merriam kansas u.s. number of employees 400 people parent vf corporation website www.lee.com lee is an american brand of denim jeans first produced in 1889 in salina kansas . the company is owned by vf corporation the largest apparel company in the world . 1 its headquarters is currently in merriam kansas just outside kansas city missouri . 2 the company states that they are an international retailer and manufacturer of casual wear and work wear and that they have more than 400 employees in the united states . 3 in australasia the brand is owned by pacific brands since 2007 after it was acquired from yakka . 4 contents 1 history 2 manufacturing 3 advertising 4 references 5 further reading 6 external links history edit the identification patch on a set of lee jeans . the company was formed in 1889 by henry david lee as the lee mercantile company at salina kansas producing dungarees and jackets . the growth of lee was prompted by the introduction of the union all work jumpsuit in 1913 and their first overall in 1920 . 3 later in the 1920s lee introduced a zipper fly and continued to expand . around this time the first children s overall line was sold . in 1928 h.d. lee founder and president of the h.d. lee mercantile company died . 5 during the 1930s and 1940s the company became the leading manufacturer of work clothes in the us . in 1944 the lazy s became the official lee back pocket . a flood wiped out lee s kansas city distribution center . it ruined the entire stock of merchandise except the buddy lee dolls which floated . in 1954 lee expanded into casual wear . during the 1960s the company expanded to 81 countries and in 1969 was acquired by vf corporation becoming a brand . 3 lee aired its first television advertisement which promoted lee western wear . in the 1970s lee shifted its focus from the workwear business and began catering to fashion cycles . lee created an all new fit for women under the ms. lee label . a youth wear line for boys and girls was introduced . in 1996 the company launched lee national denim day as part of national breast cancer awareness month . working with the entertainment industry foundation lee national denim day has raised over 75 million to help fund breast cancer research programs . 6 7 in 2014 the brand was relaunched in paris via the citadium paris store . manufacturing edit in 1981 240 factory workers in greenock scotland staged a sit in in protest against plans to move the factory to northern ireland . what was planned as a one night protest continued for 7 months . 8 as of 2005 lee jeans have been manufactured by arvind mills in a number of small factories in chamarajanagar india . 60 000 workers produce 5 000 pairs of jeans a day . 9 advertising edit within the usa the company spends more than 40 million per year on advertising . in 2009 olson was appointed as the lead interactive agency for the american brand and redesigned their website . barkley inc. had previously handled interactive advertising for the brand . arnold worldwide continues to provide offline advertising services for the brand . 10 references edit http www.forbes.com global 2006 0724 030 . html forbes nothing fancy suzanne hoppough 24.07.2006 city kansas july 7 2003 . lee jeans parent will buy nautica in 586m deal . a b c lee history . lee.com . http www.finz.co.nz news % 20 % 20business % 20 % 20yakka % 20part % 20of % 20pacific % 20brands % 20 % 2013 % 20april % 202007.php kansas state historical society . kshs.org . lee national denim day . denimday.com . women s cancer programs . eif . i thought one night demo would save our jobs . . seven months later we were still there ; lee jeans shop steward tells of sit in to save jobs daily record scotland march 8 2005 http www.thehindubusinessline.com catalyst 2006 09 14 stories 2006091400250300.htm http www.adweek.com aw content display news account activity e3i859557a801e205467f722f01fcc1f441 lee jeans taps olson for interactive adweek march 5 2009 further reading edit rodengen jeffrey l. 1998 . the legend of vf corporation . write stuff enterprises inc. isbn 0945903383 . marsh graham ; trynka paul 2002 . demim from cowboys to catwalks ; a visual history of the world s most legendary fabric . aurum press . isbn 1 85410 791 7 . external links edit lee jeans lee jeans australia lee national denim day retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title lee jeans & oldid 706639645 categories clothing brands of the united statesjeanscompanies based in kansassalina kansascompanies based in kansas city kansascompanies established in 18891920s fashion1930s fashion1940s fashion1950s fashion1960s fashion1970s fashion1980s fashion1990s fashion2000s fashion2010s fashion1889 establishments in kansasjeans by brandhidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages danskdeutschespa olfran aisitaliano polski suomisvenska edit links this page was last modified on 24 february 2016 at 12 56 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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