The “red tab” began to be attached to the right back pocket in 1936.
The reason is to be able to distinguish it from imitation products sold by other companies at a glance.
Until then, other companies were also making 5-pocket denim pants reinforced with rivets, and some had arcuate stitching on the back pockets, making it difficult to distinguish Levi’s jeans from other companies’ jeans.
In 1938, “Red Tab” was registered as a trademark, including the mounting position on the upper left side of the right back pocket.
By the way, the Levi’s logo on the red tabs at that time was embroidered on only one side with the “Big E” logo.
In 1971, the letter “E” on the red tab was changed from an uppercase letter to a lowercase letter “e”.
Later called Big E and Small e, it is considered to be one of the criteria for determining vintage Levi’s.
