THE LEGACY OF BLUE TAB™
Campaigns and Collaborations /
September 2025
Get to know our latest collection
Meet Blue Tab™—our most premium collection yet. It's a modern homage to Levi's® heritage, made from premium Japanese denim and cut in striking, sculptural silhouettes.
We sat down with Tracey Panek, Levi's® in-house Historian, to trace our denim’s journey through the decades and take a closer look at our latest collection.
Selvedge Denim: A Craft Rooted in History
The denim for our first Levi's® jeans was made on narrow shuttle looms that produced tightly constructed, fray-resistant edges. This selvedge denim was actually once the industry standard.
It wasn’t just a production method. It was a symbol of durability, craftsmanship and care.
Early Levi's® garments were made of selvedge denim, It’s part of our denim DNA.
– Tracey Panek
The 1980s Shift: Quantity v. Craft
During a time in the 1970s, Levi Strauss & Co. became the world’s largest apparel maker. Global demand exploded, and production had to scale fast. That meant swapping traditional shuttle looms in the early 1980s for wider, more efficient looms.
“Cone Mills, our denim supplier, doubled their denim output by adopting wider looms and cutting the fabric down the middle to produce twice as much denim in about the same time,” Tracey explains. “But without the narrower shuttle looms, the denim lost its beautiful edging detail.”
The result? Greater denim volume production, but at the cost of the selvedge finish.
Japan’s Revival of an Art Form
While the rest of the world moved on, many of the unused shuttle looms went to Japan. Denim Japanese artisans continued to use these traditional shuttle looms, preserving a craft that might have otherwise been forgotten.
Today, Levi’s® partners with these Japanese mills to reintroduce selvedge into select garments of our most elevated collections. It’s a natural fit: Japanese denim meets Levi’s® legacy.
A FRESH TAKE ON BLUE TAB™
This isn’t the first time Levi’s® has introduced a Blue Tab™ line. In the 1950s, Levi's® Denim Family launched as a family-focused collection featuring little blue tabs. It offered coordinated denim looks for parents and kids.
Now, Blue Tab™ returns as our most premium expression yet, elevating classic silhouettes with a modern touch. It’s our invitation to the next generation of denim connoisseurs. Because understanding where something comes from makes wearing it all the more powerful.
