Levi Strauss & Co.
Another historic American brand that is woven into the fabric of the nation itself, Levi’s was founded by
German immigrant Levi Strauss in San Francisco in 1847. During that time, denim was strictly a worker’s
textile, used for its durability, and Strauss introduced a number of technical updates to denim jeans which
have since become commonplace, such as metal rivets to reinforce stress points on the pants. As denim
jeans found capital in emerging cultural movements during the ‘50s and ‘60s such as the free love
movement and rock’n’roll, Levi’s soon became an iconic brand in American youth and counter-culture,
where it has remained ever since. Not bad for a guy from a small town in Bavaria.
