Top image: Courtesy the Levi’s archives

Take any pair of Levi’s jeans you’ve ever owned and chances are you’re holding a golden piece of Cone Mills history. The legendary American denim factory has been shaping jeans culture at ground level since it was founded in Greensboro, North Carolina in 1902. Right now Levi’s and Cone Mills are celebrating the centennial anniversary of their partnership, and to celebrate they have shared with us a special, archival set of images heralding their epic joint-jeans-history.

Moses and Caeser, Founders of Cone Export & Commission Company and the White Oak Cone Mill in North Carolina, became the exclusive manufacturer of the globally renowned “Shrink-to-Fit” denim and the “Lot 501 Jeans” in 1915. Since then Levi’s have produced a host of their most iconic jeans, jackets and shirts via Cone Mills, placing the factory at the centre of denim history – from Grease to Ghost, and from Marlon Brando to James Dean, from Beatnik poets’ attire to Jackson Pollock’s denim overalls.

The Levi’s Vintage Clothing range is inspired by archival pieces stored in temperature-controlled vaults in San Francisco that house around 20,000 Levi’s artefacts. The Levi’s Vintage FW15 range is a commemoration of the brand’s partnership with Cone Mills, the 1915 “501 Jeans”, and the machinists and factory workers that have helped to harden the brand’s significance in popular culture.

Here, we share portraits of the workers who have been crafting denim at Cone Mill for up to 50 years, they’re masters of the factory’s vintage narrow shuttle looms. A historic, visual feast for the brain.