Levi’s anniversary ad featuring true story-inspired highlight of Georgian boy

A story of a Georgian boy exchanging a family cow for a pair of jeans has been selected among those inspired by true events and compiled for a commercial marking an anniversary of Levi’s iconic 501 model.

Released last week, the video for the story, entitled One Fair Exchange, is set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi in the 1980s, and shows a young man noticing the denim on a magazine page, before deciding to swap his family’s bell cow for a pair.

“His family called him foolish. The locals dubbed him a legend. And that’s what we call one fair exchange in the greatest story ever worn”, the summary from producers of the video said.

Directed by Martin de Thurah and shot by cinematographer Kasper Tuxen, the release is part of a series of videos marking the 150th anniversary of the 501 by telling stories from around the world related to the model.

The patent for the original design dates back to 1873, with the company using the lot number 501 to denote the highest quality jeans it offered.