In celebration of Levi’s Women Experience "FOR EVERY ORIGINAL" pop-up in Tokyo, Director of Archives Tracey Panek explains why you should stop washing your jeans and how real women shaped denim history.

There is a quiet alchemy in a pair of broken-in Levi’s. Long before denim became a runway mainstay or an off-duty uniform, it was a canvas for lived history, imprinted with paint splatters, saddle friction, and the quiet rebellions of the women who wore them. To celebrate the opening of Levi’s Women Experience “FOR EVERY ORIGINAL” immersive pop-up in Tokyo, a vibrant tribute to 150 years of female trailblazers, we sat down with Tracey Panek, Historiographer-in-Chief and Director of Archives at Levi Strauss &amp; Co. Part fashion detective and part cultural guardian, Panek spends her days unearthing lost stories stitched into vintage denim. From WWII ferry pilots to avant-garde artists and gorilla conservationists, she opens up the vault to reveal what natural wear patterns, secret pen marks, and decades of fading tell us about the unstoppable spirit of the women who wore them first.

Modern women are obsessed with authentic wear-and-tear on their denim. What can vintage archive pieces teach us about how natural fading tells a woman’s personal story? Denim is wonderfully honest. Whatever you do in your jeans, your life is going to reflect in the wear patterns over time. In our archives, we have thousands of pieces that tell deeply personal stories. Take Pearl Baker, a woman who ran her own ranch at Robbers’ Roost in Utah, a spot famous for outlaws like Butch Cassidy. In vintage photos of Pearl on her ranch, there’s intense wear right on her left thigh. She was likely riding her horse and holding the reins in her left hand, rubbing the fabric raw day after day.&nbsp;Another favourite is the artist Ruth Asawa. Her Levi’s are splattered with paint and plaster, clearly her studio work pants. But right on her right knee, there’s a distinct pen mark shaped like a tic-tac-toe grid. You can just picture her sitting at her desk, working out a design problem, and scratching that crosshatch right onto her knee. Women also loved claiming ownership of their denim. Two of our oldest pieces, one worn by a college student named Viola, and a WWII jacket belonging to a woman named Betty, have their names boldly written right on the leather patch. Levi’s aren't just clothes; they're a living scrapbook.

If we trace back the history of the classic Levi’s Trucker Jacket worn by women, how far back are we looking, and what were those early jackets used for? The official Trucker Jacket, specifically the 70505 model was introduced in 1967 to match the pre-shrunk, zippered 505 jeans.&nbsp;One standout piece from that era belonged to a Chicano activist in Los Angeles. She took an Orange Tab Trucker, cut the sleeves off, and hand-embroidered "Chicano Power" with a brown fist and a pink cross across the back. It was a bold, beautiful declaration of her politics and her faith.&nbsp;But women were wearing Levi’s denim jackets long before the '60s! We recently acquired a Type I jacket from the 1940s that belonged to a woman named Betty Jane Moore. You can tell it’s a World War II-era piece because the government restricted material use, so it lacks pocket flaps and features generic, unbranded buttons. Betty stitched a massive patch on the front from the 13th Air Ferrying Squadron, a group of female pilots who flew military aircraft from factories to active bases. Underneath her name on the inside patch, she wrote "Fairfield Suisun Army Air Base." Betty was literally flying planes across the country to aid the war effort, and her Levi’s jacket went along for the ride. The exhibition centres on "150 Years of Female Originals." Historically and today, what key traits define a "Levi’s Female Original"? They have to be bold, independent, and completely original. The earliest women to wear Levi’s were breaking social norms just by putting on pants. They were pioneers like Viola, who wore her 501s to college at a time when women were expected to wear dresses. A Levi’s woman is independent-minded, comfortable in her own skin, and relentlessly carves her own path without asking for permission.

Looking at mid-20th-century archive advertisements, how did Levi’s marketing reflect or subtly challenge the gender norms of the era? This is an interesting question. We were pushing boundaries earlier than most people realise! Back in 1918, we introduced the "Freedom Alls”, a one-piece tunic-and-trousers outfit designed "for work or recreation." It was an expression of total fashion freedom. One woman even wore it to ride a horse to her own wedding!&nbsp;By the 1930s, we launched the 701 "Lady Levi’s," aimed at independent Western women working on ranches. Fun fact: Women in the American West were the first in the nation to win the right to vote, which speaks volumes about the spirit of that region.&nbsp;By the late 1960s in San Francisco, we were right at the epicentre of counterculture. In 1967, we partnered with the psychedelic rock band Jefferson Airplane. We gave them total creative freedom to record 12 radio tracks during an all-night studio session. The only catch was that they had to work the 12 available colours of "White Levi’s" into the lyrics. It was super experimental for a corporate brand at the time, but young people loved it. As a female historian leading one of the world's premier fashion archives, how do you intentionally hunt down these lost women's stories? I actively hunt for them. When I got a tip that Betty Jane Moore’s WWII flight jacket was going to auction, I knew we had to win it to preserve her legacy. Other times, the stories come directly from fans. People will reach out and say, "I found these in my grandmother’s attic."I always ask them to tell me about their grandmothers like where did they live? What did they do? One woman named Anna Marie donated three customised pieces. In the 1970s, she took her mother’s 1950s Levi’s jeans, split the inner seams, and added fabric panels to turn them into a sweeping maxi skirt. Plus, Anna Marie wore glasses and wanted to make them feel cool and stylish, so she hand-embroidered a tiny pair of eyeglasses onto the back pocket of every pair of jeans she owned.

Are there any other incredible encounters with Levi’s owners you can share? Just recently, I was contacted by the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund! Dian Fossey was the famous primatologist who moved to Rwanda in the 1970s to study and protect mountain gorillas.&nbsp;Her team was going through her archived belongings in Rwanda and discovered several pairs of her original Levi’s that she wore out in the field. Talking with them was such a thrill. It’s another incredible example of a pioneering woman pushing boundaries in her Levi's. Since we’re celebrating women, who are the female figures that constantly inspires you? My mother is my ultimate hero. She was a seamstress, and when I was growing up, she taught me how to use a sewing machine so I could tailor and customise my own 501s.&nbsp;Another is Barbara Hunter, a woman I met right after I joined the company. Back in the day, she literally dug a vintage pair of men’s Levi’s out of an old mine in Calico, California, washed them off, and wore them to high school! Lastly, Phyllis Gould. She was one of the first three female welders hired at the Kaiser Shipyards during WWII. She was repeatedly turned down, but she kept showing up until they gave her the job and she ended up out-welding most of the men. Women like Phyllis paved the way for women like me to work freely today.

Finally, the eternal question: How often should we actually be washing our jeans? Not very often at all! [Laughs]. I rarely wash mine. The beauty of denim is that you can spot-clean small spills, hang them outside to air dry, and let them refresh naturally. I love a pair of Levi’s with character. A splash of paint, a bit of distress, or a pen mark on the knee like Ruth Asawa’s, is just a chapter in the story of your life. Wear them, live in them, and let them tell your story.

The untold history of women’s denim with Tracey Panek

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