Learn to Levi-tate: the evolution of jean therapy

Men's Fitness, Nov, 2004

Every guy appreciates a great pair--of Levi's, that is. You've turned yours inside out in the wash and hung them to dry to preserve the stiff indigo. You've scraped them with sandpaper, dragged them behind your car, and washed them shabby chic. As unkind as the treatment seems, it's a form of tough love--those jeans are the building blocks of any guy's wardrobe.

The denim pants created by German-born merchant Levi Strauss swept through the West in 1874 as the uniform standard for miners and cowpunchers. Almost a century later, two out of three hippies muddied their Levi's at Woodstock. The Levi's of Berliners--East and West--shaddled the Wall before it crumbled. It's the Born-in-the-USA brand on the Boss's butt. And even "Elvis" is just "Levi's" rearranged.

Just like your favorite 501s, the brand itself only improves with age. Kind of like the Olsen twins. The blown corduroy and fluffy fleece of today's sherpa-lined trucker jacket works on urban streets and under desert stars. The anywear belt-included pilot workwear pants hold up for a 9 a.m. meeting, Sunday afternoon chores, and a vigorous coin-laundry wash. And the vintage inspiration for the authentic Western sawtooth shirt is literally mined from the company's San Francisco-based archive of design.

"Levi's designers scour this museum-like resource in search of authentic workwear details to resurrect and then update," says Levi's spokesman Brett Anderson.

So go ahead, cowboy. Reinvent your own style, lifestyle, career, and body. Levi's still fits.

For more info, visit: levi.com.

LEVI'S

Sherpa-lined corduroy jacket, $88; Western shirt, $42; khaki pants, $40

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