Levi Strauss & Co. first became a publicly traded company in 1971.
The company’s initial public offering came during a period of rapid growth for the Levi’s brand. Denim had moved from durable workwear into mainstream fashion, giving the business a much larger consumer market than it had enjoyed in its earlier history.
Levi Strauss & Co. later returned to private ownership in 1985 through a leveraged buyout led by members of the Haas family, which controlled the company. That history explains why two different years are often cited in discussions of Levi’s stock-market history.
The company returned to the public market in 2019. Thus, 1971 is the first public-listing date, while 2019 is the modern relisting date.