It's all in the JEANS

Being stuck in North Africa with close to zero shopping over the past 5mths or so, I was thrilled to be back in Beirut once again. This time, I thought I’ll get myself a new pair of jeans since the one I bought last year before leaving Singapore is kinda wearing out.

I’ve always been a huge supporter of Levi’s jeans. I owned my first pair of Levi’s at the age of 11 and have never looked back since. From straight-cut to flare-cut to bell-bottoms to boot-cut… you name it; I’d have owned at least a pair of those from Levi’s.

Anyway, I searched high and low for a Levi’s boutique, thinking there must at least one store in Lebanon. Strange, I couldn’t find any. Not in the stores, not in the streets, not on the net.

So one day, while shopping in a Lee jeans store @ ABC Ashrafieh, I asked the sales assistant, who said: “Levi’s is banned in Lebanon.”

WHAT? I asked. WHY?

And he replied: “Because it’s Jewish…”

Levi Strauss is Jewish? I thought bemusedly.

Actually, he is. I did a little research (Thank you, Wikipedia) and learned that Mr. Strauss did indeed begin his life as a German Jew.

While researching on this topic, I also found out that brands such as Coca-Cola (No wonder they always serve us Pepsi at the fast-food joints), Ford cars & Estee Lauder are also banned by the government in Lebanon for having ties with or are operating a factory in Israel.

Politics! *roll eyes*

Looks like I’ve gotta wait till I’m back in Singapore to get those pair of jeans then! 7% GST, here I come~ ! *bleh* ~.~