Three Eras of American Denim
As Depicted in Levi Strauss & Company’s Advertisements.
This page examines three distinct eras of denim culture in America, and how they were represented in the ads and other marketing materials produced by Levi Strauss & Company (LS&Co.)
These periods are: the 1870s through the 1890s, the 1920s through the 1930s, and the postwar era, 1945 through the 1950s.
These case studies are useful in considering how jeans were worn and interpreted before they became what we all wear.
1870s - 1890s: Early Days
1872:
It was in Reno, Nevada where Jacob Davis had the idea of making a pair of pants with copper rivets. Davis had been struggling to get by making tents and other functional textiles for use on the frontier.
“Working on a horse blanket, Davis realized that the same copper rivets he used for the straps on the blankets might be useful for reinforcing pants pockets.”
Davis then bought undyed duck cloth from the dry goods store, Levi Strauss & Co., and outfitted local craftsmen and workers with “the strongest pants he could conceive.”
Davis’ pants were supremely durable, and in demand. He made a few more pairs of pants--from the undyed duck canvas (sold at $3.00) and from blue denim (sold at $2.50) which he also bought from LS&CO.--before he decided to attempt to grow the business.
After about a month, Davis wrote to Mr. Levi Strauss to inquire if the wholesaler would fund the patent application (which cost $68) in exchange for “a half-interest in the proposed riveted pants business.”
May 20, 1873:
After two rejections due to the fact that rivets had been used to reinforce boots during the Civil War, Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss & Co were awarded the patent numbered 139,121.
Strauss would soon bring Davis to LS&CO. headquarters in San Francisco for Davis to oversee the production of the riveted pants.
1880s-1890s:
Below are more marketing materials from LS&Co. during the 1880s-1900s.
“Fairs and trade shows were an important way for LS&CO. to show off the riveted pants and other garments. The location for this 1898 trade shown is unknown, but the display of clothing and advertising is an important clue to understanding what the company was producing before 1906.” (Downey, Levi Strauss, 30.)
“Oral tradition states that the riveted pants and other workwear products were initially sewn by women working in their homes. How the riveting was done, however, is unknown. But Levi Strauss & Co. had full-scale manufacturing in San Francisco by the late 1880s at 32½ Fremont Street, south of Market.” (Downey, Levi Strauss, 19.)
1920s - 1930s: The Denim-clad Cowboy
In the early years of the 20th century, LS&Co. drew heavily on the idea of the cowboy, who loomed large in American popular culture. The cowboy archetype’s inherent western-ness and tough persona fed into the marketing of Levi’s jeans (still referred to as waist overalls) as hard-wearing and durable.
A pair of the puppet jeans at LS&Co. headquarters in San Francisco.
Levi’s used illustrations of generic cowboys in addition to photographs of specific rodeo champions. The above advertisements show Lawton Champie, who had an illustrious rodeo career from 1924 to 1944. The advertisement on the right was produced for stores in the Southwest, serving Spanish-speaking customers.
The cowboy was deployed in more ephemeral marketing materials, too. Western-themed pamphlets such as this one of cowboy limericks were gifts with purchases starting in the 1930s.
A celebrity moment for denim came in 1939 with John Ford’s 1939 western Stagecoach: John Wayne beamed onscreen in 501s in the role that would make him a star. Wayne would come to be the generational image of the jean-wearing cowboy. Years later, Wayne’s son would recall his father breaking in jeans during family vacations on by tying them to a pier and hanging them in the ocean for a few days.
Also in 1939 was the World’s Fair, celebrating San Francisco’s two new bridges. 17 million people would come to the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. LS&Co. downsized their marketing approach, and presented “The World’s Only Miniature Rodeo”.
The diorama was populated by puppets approximately two feet tall, clad in miniature Levi’s jeans, western shirts, and cowboy hats. Country songs played as the miniature cowboys watched a miniature rodeo. When the fair closed after limited financial success, the mini rodeo was converted to be housed in a truck which then toured the country.
Below are more marketing materials from LS&Co. during the 1920s and 1930s.
1945 - 1950s: Levi’s in the Family and the Classroom
LS&Co.’s “Post-War Plans” conveyed the bullishness of the Postwar era. Wartime rationing had meant decreased production, and Levi’s was ready to spring out of that and outfit the American nuclear family.
Sons going to school—not fathers going to work—became the focus of Levi’s ads in the late 1940s.
Levi’s were newly available nationwide, though Easterners met the idea of denim at school with some resistance.
A New Jersey woman wrote to LS&Co. about this development:
I could not help being shocked with your ‘ad’ in The Sunday News of August 25…I refer to the picture showing a young boy dressed in shirt sleeves, sloppily opened at the collar and wearing dungarees with the caption – ‘RIGHT FOR SCHOOL.’
While I have to admit that this may be ‘right for school’ in San Francisco, in the west, or in some rural areas, I can assure you that it is in bad taste and ‘not right for School’ in the East and particularly New York…Assuming that only ignorance is responsible for such a lack of good taste and that no insult was intended by your firm, we hope your misrepresentation of ‘right for school’ will be corrected to more suited occupations. Propriety and respect are good discipline rules. Let’s not desecrate our schools nor promote juvenile delinquency.
The reputation of denim was up against some forceful opponents. Wearing jeans was widely understood as anti-establishment behavior. Marlon Brando in The Wild One (1953) and James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) drove home this idea; jeans were banned in several schools, including those in Buffalo, New York.
LS&Co. remained steadfast and undeterred in defending denim’s honor. Levi’s ads expanded to include the whole family. Young sons were pictured with their fathers in marketing materials, followed soon after by Levi’s “Denim Family” line.
“LS&CO. created the Denim Family line in the early 1950s. There was something for everyone in this line, which was made of sturdy but lightweight denim with subtle Western accents. It was well advertised in stores via counter cards and in newspapers and magazines. This reflected a change in attitude toward denim, which was now being seen as a fabric for leisure as well as labor.” (Downey, Levi Strauss, 82.)
Levi’s had shifted its marketing subject matter from the wild frontier to the playful home.
As the prosperity of the 1950s would morph into the turbulent decades to follow, the cultural significance of Levi’s would shift and be shifted many times more, as jeans became exponentially more popular.
Below are more marketing materials from LS&Co during the 1940s and 1950s.
