Inside the denim blue safe at Levi’s San Francisco head office are jeans from the 1890s and early iterations of the 501, which will turn 150 next year. Should Kardashian want a pair of these jeans, like her idol Monroe in the 1954 film River of No Return and The Misfits in 1964, all she has to do is break out her credit card and buy the latest style.

“One of the things that has made the 501 endure is its ability to adapt and evolve over time,” Panek says. “Because of its longevity people keep coming back to it. As a company we’ve gone through the seventies, disco, spandex and other looks. People return to the symbolism and the sense of wearing a garment that gives you the look of effortless cool.”

Entering their 150th birthday year, Levi’s 501 ones are enjoying a fresh wave of popularity, having survived competition from chinos in the eighties, cargo pants in the noughties and most recently activewear.

Online resale marketplace Depop has reported a 13 per cent increase in searches for Levi’s since April. The popularity is a combination of the jeans being worn by models Hailey Bieber, Kendall Jenner and Nathan Westling, influencer Emma Chamberlain and performers Kid Cudi and Staz Lindes, along with collaborations with designer labels such as Vetements, Valentino and Miu Miu.

Wholesale distribution via upmarket e-tailers SSense and Shopbop has pushed the jeans into shopping baskets alongside four figure Golden Goose sneakers and five figure leather jackets from The Row.

Tapping into the luxury market is part of Levi’s plan to grow annual sales from the most recent financial year figure of $US5.8 billion ($8.4 billion) to $US10 billion by 2027 but Panek points out the history of 501 is different to its high-end collaborators.

“Other items begin as luxury and work their way down,” Panek says. “With Levi’s 501s it’s the opposite. A lot of the appeal and their relevance today comes from their workwear beginnings. They began as a riveted pant for working men. That makes them a democratic product.”

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