Levi’s® x ARTS THREAD Design Competition Returns for 2017

The concept behind Levi’s® Made & Crafted® builds on the legacy of the Levi’s® brand by designing destined classics using today’s best materials and construction techniques.
So what better marriage than one that brings together the future of design to impact tomorrow’s classics?
The Levi’s® x ARTS THREAD Design Competition is back for 2017, with a focus on Levi’s® Made & Crafted®. Design students, 18 and over, from across the globe are encouraged to share their vision for the 2018 collection for a chance to win a 10-week internship here at Levi Strauss & Co.’s San Francisco headquarters in Summer 2017.
Applicants are asked to design four-to-eight outfits for Levi’s® Made & Crafted® Fall/Winter 2018 line as well as a visual identity for the brand.
What makes Levi’s® Made & Crafted® stand out are truly the details. Every button, zipper and finishing seam is attended to as closely as the fabrics.
Fabrics are sourced from the best mills globally; premium-quality denim is woven in the USA, Italy and Japan; hand-waxed leathers come from Italy; and wool and cotton is blended with cashmere and silk yarns.
It’s those extra steps that ensure each piece is as beautiful inside as it is on the outside that also formed the basis of a collaboration between Made & Crafted and Off-White c/o Virgil Abloh for a new Fall/Winter 2016 collection, which debuted on the Paris catwalks earlier this year, and again for his 2017 Resort collection this June. It went so well that Virgil came back to our Eureka Innovation Lab and our Made & Crafted team, to design a special 100-piece limited edition “Made-in-Eureka Levi’s Made & Crafted x Off-White” collection.
It’s these successes that Jonathan Cheung, Levi’s® SVP of Global Design, takes personal pride in.
“Levi’s® Made & Crafted™ is something dear to me. It was my first step into Levi’s® Design,” he said. “The first seasons were designed sitting at a ping-pong table in the old Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.
“We believe in great design and we believe it’s people that make all the difference, so we are looking for amazing talent,” Jonathan said.
Four design students will be chosen to take part in the internship where they will have the opportunity to work with Jonathan and his team of designers, take advantage of the Levi’s Archives, and do some work at the Eureka Innovation Lab with Bart Sights, Vice President of Technical Innovation for LS&Co.
The application process is now open; go to www.artsthread.com to apply.