Recently I happened to notice that the label in one of my favorite pair of jeans stated that they were made in Pakistan. I was shocked! I quickly went to my closet and looked at the inside labels on the rest of my Levi jeans, they were all made in some foreign country. How could this be? Blue jeans were invented here, Levi Strauss was an immigrant that started his original business in San Francisco and his now famous jeans were invented by him in 1873. I realize that their jeans are a worldwide favorite and it does make sense to manufacture them in other places beside the USA, but I do not sit well with them being imported into the USA from foreign lands.

Dammit, Levi jeans are an American institution and importing them is akin to importing apple pies from China (if they were, the pie tins would be lead lined). Now, I’m the kind of person that prefers my clothing labels to be sewn on the inside, I do not believe in sporting “prestige” labels for companies that manufacture the goods. I payed for them and I do not like the idea of being a walking billboard. But one label that I’ve never minded being displayed was the little red tab on the back pocket of my jeans, but now I don’t know whether I should be embarrased or ashamed to wear them.

I looked up the history of Levi Strauss and Company and they have a nice write up with a timeline of all the companies important events which you can read here “History of Levi’s“. The glaring omission is their move to manufacture overseas and import jeans into the USA. Apparently they’re ashamed of it to, it’s like a dirty little secret. Shame on you Levi’s, you’ll never be the same…

Hope you guys had a great holiday and have a happy new year!