The iconic American apparel company, Levi Strauss & Co which patented the first pair of blue jeans in 1873, filed a plan for an initial public offering (IPO) on Monday that would raise as much as $587.2 million.

The company will sell 36.7 million shares at $14- $16 apiece, according to the regulatory document.

Casual clothing

Denim has been fighting with leggings and athleisure for its share of the casual clothing market. It has been tough, with imports of elastic knit pants surpassing those of denim for the first time in 2017. But the one-time staple of American closets has recently staged the beginning of a comeback: The jeans category in the US grew 2.2 per cent to $16.7 billion in 2018 after four straight years of declines, according to data from Euromonitor.

The company had been slow to incorporate the comfort of yogawear into its styles by adding stretch, but those efforts eventually paid off, particularly in womens clothing, which has grown in double-digits for eight straight quarters and currently represents almost a third of total sales.

Global revenue climbed 14 per cent in fiscal 2018 from a year earlier.

Investment plans

Most of the stock will be sold by current shareholders and Levi Strauss expects to receive about $106.6 million at the mid-point of the range for its own use.

It plans to put the proceeds toward general corporate purposes, though some may be used for acquisitions or strategic investments, the company said in the filing.

The Details Current holders are planning to offer 27.2 million shares, of which the company will not receive any proceeds.

The company is selling about 9.5 million shares and plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol LEVI. The firm, which is controlled by the founding Haas family, had filed plans to list in February.

The firm is speculated to be valued at $5 billion, according to the CNBC, giving the family a combined net worth of at least $2.5 billion.

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