The most important years in the History of Levi Strauß & Co.

In America then, he started a company, which is still one of the most successfull in the present. The most important facts about this meanwhile famous "Levi Strauß & Co." are summarized in the following part.

In the year of 1850 the Husband of Levi´s sister, David Stern, opens a dry goods shop, which later becomes "Levi Strauß & Co.". After three years, Levi arrives in San Francisco and happens to hear about the problems of the gold diggers, who complain about their clothings to be worn out very fast as the fabric they have used for it isn´t very stable.

Recognizing this, Levi gets the idea of tailoring the first Jeans out of brown canvas he actually wanted to sell to be used as awnings for tents or waggons. Nearly twenty years later, in 1873 Levi takes out the patent for the rivets, which should make the Jeans more stable. In the folllowing year, the first big building of Levi Strauß & Co. is built in San Francisco and in the year of 1906 it is completely destroyed by the big earthquake. One year before Levi Strauß & Co. starts to produce overalls a pair of Levi´s costs $1.46 and especially the diggers are enthusiastic about these new kind of trousers.

In 1886 one of the noninterchangeable designations of Levi Strauß & Co. is applicated to every pair of Jeans that is produced for the first time: the leather label with the two horses which try to tear a Levi´s into pieces. One Olympiad later, Levi Strauß & Co. introduce production numbers and maybe the most famous number, the 501 is given to the hip-high overall. Levi Strauß introduces 28 scholarships at the University of California five years before his death. In 1902 Levi dies and inherits the company to his four nephews.

One decade later "Koveralls" (which are a kind of overall for kids) are introduced and are the first product which is sold nationwide. In the year of 1915 they receive the first prize during the Panama-Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco. In 1922 the first Levis´ supplied with belt loops are sold, but the buttons for the suspenders remain until the Second World War. Fourteen years later the famous label is attached the first time to the right back pocket. One year further on the rivets holding the back pockets are covered with fabric as they scratched saddles and schooltables. During the Second World War Levi´s Jeans are declared important products, thus allowing them only to be sold to customers which are directly or indirectly connected to the army. In 1945, after the war, Jeans are in such a big request, that the company is hardly able to produce enough and in front of the shops there are long queues. By the middle of the 1950´s, after a lot of customers asked for it, the first Jeans with a zipper were sold. In the year of 1960 the White Levi´s are born, they only differ from the Original 501 concerning the colour. In the sixties several new kinds of Jeans, like Strech, Cord and Sta-Prest (this kind are sport trousers you don´t have to iron) are introduced to the market. Around the beginning of the seventies shares of Levi Strauß & Co. are sold for the first time. Some years later, in 1973, the so called Levi´s Denim Art Contest takes place and aroused enthusiasm: many thousand embroided and decorated Jeans and Jackets are sent to Levi´s and go on a world wide tour through several museums. The Smithsonian Institute shows Levi´s Jeans in its continous exhibition of American history (1976). Levi Strauß & Co. is the official sponsor of the American Olympic Team during the Olympic Games of 1984 in Los Angeles. In the same year, "Win" and "Something New", two new fashion lines from Levi Strauß & Co. are introduced.

One year later Levi Strauß & Co. is owned again by the ancestors of Levi Strauß, the Haas Family. This means that all the shares, that didn´t belong to them, have now been bought back, as they felt that the existance of shares would collide with the ethical responsibility they have concerning the founder of the company (Levi´s Intern Special, S.29).

a share of Levi Strauß & Co.

In the same year that the atomic powerplant of Tchernobyl explodes, everyone is clear on Buttenheim being the birthplace of Levi Strauß and not Bad Windsheim. In 1987 the 25th anniversairy of Levi Strauß Europe is celebrated and the legendary 501 has it´s first plain appearence in a german film : Otto Waalkes´ "Otto - der Film". In the following year the first Original Levi´s Store in Germany is opened in Erlangen. In the year of 1990 the 501 celebrates its 100th birthday. Two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the first Levi´s products are sold into the new "Bundesländer". In 1993 the street that leads to the factory of Levi Strauß Germany in Heusenstamm is renamed from "Großer Seligenstädter Grund " to "Levi Strauß Allee". Another two years later, the famous "501" is accepted as a registered trademark.