Levi’s Vintage Clothing is celebrating the 100th anniversary of their partnership with Cone Denim with their Fall ’15 collection.
When Levi Strauss & Co. was first getting started, the company needed a quality denim supplier. In 1915, Levi’s closed a deal granting the brand exclusive rights to Cone’s Shrink-to-Fit denim for the production of all its Lot 501 Jeans. This agreement became known as “The Golden Handshake.”
Today, Levi’s still manufactures the 501 using Shrink-to-Fit denim from Cone’s White Oak facility in Greensboro, North Carolina, and continues to discover information about the fabrics they have developed through their history with Cone.
The Fall ’15 Levi’s Vintage Clothing collection is inspired by the people of the Appalachia region of North Carolina where Cone Denim Mills is located. The line includes a pair of 1915 501 jeans in lightweight Cone Mills plain selvedge denim and a women’s hiking coat from 1919 made from a heavy cotton twill fabric with horn buttons.
