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Company type | Private |
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Industry | Workwear |
Founded | 1935San Francisco, California | in
Founders |
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Headquarters | San Rafael, California, U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Website | www |
Ben Davis is an American workwear brand, founded in 1935, in San Francisco, California with headquarters in San Rafael, California. The company founder, Ben Davis' grandfather, Jacob Davis was the inventor of the original Levi's riveted jeans, and partnered with Levi Strauss in 1871 to mass-produce blue jeans. [1] The brand's signature product is its heavyweight cotton/polyester blended twill fabric, which is used for most of its workwear clothing. Ben Davis also offers a selection of streetwear. [2]
Ben Davis was founded in 1935 as Ben F. Davis Manufacturing Co. by Ben Davis and his father, Simon Davis in San Francisco, California. [1] The original store was on Valencia street in the Mission District. The Davis family has been involved in the US garment industry since the mid 1800s. [1] Ben Davis black jeans were popular with the International Longshore and Warehouse Union for their sturdy, rugged, and high quality denim. The longshoremen wore black Ben Davis jeans and white hats in the annual Labor Day parade from the Ferry Building to City Hall in San Francisco. Its clothing would catch on in Los Angeles and other parts of the U.S. The brand was later worn by Chicano, African-American, and Filipino youth. Initially, tags on Ben Davis clothing read "Union Made Plenty Tough"; this was changed to "USA Made Plenty Tough" after a union dispute in 2004, [3] [4] and then to "Est. 1935 Plenty Tough" after certain products began to be sourced from outside the U.S. Co-founder Ben Davis died on February 19, 2009. [5] The company has been run by his son Frank Davis since 1995, who was interviewed in a Grand Royal magazine article. [6] In 2019, Ben Davis collaborated with Supreme to release a fall/winter collection as a tribute to American workwear. [7]
Ben Davis is popular in some music-related subcultures, especially West Coast rappers. The clothing is popular among Chicano and "cholo" youth culture.[ citation needed ] Ben Davis shirts have been shown in the 1992 "Let Me Ride" video from rapper Dr. Dre, the Beastie Boys have mentioned the brand in their music, and Eazy-E used a Ben Davis shirt in his music video for the song "Real Muthaphuckkin G's". Chicano rapper Lil Rob has mentioned Ben Davis clothing in his songs. Also the Mexican rapper Mr. Yosie Locote made an entire song about the Ben Davis clothing, called "Ben Davis mi marca" ('Ben Davis my brand'). Ice Cube mentions Ben Davis in his song "Ghetto Vet" on his War and Peace Vol. 1 album and also wears a Ben Davis shirt on his "Friday" music video. On Bangin' on Wax , the 1993 album by Bloods & Crips, Crip rapper AWOL refers to Ben Davis clothing on the song "K's Up". Havokk and Prodeje from the legendary South Central Cartel mention wearing Ben Davis in their music. Kid Rock also mentions Ben Davis in his sone “American Badass”, rhyming “Devil without a cause And I'm back with the beaver hats and Ben Davis slacks”.
Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871 and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Prior to the patent, the term "blue jeans" had been long in use for various garments, constructed from blue-colored denim.
Levi Strauss was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco, California.
Levi Strauss & Co. is an American clothing company known worldwide for its Levi's brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when German-Jewish immigrant Levi Strauss moved from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, California, to open a West Coast branch of his brothers' New York dry goods business. Although the corporation is registered in Delaware, the company's corporate headquarters is located in Levi's Plaza in San Francisco.
Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Hip-hop fashion refers to the various styles of dress that originated from Urban Black America and inner city youth in cities like New York City, Atlanta, and Los Angeles. Being a major part of hip hop culture, it further developed in other cities across the United States, with each contributing different elements to the overall style that is now recognized worldwide.
Chicano rap is a subgenre of hip hop that embodies aspects of the Mexican American or Chicano culture.
