Form Follows Function

Montana Mine, 1889.

LS&CO.

(via rivet-head)

Closed Front Miner Jumper

LVC

(via 76garments)

Miners got the fine illustration treatment on the inside of the 1905 Levi Strauss & Co catalog. Note the similarity between the drawing of the miner and the cover of the August 11, 1900, issue of Mining and Scientific Press. Miners and men in associated industries were likely very familiar with this photo and since they were wearing Levi’s riveted overalls LS&CO felt it would be useful to create an illustration that would both advertise the products and make a connection to these consumers via an image that was also not copyrighted.

Images of America Levis Strauss & Co.

Lynn Downey

LVC 2013 collection shirt opposite the original.

Mike Harris Collection.

Panning 

lostinamerica:

I wish I was a slave to an age-old trade…

Gold Mining

(via mudwerks)

Mininers

(via oldsparky)

The Bunkhouse Jeans (1906)

photos from: http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php?/topic/131739-levis-vintage-clothing/page__st__9750 

omuseitsmeagain:

“…Sometime around 1911, a miner working the eastern slope of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range left a few personal items behind in the bunkhouse he shared with other hopeful ore hunters. Eventually, the bunkhouse was abandoned, but the dry desert air preserved everything inside. A few years ago, the building was discovered by a mining enthusiast and the contents found their way to the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives.

The highlight of the collection is a beautiful pair of Levi’s® waist overalls (the old timers’ name for jeans). They were made in San Francisco around 1906, and are in amazing shape considering what they’ve been through.

Two Levi’s work shirts, as well as a few other interesting items, were found along with the jeans. One of the shirts is made of grey chambray and the other, bearing our “Sunset” brand label, is made of wool and has suffered some rodent damage. There’s also a tiny Bull Durham brand tobacco pouch, which still has the 1910 government tax stamp clinging to its fragile muslin fabric, and a page from the Los Angeles Examiner newspaper of 1911, found lying undamaged on the bunkhouse floor. And finally, our anonymous miner left behind a beautiful natural indigo bandanna.

This bunkhouse collection is a prime example of how our designers use the Archives for inspiration, sometimes even creating an exact replica of a treasured item in the Archives. Designers spend hours in the stacks poring over the old clothes, taking measurements, counting the stitches per inch in the seams, and comparing replica buttons to the real thing. It’s a painstaking process but it pays off: many of these new old items are snapped up quickly and auctioned off on eBay.” 

http://www.levistrauss.com/about/heritage/archives/tales-archives

photos from: http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php?/topic/131739-levis-vintage-clothing/page__st__9750 and http://supertalk.superfuture.com/index.php?/topic/15498-fantastic-lvc-shirt-price-doesnt-make-sense/