136-year-old pair of Levi's blue jeans was built to last

SAN FRANCISCO — The oldest pair of blue jeans in the Levi's archive are kept in a fire-proof safe to which only two people know the combination.

They are wide and durable enough to wear over long johns while out harvesting timber or mining silver in 1879, the year they were produced. Back then, the relic went by a different, old-timey name: waist overalls, to contrast with competitors' popular bib overalls

The marketing slogan for the pants at the time: "For men who toil."

See also: 18,850 pairs of denim turn Levi's Stadium into actual 'Field of Jeans'

One of the two people who has unfettered access to the 136-year-old pair is Tracy Panek, the Levi Strauss & Co. historian. Read more...

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