> Dugan grew tired of the rising demand for the custom garments, so Caserta decided to head over to the Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters on Valencia Street to se

> Dugan grew tired of the rising demand for the custom garments, so Caserta decided to head over to the Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters on Valencia Street to see if she could talk them into mass-producing her new signature style. The meeting didn’t go well at first — she was rebuffed for even suggesting that she could improve upon the world’s most popular jeans. On her way out the door, an older man who claimed to be the only employee still alive who had worked with Levi Strauss himself caught her just as she was leaving and asked what she wanted. > She crudely sketched out her concept on a piece of paper and showed it to him — a straight leg with a flare forming several inches below the knee to make a bell shape. He stared at it for a moment. Then he told her to follow him down to the factory floor, where the head of the sewing team agreed to make a pattern. They worked out a deal: Her store would be the only one to sell this new style for six months. With all the outsourcing our business leaders have spearheaded, this kind of innovation happens all the time in China but increasingly cannot happen in the US. If we stay the course, it's only a matter of time until that catches up with us.