the desert from the point of view of a lover of blue canvas. But I certainly wouldn't want to stigmatize the brand, because it's evolving for the better at the moment :)
For the moment, we will still prefer to turn to those who have been able to respond to the demand for selvedge jeans before and with better quality/price ratio (I think you are starting to know them a little... and recognize them ).
And here we are again in 2012!
And the first chinos?
At the beginning of the 20th century, LS&CO, well aware that not all of its customers needed super-strong workwear, developed pants intended for foremen and office workers: khaki (or chinos if you prefer) was born. In 1905 to be precise. The first chinos were made from a heavy cotton called duck and which is quite similar to jeans in terms of texture.
Extract from a mail order catalog
selling Levi's "Khaki pants" (chinos).
And here is the oldest chino to date. Found full of mud at the bottom of a cellar.
Notice the “chino” cut with straight pockets on the sides,
and not on the front like with jeans.
The branding label inside.
Close-up on the canvas: very thick duck.
The number of seams per cm is impressive:
it’s a quality that we no longer produce today
for economic reasons, even in luxury.
It had already been patched up at the time.
The watch pocket, with great attention to detail.
It is lined in corduroy.
But until the 1980s, chinos never occupied a very important place in the red label company's products. However, the trend returned in the 80s: young professionals were sorely lacking an intermediary between the office suit and the weekend jeans. Levi's then launched Dockers based on products from nautical-inspired collections.
One of the first Dockers adverts.
Big hit for the brand: in the early 2000s almost every American had one. But sales then fell and Dockers struggled (until recently) to interest those under 30, contenting itself with its strong presence among baby boomers, gradually arriving at retirement.
I hope you enjoyed this trip back in time!
We thank Lynn once again for opening the doors of the safe to us, and also for her latest book which I read with great pleasure.
Want to know more about jeans and chinos?
We have written many articles:
- basic advice onmen's jeans ,
- but also everything related to chinos .
