LS&Co. Unzipped
May 25 2012
Happy Birthday, Bridge!
Our hometown of San Francisco is abuzz this weekend.
Why?
It’s the official 75th Anniversary Celebration of the Golden Gate Bridge.
If you’ve visited here, surely you have a picture of the iconic structure. No trip to the City by the Bay is really complete without one.
We actually have something in common with the bridge beyond the fact that we share a hometown. Rivets.
Seriously. These permanent mechanical fasteners are the linchpins of two innovative designs. Both uses of rivets harnessed creativity to improve craftsmanship.
More than a million rivets hold the Golden Gate Bridge together, allowing it to withstand high winds and, yes, earthquakes.
And rivets – albeit much smaller ones – were what allowed us to invent, with Jacob Davis, the first blue jeans, back in 1873.
At first, there were eleven rivets at the points of strain. In 1901, there were thirteen, with the addition of a second back pocket. Those back pockets were held on with two copper rivets each, and consumers loved how strong they were. However, they didn’t love how the rivets scratched their saddles and furniture, and wrote to tell us so.
So in 1937 – the same year work was completed on the Golden Gate Bridge – we made a major change to the way we sewed our jeans. To keep consumers happy, we unveiled the “concealed rivet” 501® jean. And we came up with our first “pocket flasher” as a way to let consumers know that “The Rivet’s Still There.”
Consumers were thrilled.
We are very proud of our connection to the Golden Gate Bridge. In fact, to pay homage, the Levi’s® team has tricked-out its San Francisco store windows and in-store displays with Golden Gate Bridge artwork, designs and props.
If you will be in San Francisco on Sunday, May 27, you should check out the festival at Crissy Field and elsewhere along the waterfront -- a light show, music, art and more! Admission is free. For more information, click here.
Plus, we’re making it easier than ever to commute by bike to the Golden Gate Festival. Ride out and experience the Levi’s® Bike Shop, complete with bike wash and bike shop including tune-ups and tailoring—all for free!
Located at Little Marina Green, off of Marina Boulevard, the Levi’s® Bike Shop will be open from 12 – 4 pm on Sunday.
Happy Birthday, Bridge!
Posted By: Lynn Downey, Historian, Levi Strauss & Co. |
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