Before joining Levi's in 1998, Kitty Yung, now general manager of Levi Strauss & Co China, seldom wore jeans. The graceful Hong Kong woman with a soft voice preferred elegant and feminine dresses. But now she owns 86 pairs of jeans, including a well-designed long denim dress she bought nine years ago in Europe.
"I bought all of them myself and wear every pair," Yung told China Daily last week at the newest Levi's store in Beijing. "When I just started working in the jeans company, I was totally lost. I had no idea how to choose denim or even what to match it with. I could not understand why girls could love such 'rough' stuff. But the longer I worked here, the more I feel in love with denim."
In 2001, Yung was appointed general manager of Levi's China and finally brought the original American jeans label into the Chinese mainland. She has seen Levi's business grow rapidly and witnessed the opening of its 501st shop in Beijing's Oriental Plaza last week.
501 is also Levi's most popular logo. To celebrate the opening of the 501st store, Yung invited Stacia Fink, of Levi's Archives, to bring in some photographs, posters, artifacts and the oldest known existing pair of Levi's, dating from 1879, to display in the new store.
"It jeans are high-quality, you can wear it for over a decade and wash it thousands of times but it will still keep its shape. Design is also important to jeans," says Yung. "Levi's has three design centers across the world, one of which is in Hong Kong, where many young and talented designers from China, Japan and South Korea design trendy jeans suitable for Asians."
In the new store, you can find the latest "roll up 501" collection that includes men's jeans based on the 1947 and 1967 cuts and women's skinners, ashbury and rinse lines.
"When you buy a pair of jeans, my suggestion is, first it should fit your shape. Just because it looks good on others does not mean it will look good on you. Then comes the cutting, color and other details," says Yung.
