LEVI’S® JEANS LAUNCHES ‘1 OF 100’ TO SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS

Global jeans brand Levi Strauss is further investing in South African talent with the locally innovated Levi’s® 1 of 100 campaign. This campaign boosts local talent by offering SA creatives the opportunity to design a limited edition line of t-shirts for Levi Strauss SA.

Ten Levi’s® stores across the country will exhibit each designer’s range for 6 to 8 weeks. The range will consist of 6 designs, each of which will be reproduced only 100 times, with every t-shirt hand numbered. Among the first artists participating are Matt Fortune, known for his work with Afrikaans rock band Fokofpolisiekar, artist Merwe Marchand and local fashion label Crazy Cloud.

Mike Leslie, Sponsorships and Innovations Manager of Levi Strauss SA, says: “Through our Levi’s® Original Music campaign we’ve become thoroughly tapped into the local non-mainstream culture and have developed strong networks within SA’s creative community. “The concept of Levi’s® 1 of 100 grew from a desire to further support local talent beyond the scope of music and into the realm of visual arts.”

Leslie explains that traditional Levi’s® branding will take a back seat in this campaign and that each range will be exhibited in a way that offers the artists maximum exposure. “The idea with Levi’s® 1 of 100 is to offer designers a blank canvas. All the merchandising, from the exhibition space down to the swing tags, is as uncluttered as possible to really offset the designs themselves,’ he says.

Exhibition cards - similar to a model’s z-card - will be on offer to all Levi’s® consumers to provide further exposure for each artist. These will contain a background and bio of the artist on show and visuals of all six designs. “Although we could have re-produced thousands of t-shirts, we chose to make only 100 of each design. The idea behind this is to foster a real sense of value in local design,” says Leslie. Levi’s® 1 of 100 also aims to not restrict their designers to just visual artists – poets, musicians and people who wishes to express themselves visually will eventually form part of the Levi’s® 1 of 100 list. Each Levi’s® 1 of 100 t-shirt will cost R299. Sizes in stores will be limited as only 100 of each design will be produced.

The 10 Levi's® Stores featuring 1 of 100 product are:

1. Waterfront
2. Cavendish
3. Cresta
4. Rosebank
5. Gateway
6. Sandton
7. Eastgate
8. Menlyn
9. Mopanya
10. Loch logan