In the old days, people used to risk their lives in India or in the Americas in order to bring back products which now seem to us to have been of comically little worth.
Meaning of the quote
In the past, people would travel to distant lands like India and the Americas, risking their lives to bring back goods that we now consider to be of little value or importance. The things they brought back might have seemed very exciting or valuable at the time, but looking back, they don't seem as important or useful as they once did.
About Levi Strauss
Levi Strauss was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans. His firm, Levi Strauss & Co., started in 1853 in San Francisco, California, and went on to become a global fashion icon.
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