Lee Jeans
Lee is a jeans brand, produced since 1889 for Kansas cattle breeder. Nowadays it’s the second brand in the world after Levi’s.
The origins
Actually, the brand wasn’t born with a specific address to clothing world: the H.D. Lee Mercantile Company was founded in Kansas to sell food and other items required all around the world. In 1911, when Henry David Lee noticed nobody was able to satisfy the demand of work clothes, he created the first salopette (named Union All) and he opened his first clothing factory, in Salina.
The Union All earned him e huge success: it was realized in 8-ounces denim and included a bib and suspenders, fixed and later adjustable; it resulted from the sewing of a pair of dungaree ad a jacket and it covered the worker from neck to ankle. At the time, it was a revolution, which allowed workers and farmers to keep their clothes clean until the end of the day.
Lee expansion
In 1921 Buddy Lee, the iconic doll which, in the following 40 years, represented the brand’s preferential way to present its new products, was launched. Its production was stopped in 1960, due to costs, become prohibitive; after a short reintroduction in 1998, in 2006 it was definitely retired from market.
Lee reached many goals: in 1925 it developed the most resistant and bluest denim for all the workwear market; in 1927 it was the first clothing producer to use zip in workwear items.
During Second World War, Lee took indirectly part to military works, by realizing the apparel worn by USA war forces.
In the ’50s jeans became a cultural phenomenon: after Marlon Brando (The wild one, 1953) and James Dean (East of Eden, 1955) wore them, they weren’t anymore relegated to farmers and workers, but they became a symbol of the American youth. As a consequence, Lee sales vertiginously increased.
Latest facts
The brand was owned by VF Corporation between 1969 and 2018, when the group decided to make Lee and Wrangler independents, in order to focus on Vans and The North Face, which were more profitable.
In 2023 the brand launched in the entire EMEA area, for the first time, his footwear collection, produced by The Brandsplus Group.
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Contacts
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