Blue jeans. In the 141 years since Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss created them, they have become as synonymous with “America” as apple pie and a well-worn staple of most wardrobes.
But to Marcus Hall, creator of Knoxville-based line Marc Nelson Denim, these pants represent much more than a mere fashion fad – far from it. For Hall, denim has the capacity to be the fabric of a community, the thread stitching people’s lives together.
He knows this about denim because he has seen it, right here in Knoxville. And he wants to bring it back.
“I grew up near Cherry Street, about two miles from the old Levi’s plant,” Hall said. “We had a huge facility here; it was about a football field-long factory. They did everything, they had every machine there in that building, and it was amazing to see how the whole production was done.”
One of the company’s preeminent stateside factories, the plant maintained some 1,800 workers and relatives would often turn coworkers, as Levi’s employed multiple members and even generations of the same family. A deeply rooted sense of community and pride of workmanship flourished.
“When we were in elementary school, our parents would pick us up outside, and we’d be there in a line,” Hall recalled, coffee paused at his lips. “One of my friends’ dads or someone would come up to me and say, ‘Hey, boy, you know I put the buttons on those blue jeans,’ or, ‘You know we did that wash two days ago,’ or whatever the case would be.
“That was really cool, but we all kind of took it for granted and didn’t realize how big of a deal it was to be part of something that was made here in Knoxville, Tenn., and sold all around the world.”
Marcus’s stepbrother, Xavier Barton, was one employee who found security within the Levi’s franchise, which proudly marketed itself as attentive to workers’ needs.
“Not everybody’s made for the military and not everybody’s made for college, so that was a decent little niche job to have,” Barton said. “I remember folks buying houses and making a decent wage working there. It had a union and there were decent benefits, plus we were paid weekly.”
Members of the Cherry Street community thrived, and a high school-aged Hall awaited the day he, too, would join the ranks of family and friends at the factory. But on the morning of Nov. 3, 1997, an announcement on the building’s public address system sent the workers’ machines and Hall’s ambition into limbo:
“We have some devastating news,” the speakers boomed.
Facing a 13 percent decline in sales the previous year and loss of brand marketability, the corporation decided to take a cue from the bulk of their competitors and move production overseas.
The effect on the community, and on young Hall, was devastating.
“If you go over there today, you see it didn’t just effect the Levi’s plant,” Hall said. “Throughout the whole mile or so of Cherry Street, the stores and truck stops and all that stuff are shut down. It’s like a ghost town now.
“Watching jobs like that go away from the Knoxville community had a huge impact on my decision to get out and see what else the world had to offer.”
After graduating high school, Hall packed his bags and traveled west until he hit the coast, hoping to make something of himself in Los Angeles. The reality, however, was not what the starry-eyed aspiring actor anticipated.
“It was rough – really rough,” he said. “L.A. is a total rat race; you’re living paycheck to paycheck and just kind of in the mix to be chewed up and spit out every single day.”
After three years, the unceasing ruthlessness Hall endured spurred homesickness for the nurturing community and emphasis on craftsmanship he had always seen fostered in his hometown. It was then the idea of returning to Knoxville with his own denim-centered fashion house in tow was born.
“The whole thought process of me coming back to Knoxville was to build up enough momentum and get production back here,” Hall said. “My ideal dream would be to have 30 to 50 employees here in Knoxville, and I would know every one of them and what process of the jean making they did, just like the Levi’s factory when I was growing up.”
Marc Nelson Denim, now in its third year, is well on its way to this goal.
Located on the Old City’s Randolph Street across from the Fireproof Storage Building, Hall and his staff are currently expanding into the top floor of their building. The basement, now used as the design and show room, will be utilized as a production space.
Americana and local memorabilia, which abound throughout the urban studio, cement the brand’s true, blue-collar roots.
“We are so pro-local, we try to support everything local we can,” Andy Jones, public relations head of Marc Nelson Denim, noted as he gestured toward the design team’s wooden desks, the work of a Knoxville artisan, and a massive chalkboard hailing from Manhattan’s, the once highly patronized bar credited with reviving the Old City in the 1980s. “We really believe it takes community to preserve community.”
The studio’s kitschy décor, including a Baywatch pinball machine, is interspersed with forsaken treasures of the auction house that formerly occupied the space. Stacks of denim, including the brand’s newest “whiskey-washed” line, mingle with baby grand pianos, antique sewing tables, and other dusty heirlooms.
One heirloom, displayed prominently in the studio’s main hub, came not from a prestigious auctioneer, but from Hall’s own personal collection.
“This is my great-grandfather, L.C. Nelson,” Hall said, pride evident in his cadenced drawl, while picking up a fading portrait of his line’s namesake. “He was kind of my inspiration. He always carried himself sharp and would say, ‘Never leave the house without looking like a million bucks, even if you don’t have a million bucks – no one has to know.'”
This pride in his own familial heritage, as well as the heritage behind his product, is why at the end of a taxing workday Hall continues to love and believe in what he does.
“Purpose-wise, I’m doing this for the heritage and history; without that, I probably wouldn’t, because this job is tough,” Hall said. “But I want to show people there can be a life outside of technology, a life to be proud of, where you make a product from the beginning to end and make a good one.”
