Levis fashion show gets boot

July 22, 2016

Iranian police canceled a male fashion show set to mark the opening of an unofficial Levi’s clothing store in Tehran, the Tasnim news agency reported.

The event was canceled by

“a last-minute police intervention” just before male models were set to walk on stage before a crowd of about 150 last Wednesday night, the news agency said.

Despite opposition from religious leaders to Westernization, luxury shopping centers have sprouted across the capital, with many unauthorized stores selling smuggled or fake Western brands.

The organizers of the fashion event, which was due to take place in the Rosha Shopping Center in north Tehran, said it was canceled due to “technical problems,” Tasnim reported.

Levis Strauss & Co. was founded in San Francisco in 1853, during the Gold Rush.  It created denim trousers strengthened at stress points with metal rivets in 1873, and has been making them ever since.   As an American company, it is barred from doing business in Iran.  But Iran does not enforce intellectual property laws, so anyone in Iran is free to steal the brand name and logo.