"But Levi's is a different matter entirely. A heritage brand almost as old as slavery - 501s were patented 10 years after the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 (other lines were introduced later) - Levi's is sewn into the cultural fabric of America. It is to denim what Coca-Cola is to soft drinks. And yet Curleigh says he wants to treat Levi's like 'a 140-year-old start-up'. 'The denim landscape has shifted dramatically over the last 20 years,' he says."