[nggallery id=12 template=galleryview]
You may remember the monologue Glenn did on GBTV a few months ago deriding Levi's for it's advertising campaign celebrating revolution and progressivism. He announced today that he had a response for them - a new line of jeans from his own clothing line, 1791!
"Levi's said they wanted to be the uniform of the progressive movement. Okay. Great. Good for you. I'm not going to boycott Levi's. I don't really care. I've worn Levi's since I was a kid. If that's what Levis wants to do, Levis can do that," Glenn said.
"Now Levis, I remember when Levis were like $20, maybe 15. Levis aren't that anymore. Now, they do make a pair of Levis here in America, you know, the way they used to make them, but I think they're $250. It is extraordinarily expensive to make jeans in America, especially quality jeans. Well, we did our homework and it's taken about a year since I did that rant where I couldn't take Levis anymore and I said I wasn't going to wear Levis anymore, but it's taken us about a year to get ready for this. We did our homework on Levis. We found out that there is a mill still in North Carolina. It's the oldest operating loom in America. It is a loom that Levi Strauss, when they stopped making them in California ‑‑ and we're talking about in the Eighties 1800s ‑‑ they took off. They were miner pants, and they took off and people started wearing them. Well, they couldn't keep up in California, so they had to ‑‑ they had to outsource from California to North Carolina. And this loom that made this fabric, made this fabric, the Levis fabric that came off that loom in the late 1800s was the same loom that was making the fabric when James Dean was wearing it, when you were wearing it. In fact, it's the same fabric that all of us who are my age wore when we were a kid. Levis, Levis does their $250 jeans there, you know, if you want to have that special jean. The Levis that you now buy in the shelves, regular Levis, that's all made in China. Because they're working with and for China. And they're going to be the progressive uniform, you know."
"Well, we approached this mill and asked them, could we, could we buy that same exact fabric. The answer was, "Yes, we can make that for you." Good. We then went to ‑‑ we then went to places all around the country and tried to find a group that could actually put a great jean and make it in America. Can you make it in America? These jeans would be about $300 if we sold them the way Levis did. I don't even know the price. I think they're like $120. 100% made in America. It has the copper rivets, it has the button fly, it has the exact fabric that, if you're my age, you grew up with. The exact fabric that the miners used to use in the 1800s."
"Announcing: The new American jean, 1791."
"Go to 1791.com and sign up if you want to be the first to be alerted when you can buy this. It's a great jean, made here in America."
You can