Jeans new era

Almost 150 years have passed since the American workers first put on practical blue trousers, called jeans. Since then, this element of the wardrobe, patented in 1873 by Levi Strauss, has settled in wardrobes around the world and has become as indispensable as socks or underwear.

For a century and a half in the "denim" industry little has changed - Levi's does not give up positions and continues to hold the title of permanent leader in the industry. In addition to the concept of the jeans themselves, the company owns ideas of pockets with buttons and fly-zippers ...

A completely revolutionary model of the first female jeans was also designed by Levi's. Today, the corporation is still setting the direction of the denim fashion, setting an example to other producers who want to keep up with the mainstream. But now modern technologies have interfered with the process, and they will not be able to keep up with competitors at all.

Revolutionary model of the first female jeans was also designed by Levi's, photo WEB

In an effort to reduce the cost of wages and minimize the harm caused to the environment by its large-scale production, Levi Strauss & Co. opened line for the production of jeans with the help of laser in Nevada! The robot by infrared radiation "scratches" the surface of denim, creating the effect of wear, rubbing or even cutting through holes and engaging patterns of any complexity.

 

The idea itself is not new and is implemented by a multitude of industries around the world. But the resolution of such lasers is small, and so the detailing of the elements is very rough. The new "Levi's" with a laser pattern are completely indistinguishable from everage jeans, whose design is made by hand. The new technology implements thickening, rubbing, scratches and even color in a matter of minutes. The only thing that the operator must do, is to load a file with the desired model of trousers and hang "clean" jeans before it .

New jeans with a laser pattern are completely indistinguishable from conventional, photo © Levi's

In the near future, the company plans to supply the production of jeans in three basic colours - light, medium and dark. Already on the spot, the laser will create models in hundreds of different variations, which will first be sent electronically through the factories.

The company plans to transfer all its enterprises within two years to the new production system. When this happens, any model in a single copy or a large batch can be created at each Levi Strauss & Co.factory at any given time, which was previously simply technically impossible.

The company plans to supply the production of jeans in three basic colours, photo © Levi's

Such a decision is truly revolutionary and its implementation can afford, perhaps, only Levi's, whose turnover is about 5 billion dollars. In practice, this will mean irretrievable departure from chemicals and abrasives, which are now used in the production of Levi's.

In order not to lose the landmark, the company launched the project "Zero hazardous chemicals by 2020", as a result of which the operations with chemicals will be almost completely excluded from the production chain. In addition, the company's management notes that out of 24 stages of processing a pair of jeans, only three will remain at the share of manual labor, the rest will be taken by the robot.

Only Levi's can afford such solution and its implementation, photo © Levi's

True, there is a sad side to this story. Today at Levi Strauss & Co. there are about 15 thousand people working, one third of whom will be unemployed as a result of the planned reforms. Most of them are not Americans, but people from poorer countries, where the company's factories are located.

They probably would prefer to continue to suffer from contact with chemicals in the workplace, rather than joining the labor exchange. But the company's management is determined resolutely and declares that "we go all-in, because such an opportunity is given only once or not at all  in any business."

Victoria Romanova, Russia, Moscow

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