Levi's the red tab

7th March 2009

I hope you are not bored with the images of Levi's; this should be last one I am posting. We have discussed the Levi's of present, I would like to discuss the Levi's of past. Way back early 90s when the other designer brands had not come to India, a pair of Levi's bought by a relative returning from Hong Kong or Singapore was the ultimate statement as far as jeans were concerned. I bought a pair of Levi's from Gaffar Market in Karol Bagh, Delhi for 450 bucks which were a fair amount of money at that time. I believed it was a fake but convinced myself that it was a genuine Levi's. The label said it was made in Thailand and now I am sure it was a fake because instead of "Since 1853", it had "Since 1872" or some year close to that. I liked my Levi's very much and I wore it almost everywhere and it lasted me a good couple of years of heavy usage.

A fake that is better than an original. I guess this is the ultimate insult for a product.

I had written these posts at the same time in advance and kept posting them one a day. Looking back and reading at the comments posted here, there are more people who like Levi's than those who don't and the Levi's 501 still has a very strong following and if all those people like 501, it must be good. My judgment has been based on the Levi's sandals and trousers I have used and I can't speak about the quality of the jeans as I have not tried one and maybe it is unfair on my part to judge Levi's the way I have.

The moral of the story is that everyone can't keep producing one good product after another like Apple. If you have one very good product, you should not assume that you can make other products that will be equally good. Levi's has 501 and instead of diluting their image by introducing things like the sandals and the trousers, they should have stuck with what they do best - jeans.