The Levi’s Mystique

The Story Teller

The Story Teller
Jun 27, 2003
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THE LEVI’S MYSTIQUE
“Chance favors the prepared mind.”
—Louis Pasteur
Since their introduction during the California gold rush of the mid-1800s, Levi’s jeans have been known for their durability and comfort. Yet, there are probably other brands of pants that are just as comfortable and durable. What has made Levi’s jeans stand out among the literally hundreds of brands of slacks that can be found on clothing racks throughout the country? Part of the success of Levi’s jeans can be traced to their association with the culture of the West. Until the 1930s, when Easterners discovered Levi’s at popular dude ranches, the jeans were mostly sold to Westerners and real cowboys. Their popularity was on the rise when World War II began. When the government declared the jeans to be an essential commodity, available only to defense workers, Levi’s became even more scarce and valuable.
In the westerns of the thirties and forties, heroes like Gary Cooper and Roy Rogers wore jeans. Then, in the fifties, a new crop of screen idols, among them James Dean and Marlon Brando, further popularized jeans by wearing them in such generational classics as Rebel Without a Cause and The Wild Ones. Levi Strauss & Company has continually capitalized on the mystique of its jeans through heavy advertising in virtually all media. However, the most important advertising is the kind that cannot be bought. The association of the product with heroes and matinee idols has made Levi’s jeans a staple of almost every American family.
CONSIDER THIS: It is often those chance (or planned) exposures of a product through popular media that are more valuable than any paid advertising.
Submitted by Richard