STORY

It’s 50 years ago since Reilly bought his first pair of Levi’s from Pat Geraghty, under the old Pro-Cathedral in Galway, for the princely sum of eight pounds.

He sauntered into Geraghty’s drapery again yesterday to smarten his wardrobe in advance of the Italian wedding.

“Give me a pair of Levi’s. The original and the best,” says Reilly assertively to Syd Malone, Pat’s nephew and the best salesman Reilly’s ever met.

“Do you know how Levi’s started?” says Syd.

“Course I do,” says Reilly. “Haven’t I been telling that story at sales training sessions for years?”

“Levi Strauss went off to California during the Gold Rush selling tents. He discovered that it was too hot to sleep in tents and most of the men slept outside. So he cut up the canvas and made trousers out of it. The rest is history Syd.”

Syd looked at him.

“That’s only half the story.”

“What you talking about Syd?”

“There’s more to it than that.”

“Give us your version so Syd.”

“You’re right in that Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco during the Gold Rush in 1853 and set up a business selling clothes and supplies to the thousands of people pouring into California.

“Twenty years later however, one of his customers, a tailor called Jacob Davis, had an idea. His customers kept ripping their work trousers. So Davis reinforced the weak points with copper rivets.

“It worked. But Davis didn’t have the money to patent the idea, so he wrote a letter to his supplier, Levi Strauss, and suggested they do it together. Levi said yes. On 20 May 1873, they were granted the patent. And blue jeans were born.

“So Levi Strauss didn’t actually invent Levi’s?” says Reilly.

“No,” says Syd. “He did something every bit as important.”

“What was that?”

“He recognised a bloody good idea when he saw one.”

THOUGHTS TO CONSIDER

1. You don’t always have to have the idea.

You just have to recognise a good one when you see it.

2. Listen to your customers problems.

Jacob Davis didn’t set out to change fashion. He set out to solve a customer’s problem.

3. Say yes.

Sometimes the biggest opportunities in business arrive disguised as someone else’s idea. Sometimes opportunity doesn’t knock. Sometimes it even writes you a letter.

QUOTE

“The value of an idea lies in the using of it.”                                                                              Thomas Edison

QUESTION

What good idea is staring you in the face right now that you haven’t acted on?

POSTSCRIPT

Reilly bought the Levi’s.

Fifty years after buying his first pair for eight pounds, he handed over €120 for the latest version.

Some things change.

Some things don’t.

A bloody good idea still always sells. 

‘Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.’