① Levi Strauss & Company, the company that traces its roots to the days of the California Gold Rush, started trading publicly on Thursday for the second time in its 165-year history.
② Traders in New York were clad in denim pants and jean jackets, as the stock exchange suspended its prohibition on wearing jeans for the day.
③ Levi’s has been undergoing a turnaround for the better part of the past decade under Charles V. Bergh, the company’s chief executive, who joined the company in 2011. The executive has overseen an increase in sales to $5.6 billion last year, with net profit of $285 million.
④ The company first listed its shares in the 1970s, but was taken private in 1985 through a leveraged buyout led by descendants of Strauss, known as the Haas family. They wanted to take a longer-term view of the business rather than focus on short-term results and fluctuations.
⑤ Mr. Bergh said that Levi’s chose to return to public markets because of the renewed strength of the brand and its growth potential in categories like women’s apparel and international markets like China.