influential people in the denim world

[Chicken]

today i realized we don't have a comprehensive thread about people who have helped and are helping shape our denim world today. like a who's who in the denim world.

i'll start with the obvious:

Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss, born Löb Strauß (February 26, 1829 - September 26, 1902) was the German-born American creator of the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His namesake firm, Levi Strauss & Company, was founded in 1853 in San Francisco.

Levi Strauss was born on February 26,1829 to Hirsch Strauss and Rebecca Haas Strauss. His name at birth was Loeb, but when he immigrated to the U.S., it was changed to Levi. He was born in Buttenheim in Bavaria, Germany. Young Levi sailed from Bremerhaven to New York where his two older brothers, Jonas and Louis, had already established a successful wholesale textile and tailoring business. After a stay of two days in New York, he continued on to the ranch of his uncle, Daniel Goldman in Louisville, Kentucky. There he spent the next five years learning the language in order that he might someday take over his uncle's ranch. But Levi had dreams of becoming an independent businessman, and for several years he walked the roads of Kentucky, selling notions from the pack on his back.

In 1847, Strauss, his mother and two sisters moved to New York City to join his brothers Jonas and Louis Löb in their dry goods business. By 1850 he had adopted the name "Levi Strauss".

In 1853, Strauss became an American citizen and moved to bustling San Francisco, California, where the California Gold Rush was still in high gear. Levi expected that the mining camps would welcome his buttons, scissors, thread and bolts of fabric; additionally, he had yards of canvas sailcloth intended for tent-making and as covers for the Conestoga wagons that dotted the landscape next to every stream and river in the area.

Strauss and his brother-in-law David Stern opened a dry goods wholesale business called Levi Strauss & Co. Levi, estimated at about 5' 11" and 185 pounds, was often found leading a pack-horse, heavily laden with merchandise, directly into the mining camps found throughout the region. The story goes that both prospectors and miners, often complaining about the easily torn cotton "britches" and pockets that "split right out" gave Levi the idea to make a rugged overall trouser for the miners to wear. These were fashioned from bolts of brown canvas sailcloth made from hemp, with gold ore storage pockets that were nearly impossible to split. Levi exhausted his original supply of canvas as the demand grew for his hard-wearing overalls, and so he switched to a sturdy fabric called serge, made in Nimes, France by the Andre family. Originally called serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to denim.

On May 20, 1873, Strauss and Davis received United States patent #139121 for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. began manufacturing the first of the famous Levi's brand of jeans in San Francisco, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Levi Strauss died on September 26, 1902 and was buried in Colma. He left his thriving manufacturing and dry goods business to his four nephews—Jacob, Louis, Abraham and Sigmund Stern—who helped rebuild the company after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The following year, Jacob Davis sold back his share of the company. Today, Levi Strauss & Co. continues to operate as a denim and clothing company.

[iGIT]

Would kiya from selfedge , mauro from denim bar, and gordan from BiG be considered influential to denim in america? Because if so, i nominate all 3 of them.

[Chicken]

^ why not?

they're influencing OUR denim world.

[iGIT]

^ why not?

they're influencing OUR denim world.

This man speaks the truth.

[Jkerman]

I think Hedi Slimane is definetly an influence here on sufu.

[kiya]

The biggest direct influence on my life in regards to denim without doubt is Hidehiko Yamane.

[rh3522]

so yer a big evisu fan?

[YoungPunch]

I don't think you need to necessarily be a huge evisu fan to realize what a big influence has been to the denim world.

[Don Quixote]

brings the coolness.

[edmond]

brings the coolness.

quoted for truth and yeah i watched GREASE last night yeah! hahaha selvedge rolled up john travolta!

[horriblyjollyjinx]

brings the coolness.

reminds me of myself

[Paul T]

FWIW, Chicken, that info about Levi must come from an old source, it's a pile of crap.

It also doesn't mention Jacob Davis, the guy who actually invented riveted pants. Fortunately the story is well-documented - reason is, Jacob had to give evidence in a court case when they were suing another manufacturer for infringing their patent (sound familiar?) .

