ried past and the pursuit of relevance in a modern fashion landscape. Inside Retail: Looking back at your journey, how has your design philosophy changed over the years? Paul O’Neil: I think my design philosophy has stayed pretty consistent since I began working at Levi’s. I remember when I studied at university, something that really stuck with me was that “form follows function.” I had to take a paper on this, and what that means is that when you’re designing any product, whether it be a chair or a pair of jeans, the first thing you need to consider is the functionality of that product. So when I understand the function of what I need to design, I can decide how it should look and take shape. But functionality is always the most important part for me. When we look at Levi’s as a brand, this whole company was built on a solution to a problem. In 1873, the 501 jeans were designed as a solution to a problem — at all the points of strain, the denim was breaking. The solution was to put a small metal rivet at all the points of strain on the garment, and thereby we created the 501 jeans. Now, 150 years later, we still have these small rivets on our jeans. Do we need them anymore? Maybe not, but it’s a mark of where this whole company came from. And that’s all to do with functionality. So for me, functionality is a huge part of my design philosophy. IR: Is there any specific moment or collection that stands out as a turning point in your career? PO: There was a product I made called the Mirror Jeans. I managed Levi’s Vintage Clothing. We reproduce historic pieces from the brand going back to 1873 right up until today. And a colleague of mine was in North Carolina at a denim mill called Cone Mills. We’d worked with Cone for over 100 years, and while he was there, he phoned me up. He was very excited and he said to me, “You’ll never guess what I found — some fabric here that’s still on the loom from the 1970s. They want to know if you’d like to have it?” And I said, “Of course, I would love to have it.” So the fabric got packed up and sent to my office. I opened the box and saw the fabric, and immediately I noticed that the fabric was a left-hand twill. That’s the twill direction on a pair of jeans. If you look closely, you’ll notice that it has diagonal lines going through the jeans, and Levi’s only uses a right-hand twill. But this fabric was a left-hand twill, so I immediately put my hands up and said, “I can’t use this fabric.” And we were upset because it was so beautiful. And over that weekend, I thought to myself, “Well, hang on — maybe if I make a mirror image of every single part of the garment, even the writing on the rivets, all the packaging, if I put the fly on the wrong side…” So if I make everything in a mirror image, then when I hold these jeans in front of the mirror, it will just look like a very normal 501 with a right-hand twill. So this is what we did. We made all new metal rivets, metal buttons, packaging. Everything was mirror-imaged. When we held it up in front of the mirror, it was a perfectly normal 501. This was going to show how seriously we take our history, but also it was a fun way to approach it. Something about being in this situation opened up how I look at certain aspects of design. You know, when you’re backed into a corner, sometimes you come up with the best ideas, so that’s something that sticks with me. IR: What was the initial spark for this collection and how did you translate that into the final design? PO: Levi’s Vintage Clothing is really focused on reproducing our history. We’re studying vintage garments and trying to copy them exactly. When you buy a product from Levi’s Vintage Clothing, we want you to feel like you bought these jeans from the 1950s or the 1870s. It should feel the same. But of course, not everybody wants to wear historic products and vintage-style products. So we really wanted to explore the premium market for a much more modern consumer with fashion sensibility. We’ve had Blue Tab products around, like the actual blue pocket tab, that’s been around for some time. We really wanted to zone in on that and have that as the centrepiece for our premium collection. So we decided to use Blue Tab as the tab that we would focus all our branding on, building a collection around it and creating not only five-pocket jeans like we had in our Made in Japan collection, but also introducing outerwear and more head-to-toe denim dressing. And it just felt like the right move. IR: One of the most fascinating details about Blue Tab is the revamped branding, which draws from a 1925 stock issuance certificate. Can you tell us the story behind that discovery and how it helped shape the collection’s identity? PO: When I was working with the graphics team on coming up with a new branding strategy, a colleague of mine had found the stock issuance certificate from 1925 in the archive. There was some really beautiful typography on it that called out ‘Levi Strauss & Co.’ We loved that, and we already loved the blue tab, so we combined them. He created the logo based on that old typography and the colour of the blue tab. Then we combined those elements to recreate our branding. It was a great example of the philosophy for Blue Tab, which is always to look at Levi’s history, make sure we pay attention to Levi’s DNA, but take it into the future. We really want to look at Levi’s products, vintage Levi’s products, and take what’s right about them and what’s important about them, and then bring them into the modern world through beautiful fabrications, modern cutting-edge silhouettes, but always keep that Levi’s identity. That’s really important to what we do at Blue Tab. IR: One of the things that stands out about Blue Tab is how effortlessly it bridges classic Levi’s silhouettes with a modern sensibility. What were the biggest challenges in updating these timeless styles? PO: It’s just trying to get that balance right. Let’s pretend we’re looking at a 501 jean from history. What are the key elements that we want to take from this and protect and keep? And then what do we need to bring in from today? What’s the latest fabric that we want to use? It’s a very modern fabric. And then how do we want to wash the garment? What’s the special construction that we’re going to bring into it? So there’s a lot of things to think about, but it’s all about getting that balance correct.  IR: Was there a particular detail or innovation in the collection that you’re especially proud of? PO: When we started to build the identity for Blue Tab, of course, we started with the branding. We had the blue tab, the new patch, and the new woven labels. But then when we started to build the product, we considered what we could bring into the product that would create an identity for this Blue Tab collection. There were certain things we did looking again at history. If you look at the back pocket of a Blue Tab pair of jeans, you’ll notice that the arcuate stitch is two single stitches. This is a tribute to pre-World War II — pre-1947 really — when we first started to use a twin needle machine, which means the stitches are done on a twin needle machine with two needles. Every pair of Levi’s after 1947, when you look at the stitches on the back pocket, you’re going to see a little diamond in the centre of them. And that’s due to the machine turning and the stitch catching. But prior to that, these arcuate had to be stitched with two operations. You’ll never see that diamond. And there’s always an inconsistency between the two stitches because it was two operations. So that’s something that we’ve added to the Blue Tab arcuate. The Blue Tab arcuate has two separate stitches as a tribute to our history. That’s one thing. Another thing we did was create a selvage ID. That’s the edge of the fabric. The ID is just pure white. Again, a tribute to our history. In the late 1920s, there was a red line added into Levi’s fabrics from the mill. This would identify it as a Levi’s fabric. It had a red line going through the white on the edge of the fabric, and they became known as “red lines.” People call Levi’s selvedge jeans “red lines.” But prior to that, in the mid-1920s and earlier, it was only a white selvedge on the edge. We went back to use the white selvedge as our only ID for the Blue Tab collection. And that again is a tribute to our history, but it also feels really modern to just have that white edge. Those are two unique pieces of detail that go into our product. IR: If you had to choose a single standout from Blue Tab, what would it be and why? PO: It’s hard to choose one, but I think I would choose the 501 jean that we have for Blue Tab. I’ve worked on the 501 for 15 years now. In Levi’s Vintage Clothing, we reproduce all the historic 501s from the 1870s up until the 1970s. And every time there’s a subtle change in detail, we tell that story through Levi’s Vintage Clothing. Like in 1901, the second back pocket came. In 1922, we had belt loops for the first time. So all these significant changes in the 501, I’ve studied and learned about for years now. But I’ve never really designed the 501. I’ve always been reproducing them. This collection for Blue Tab is the first time I got to design a 501. Of course I paid a lot of attention to history. I based it on a 1980s 501, but then I updated some of the details. I updated the shape, the fit slightly just to get it right for today. But I feel very proud of that. And I think it’s a really beautiful 501. And yeah, so I’d have to say the 501 is my favourite piece in the line. IR: Without giving too much away, are there any creative directions or ideas you’re excited to explore? PO: There are lots of ideas I’m excited to explore. I’ve just recently been thinking of another fun story from our history which has inspired me because I think denim started as a workwear product. Of course, it’s become a product that we all wear today and it’s really widely loved. But I’d still like to take it to the next level, to the next place where it becomes something you could wear at a formal event, where it’s not only a casual wear item. It reminds me of a story from the 1950s when there was a famous actor and singer from America called Bing Crosby. Bing Crosby was on a trip with his friend, and they went to a casino in Reno, Nevada. He was wearing a Levi’s denim jacket and a pair of 501s, and when they went to the hotel casino, they were refused entry because they were wearing denim. They weren’t allowed inside. Afterwards, somebody who worked at the hotel noticed this and wrote a letter to Levi’s to say, “I just want to let you know that Bing Crosby was not allowed into our establishment because he was wearing your clothes.” Levi’s created a denim tuxedo and presented it to Bing Crosby. Inside the tuxedo, there was a large letter patch that read “To Hoteliers Everywhere, please allow the wearer of this product into your establishment.” And it went on to talk about why. To me, that’s just such a great story. As I start to try and think about how we can take denim into new occasions like a formal event or a wedding. This story kind of rings true to me and it gives me something to think about for the future. Further reading: Nuholt Huisamen on Levi’s 2025 plans for East Apac and the Blue Tab launch.