Levi Strauss and Co.’s Nuholt Huisamen talks strategy and 150th anniversary of 501 jeans

South African native Nuholt Huisamen is embarrassed to admit it, but he owns more pairs of Levi’s jeans than he can count — justifiably so, since he is the man in charge of the East Asia Pacific division (Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand) for Levi Strauss & Co. But the one pair you will find him wearing most often these days is his 501s, the classic button-fly jeans in an updated slim tapered cut.

A wardrobe staple for denim lovers, the 501 was originally created as overalls in the 1870s for railway workers and miners by a Nevada tailor called Jacob Davis. To tackle the issue of their pockets being constantly ripped, Davis found a way to fortify the corners with copper rivets. The demand for these rivets became so overwhelming that Davis wrote to his San Francisco-based fabric supplier Levi Strauss to take out a patent for the unique design. On May 20, 1873, they were awarded the patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings” — marking the birth of the 501.