The Ultimate in Distressed Denim

SAN FRANCISCO — Miriam Grimm of Danville, Calif., figured she had a sure winner. When Levi Strauss & Co. launched a hunt for the oldest pair of existing Levi’s, Grimm sent in the pair she bought in 1931 and wore throughout the Depression.

Too young, vintage-denim historians ruled. The winner was a torn 1920s pair submitted by a Texas geology student, who found them at the bottom of a Nevada gold mine shaft. When Heath Rackley found them, they were stiff as a board. He tossed them in the washing machine, and they survived to compete.

His prize? A trip to San Francisco, $1,000 and a custom pair of Levi’s--without the rips.