I'd follow up with Hidehiko Yamane, who pioneered vintage-style denim, even if he does make up stories about looms, and Adriano Golschmied, who pioneered much of today's finishing industry.

[Roflcopterpwnsyou]

Rodeo Jim Shoulders, essentially the Wrangler 13MWZ cuts standard was based off of his body when he was competing in rodeos in the middle of the 20th century. He passed away last year but I always thought that whole idea was really cool that the cowboy cut is him.

[frideswide]

Would add "Rodeo" Ben Lichtenstein.

Yes, Yamane Hidehiko-san too, but must deduct points for relentless self-promotion.

[beatle]

[blm14]

It would be hard to argue against the influence of Renzo Rosso

[40ozprophet]

good call beatle. James dean is mah heroo.

[jubei]

I nominate Paul T and his fantastic book

I would also go ahead and nominate Ralph Lauren. Hard to talk about modern American clothing without mentioning him.

[Paul T]

PLease edit that post!

It's not deserved, I'm just a passenger - it's the people who spoke to me who made the book happen. Hence, in addition to Adriano G and Yamane, I should also cite Stefano Aldighieri, a total expert on fabric, Marly Nijssen (sorry, haven't had chance to check spelling) from Diesel/Lee, Rikke Korff, who came up with the Engineered and Type ONe concepts, Neal Cassady, who pioneered the beat denim look, plus Lynn Downey, who keeps the Levi's legends alive, and Joe Vega, who did the same at Lee.

[Chicken]

FWIW, Chicken, that info about Levi must come from an old source, it's a pile of crap.

It also doesn't mention Jacob Davis, the guy who actually invented riveted pants. Fortunately the story is well-documented - reason is, Jacob had to give evidence in a court case when they were suing another manufacturer for infringing their patent (sound familiar?) .

I'd follow up with Hidehiko Yamane, who pioneered vintage-style denim, even if he does make up stories about looms, and Adriano Golschmied, who pioneered much of today's finishing industry.

he he he~. i was hoping you'd show up around here.

yeah, i just quickly copied that story from wiki, knowing i had to be ready to hit the "edit" button at any point. any corrections will be appreciated.

thanks paul.

[poly800rock]

ringring, PaulT, and serge all offer expert advice on this forum.

kiya and gordan are both the friendliest people I have met.

the people in hinoya destroyed me finanically

lest not forget, ryu basically lifted us out of french and european denimz and thus began a feeding frenzy for sugarcane 1947's, i think either chicken or miz started that thread.

[cheep]

i nominate ringring, paul t, and serge de nimes for thier influence on our little insular denim world here at sufu.

[beatle]

Second serge....

OI9S9fMTXEY

[arem]

I think it would be safe to nominate Jean Touitou as well, APC has been a very influential brand on Sufu and in the real world for some time now...

[coleslawyum]

I'd follow up with Hidehiko Yamane, who pioneered vintage-style denim, even if he does make up stories about looms, and Adriano Golschmied, who pioneered much of today's finishing industry.

Props to you Paul to bring up AG and Yamane.

Evisu / Denime / Fullcount, those guys started the Japanese repro craze together.

And the the whole Diesel, Replay, Retour thing really had a huge impact on "designer' denim.

Also to Calvin Klein, who made denim more fashionable.

[40ozprophet]

what about the fashion writers of the 50s and 60s who exploited the patriotism of the middle and upper class to convince them that wearing denim was acceptable?

wait, thats my history paper...

[midnight]

Wasn't it sailors who really turned jeans into a big trend type thing? I heard somewhere that they all got jeans as a part of their uniform, and when they would dock at cities and stuff they would always wear them. People really respected and looked up to them back in the day and started to try and wear the same clothes as them.

[ChuckO]

PaulT should be in there for documenting the history.

[rnrswitch]

I nominate miners, oil drillers, etc. of the early 20th century. Working class bad asses that shaped our world today.

Jack Kerouac...too?

[Paul T]

Jack Kerouac...too?

kerouac wrote about Levi's in On The Road. Thebook was really about Neal Cassady, aka Dean Moriarty - the whole voice of the book, plus the dress, was based on him.