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Western wear is a category of men's and women's clothing which derives its unique style from the clothes worn in the 19th century Wild West. It ranges from accurate historical reproductions of American frontier clothing, to the stylized garments popularized by Western film and television or singing cowboys such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers in the 1940s and 1950s. It continues to be a fashion choice in the West and Southwestern United States, as well as people associated with country music or Western lifestyles, for example the various Western or Regional Mexican music styles. Western wear typically incorporates one or more of the following: Western shirts with pearl snap fasteners and vaquero design accents, blue jeans, cowboy hat, a leather belt, and cowboy boots.
Streetwear is a style of casual clothing which became global in the 1990s. It grew from New York hip hop fashion and Californian surf culture to encompass elements of sportswear, punk, skateboarding, 1980s nostalgia, and Japanese street fashion. Later, haute couture became an influence, and was in turn influenced by streetwear. Streetwear centers on comfortable clothing and accessories such as jeans, T-shirts, baseball caps, and sneakers. Brands may create exclusivity through artificial scarcity; enthusiasts follow particular brands and try to obtain limited edition releases, including via proxy purchases.
Ben Sherman is a British clothing brand selling shirts, sweaters, suits, outerwear, shoes and accessories predominantly for men. Ben Sherman has been described as an 'iconic British brand'. Ben Sherman designs sometimes feature the Royal Air Force roundel which is often called the mod target. In its beginnings in the 1960s, the company made its mark with fashionable short sleeved, button-down collared shirts.
The fashion of the 2000s is often described as a global mash up, where trends saw the fusion of vintage styles, global and ethnic clothing, as well as the fashions of numerous music-based subcultures. Hip-hop fashion generally was the most popular among young people of both sexes, followed by the retro-inspired indie look later in the decade.
Fashion in the years following World War II is characterized by the resurgence of haute couture after the austerity of the war years. Square shoulders and short skirts were replaced by the soft femininity of Christian Dior's "New Look" silhouette, with its sweeping longer skirts, fitted waist, and rounded shoulders, which in turn gave way to an unfitted, structural look in the later 1950s.
The United States is the leading country in the fashion design industry, followed by France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan. Apart from professional business attire, American fashion is eclectic and predominantly informal. While Americans' diverse cultural roots are reflected in their clothing, particularly those of recent immigrants, cowboy hats, boots, jeans, and leather motorcycle jackets are emblematic of specifically American styles.
Coogi is an Australian fashion brand known for colorful knitwear. Founded in 1969 as "Cuggi" in Toorak, Australia, the label was renamed in 1987. In addition to clothing, the company's 1992 international trademark filing registered the brand for cosmetics and toiletries, leather goods, furniture, textiles, and toys.
The 2010s were defined by hipster fashion, athleisure, a revival of austerity-era period pieces and alternative fashions, swag-inspired outfits, 1980s-style neon streetwear, and unisex 1990s-style elements influenced by grunge and skater fashions. The later years of the decade witnessed the growing importance in the western world of social media influencers paid to promote fast fashion brands on Pinterest and Instagram.
Jacob William Davis was a Russian-American tailor of Latvian Jewish origin who is credited with inventing modern jeans. Growing up in the Russian Empire, he emigrated to the United States as a young man and spent some time in Canada as well. He invented jeans by using sturdy cloth and rivets to strengthen weak points in the seams, and partnered with Levi Strauss to mass-produce them.
Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr., better known by his stage name Berner, is an American rapper and entrepreneur signed to Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang Entertainment. He has released over 50 albums, several of which have charted on Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" chart. As an entrepreneur, he created the Cookies brand of cannabis products and clothing wear that formed out of San Francisco in the early 2010s. The company has grown to include dozens of dispensaries across the United States and abroad, along with multiple clothing stores.
Run-DMC was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens New York City, formed in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture and especially one of the most famous hip hop acts of the 1980s. Along with Beastie Boys, LL Cool J, DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, and Public Enemy, the group pioneered new-school hip hop music and helped usher in the golden age of hip hop. The group was among the first to highlight the importance of the MC and DJ relationship.
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