How Were Levi Jeans Invented?
Levi jeans began as rugged attire that a Nevada tailor named Jacob Davis designed for wear by miners and other heavy laborers. Davis patented his idea for riveted denim pants with business partner Levi Strauss. What has become the classic Levi's jean was first produced in the early 1900s. Does this Spark an idea?
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Levi Strauss
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Levi Strauss, the founder of what today we refer to as the jeans company Levi's, was the owner of a dry goods store in New York. When the Gold Rush in California began, he moved to San Francisco intending to make his fortune selling supplies to the workers there.
Jacob Davis
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Jacob Davis was a tailor working in Reno, Nevada, often making denim pants for miners and other heavy laborers. He had the idea of adding copper rivets to the pants after a customer requested that Davis make his pants as sturdy as possible. Davis earned many sales from the idea and decided to patent his riveted pants.
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Strauss and Davis
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Mr. Davis wrote to Mr. Strauss detailing the riveted pants and his desire to patent them, proposing that Strauss be his partner in the endeavor. Strauss agreed, and they received the patent in May of 1873.
"Waist Overalls"
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Strauss and Davis began to produce their idea soon after acquiring the patent. What we call "jeans" today first bore the moniker "waist overalls." Strauss and Davis most likely hired individual seamstresses to make the waist overalls.
Classic 501
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The pants labeled as "XX" in 1890 received the name of 501 in the 1970s for the lot where they were once produced. Today this style of jeans is the Levi's 501.
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