WASHINGTON, D.C. -- What do you know about your jeans? Do you know the name most commonly associated with jeans, Levi Strauss, didn’t invent them? This week in history we find out how jeans were made and why the man who created them doesn’t get a lot of credit.
This week Levi Strauss and Company patented blue jeans. Their origin dates back to the California Gold Rush.
In the 1850’s, merchant Levi Strauss relocated from New York to the west coast. He wasn’t chasing gold, but the business gold could bring. Strauss set up Dry Good stores across the western states where miners worked. Mining camps need supplies and Strauss was there to sell.
One of his customers was a tailor from Reno, Nevada named Jacob Davis.
Several of Davis’ customers kept ripping their work pants. So he created pants that used metal rivets for those areas of strain and found that the pants became stronger.
Davis didn’t have the money for a patent, but he knew Strauss. He reached out and Strauss agreed to partner with Davis to get a patent for the denim blue jeans.
To this day, the name most commonly associated with jeans is Levi Strauss. Most people don’t even know Jacob Davis. But, that’s the price of a patent.