Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 20 May 1873
- It is interesting that Levi Strauss was born into a Jewish family in Bavaria. He sailed to America at the age of 18, first to New York and then San Francisco, which became the center of the California "Gold Rush".
On this day back in 1873, the United States Patent and Trademark Office awarded patent number 139.121 to Levi Strauss for the use of copper rivets to strengthen denim pants.
It is interesting that Levi Strauss was born as Löb Strauss in a Jewish family in Bavaria. At 18 he sailed to America, first to New York and then San Francisco, which became the center of the California “Gold Rush”.
Levi Strauss started the company Levi Strauss & Co. back in 1853 in San Francisco. It did not initially deal with jeans but with wholesale of practically everything.
They bought and sold bedding, combs, purses, handkerchiefs, etc., which they imported from New York and sold to the growing mining population of California.
Levi Strauss met the tailor Jacob Davis, also a Jew, who first started making jeans with reinforcements in the form of rivets. They made a deal and patented such pants together in 1873.
So began the production of the first Levi Strauss & Co. jeans. In 1890, the famous model Levis 501 Jeans were introduced, perhaps the best-selling piece of clothing in the world to this day.
Interestingly, the first Levi’s jeans had copper rivets on the pockets as well, but they were removed in 1966 to avoid scratching seating furniture.
