In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Dockers®, we’re featuring some of the brand’s most interesting khaki heritage items on Unzipped, which are also on exhibit in the Atrium at our San Francisco Headquarters through the summer.
The popular menswear material has a rich history that spans decades and continues to be a wardrobe staple. Last month, we showcased a vintage pair of khakis that were tucked away in a cave. Now, we’re discovering what happens when two iconic fabrics collide.
Levi Strauss & Co. is the first name in denim, and with the Dockers® brand the company brought khaki into the modern age. Wondering if vintage Levi’s® jeans and khaki ever came together in a single pair of pants? The answer is yes. Meet Heath.
“Heath” is the name given to a pair of Levi’s® jeans that was customized by the original owner with a flap and a button from a pair of khakis. Heath was found in 1993 by a college student in the garbage dump of a mining town near Gold Hill, Nevada. This fashionable hybrid dates to the late 1920s and represents the early interweaving of two important LS&Co. fabrics—denim and khaki—in a single pant.
Now that’s a doubly fascinating find!
Stay tuned for more from our khaki exhibit in the coming weeks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tracey Panek is the Historian for Levi Strauss & Co. where she manages the day-to-day workings of the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives as a key corporate asset, answering historical questions, assisting designers, brand managers, executives and other employees whose work requires historical materials in the Archives.
Prior to joining LS&Co., Tracey spent 14 years as Historian and Archivist at AAA Northern California, Nevada & Utah where she managed a corporate history program for the 100+ year old company. She began her corporate history career at AirTouch Communications—today Verizon and Vodafone—a San Francisco based company that launched cellular service at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.
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