It’s tiny — smaller than a paperclip. And it’s bright — a contrasting blip against your favorite 501® jeans or denim shirt. But though it may be unassuming, it’s come to stand for quality and craftsmanship.
The classic red Tab Device, as it’s legally known, is undoubtedly an enduring symbol of the Levi’s® brand, which is why we’ve spent more than 80 years protecting not only our exclusive use of the Tab trademark but also the quality it has come to represent.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Levi’s® started adding different-colored Tabs to other Levi’s® clothing. For example, there was the black Tab with gold lettering for products treated in the new Sta-Prest process, which guarded against wrinkles. But affixing a red Tab on our 501® jeans has never changed, according to LS&Co. Historian Tracey Panek.
Research recently conducted by the Consumer Insights team at LS&Co. shows that, out of all of the product branding and iconography in the market, the red Tab is among those that resonate most strongly with consumers, according to Barb Gollert, Levi’s® VP of Global Merchandising and Product Operations.
Though the Tab itself has changed very little over its lifetime, key changes in its evolution have caught the eagle eyes of everyday customers and vintage collectors alike. So if you find yourself wondering about that orange Tab — or the red Tab with just an ® on it — let this tale of Tabs be your guide.
Red Tab With Uppercase ‘E’Levi Strauss & Co. co-patented the idea for blue jeans, manufacturing them starting in 1873. When the patent expired, competitors everywhere were also able to manufacture riveted clothing. So, LS&Co. needed a way to stand apart. First, we used the Arcuate design on our back pockets. We then added the Two-Horse Design — trademarked around 1890. When competitors started copying the Arcuate, which wasn’t trademarked until the 1940s, Levi’s® felt it needed a new differentiator. In stepped in National Sales Manager Chris Lucier. He was the one who thought of placing “a folded cloth ribbon in the structural seam of a rear patch pocket.” Thus, the Levi’s® Tab was born. The red Tab, with the word “LEVI’S” woven onto one side of the tab in white, appeared on our 501® jeans in 1936 and, later, on our denim jackets. Red Tab With Lowercase ‘e’Over the years, the Tab lettering has taken on different forms in very subtle ways, Tracey says. In the 1950s, the brand started making double-sided tabs, where the white “LEVI’S” lettering was visible on both sides. In the early 1970s, instead of all-caps “LEVI’S,” it changed to “Levi’s” with a lowercase “e.” The “E” font differentiation became a mark among vintage collectors, and the Tab’s evolution has made it a bit of a timestamp (think rings on a redwood tree) for collectors and fans of the brand worldwide. |
Red Tab with ® Every now and then, you’ll find a Tab with nothing but the trademark symbol on it. But, rest assured, these are authentic Levi’s® and that is a fully intentional blank tab. Since the Tab device is one of the world’s most frequently copied trademarks, 10 percent are produced with only the ® symbol to show that the Tab is itself a trademark — separate from the Levi’s® mark that usually appears on it. “You can be assured that this is not a defect or an error in the manufacturing process,” Tracey says. The only exception to this rule is for Levi’s® Vintage Clothing (LVC) product. The blank tab was not used on old product, so the tab used on LVC garments has to have the Levi’s® mark on it. Orange Tab Because the red Tab was considered a trademark of the 501®, the brand wanted to differentiate other kinds of Levi’s® clothing — such as fashion denim, like bell-bottoms and boot cuts, that came out in the 1960s. With that, the Levi’s® orange Tab was born. With the orange Tab, designers got to be a little more experimental, incorporating more trendy and unusual silhouettes and stepping out of the stringent requirements put on red Tab clothing. Today, those early original orange Tab Levi’s® items — which include shirts, jeans, hats and accessories — are sometimes considered collectibles. The orange Tab currently shows up on select Levi’s® Vintage Clothing items and will return this spring. (Check out Threads next week for more info!) |
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Red Tab With Lowercase ‘e’ Over the years, the Tab lettering has taken on different forms in very subtle ways, Tracey says. In the 1950s, the brand started making double-sided tabs, where the white “LEVI’S” lettering was visible on both sides. In the early 1970s, instead of all-caps “LEVI’S,” it changed to “Levi’s” with a lowercase “e.” The “E” font differentiation became a mark among vintage collectors, and the Tab’s evolution has made it a bit of a timestamp (think rings on a redwood tree) for collectors and fans of the brand worldwide. |
Orange Tab
Because the red Tab was considered a trademark of the 501®, the brand wanted to differentiate other kinds of Levi’s® clothing — such as fashion denim, like bell-bottoms and boot cuts, that came out in the 1960s. With that, the Levi’s® orange Tab was born.
With the orange Tab, designers got to be a little more experimental, incorporating more trendy and unusual silhouettes and stepping out of the stringent requirements put on red Tab clothing. Today, those early original orange Tab Levi’s® items — which include shirts, jeans, hats and accessories — are sometimes considered collectibles. The orange Tab currently shows up on select Levi’s® Vintage Clothing items and will return this spring. (Check out Threads next week for more info!)
Fresh Produce
Continuing in the vintage vein, those of you who were Richard Linklater-level fashionable in the 1970s will remember Levi’s® Fresh Produce, denoted with a Tab featuring a tiny carrot. Barb says the line was especially popular when she first started with the brand in Canada in 1975.
Blue Tab
Levi’s Made and Crafted, the brand’s premium line, carries a blue Tab.
Silver Tab
Silver Tab was introduced in 1988, coming in at the forefront of the baggy trend that defined late-’80s and ’90s grunge denim. Barb, who was director of merchandising for Silver Tab at the time, says Levi’s® was bang-on for that trend and it was a huge success for the brand. The lesson? You can tap into a trend while still being true to the brand.
Assorted Color Tabs
Why stop there? As new decades and new styles rolled out, so did a handful of new color tabs. They represented different lines of clothing, from corduroy flares to boot-cut jeans to a whole category of women’s wear.
Khakis from the ’90s had their own distinctive tab. You’ll find black tabs on women’s black denim, and some of the men’s — purely a rearview aesthetic decision, Barb says.
Despite the different colors, one thing is for sure: “The Tab device is unique to Levi’s® as a brand and something we still trademark today,” Tracey says.
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