Levi Strauss Biography
Born 26 Feb 1829; died 26 Sep 1902 at age 73.
Levi Strauss was one of the best-known beneficiaries of California's gold rush economic boom, German-American inventor and manufacturer of jeans. Born in Bavaria and trained as a tailor. His original plan was to manufacture tents and wagon covers, but instead found a market using the stout canvas he had brought with him to make very durable pants for the Forty-niners. Finding that these pants sold as fast as he could make them, Strauss opened a factory, improved the design by adding copper rivets at the stress points in his pants, and adopted a heavy blue denim material called genes in France, that originated the now familiar name of "jeans".
Birth of Blue Jeans
A customer, Jacob Davis, wrote to Strauss in 1872, asking for his help. Davis, a tailor in Nevada, had bought cloth from Strauss for his own business and developed a special way to make more durable pants. Davis used metal rivets on the pockets and on the front fly seam to help the pants resist wear and tear. Unable to cover the cost himself, Davis asked Strauss to pay the fee so that he could secure a patent for his unique design.
The following year, the patent was granted to Strauss and Davis. Strauss believed that there would be a great demand for these "waist overalls" as he called them, but they are best known today as blue jeans. At first they were made with a heavy canvas and then the company switched to a denim fabric, which was dyed to blue to reportedly hide stains.
According to some reports, Strauss first had the pants made by seamstresses in their homes. He later started his own factory to make the pants in the city. In any case, his tough-and-rugged jeans helped make Strauss a millionaire. He expanded his business interests over the years, buying the Mission and Pacific Woolen Mills in 1875.
Source: Biography.com
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