Tales from the atelier: Levi's bespoke jeans
There are few brands that have had as big an impact on the fashion landscape as Levi's. It's been at the forefront of helping people to find their perfect fit of jeans since they invented the denim trousers in the late 1800s, and this is no small feat considering they deal in an item of clothing that can be so difficult to get right.
Levi's has always been a trailblazer (it was the first brand to create a pair of jeans for women in the 1930s after all), but it has taken its pioneering approach one step further in recent years with the opening of its Lot-1 custom jean programme. With studios in London, Tokyo, San Francisco, New York and Paris, Lot-1 jeans are completely handmade, tailored exactly to your body type and customisable down to the thread colour. The process begins with choosing the details, including the threads, leather patches, rivets, buttons, pockets, fly closures and style you'd like. You then begin your private consultation with the brand's master tailor, who will measure you precisely to make sure your jeans are the perfect fit.
The denim brand was founded in San Francisco in the late 19th century by Levi Strauss, a 24-year-old German immigrant. After a brief stop in New York to visit his brothers, who had opened a dry goods business in Manhattan, Strauss made his way to California, where the gold rush was in full swing. There, he opened his own dry goods wholesaler in San Francisco, and became an important part of the nascent city's landscape.
It was a few years after he moved west that Strauss received a letter from one of his clients, a tailor named Jacob Davis. Davis had discovered a way to make longer lasting work trousers for his customers by using metal rivets at the points of strain in the material. He contacted Strauss and asked whether he might like to go into business together and patent the technique. Strauss agreed and by 1873 the pair had successfully introduced the first jeans to the market and opened Levi Strauss & Co.
In the years that followed the jeans, or 'waist overalls' as they were called at the time, became a mainstay, and were particularly popular among the goldminers who had descended on the region. The brand's logo became two horses trying to rip apart a pair of the jeans, reflecting just how durable they were.
The company quickly extended its reach first across America and then the globe. Most celebrities have been spotted at least once in a pair of Levi's famous form-fitting 501s and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't own a pair at some point or another. Today, the Haas family, the descendants of Strauss, are still the largest shareholders in the now publicly traded business, and the company remains true to its heritage of craftsmanship.
Each Levi's jean style is traditionally given a lot number, which is why the Lot-1 jeans are so called: they're one of a kind. Each pair of Lot-1 jeans will take a total of 16 hours to complete by the master tailor, and the best part is, as with all Levi's jeans, the Lot-1s only get better the more you wear them.
Step inside the Levi's factory and see how they make the perfect pair of jeans.
Direction Mona TehraniDOP Dominic LakeEdit Lauréne Vanacker
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