Levi Strauss is a name known throughout the entire fashion world. Who appreciates denim and jeans certainly owns at least one pair of jeans by the iconic brand “Levi’s” founded by the master Levi Strauss himself. But why did Levi Strauss, a German immigrant living in San Francisco, invent the jeans?
Strauss sold everyday products to gold diggers who led a hard life. For this reason, they needed clothing that was robust enough to endure the nerve and textile-wrecking activities in the gold mines. Initially, Levi Strauss sold pants made of sail cloth. But soon it became clear that sail cloth was not sturdy enough, as it wore off very easily and quickly. At the same time, the tailor Jacob Davids came upon the idea to support the pockets with studs. But since he didn’t have the capital to implement his design, his path led to Levi Strauss – a fateful encounter for the fashion industry because they both invented the studded jeans in 1872.
In 1873, Jacob Davids and Levi Strauss, both owners of the patent, eventually replaced the sail cloth with “denim”, a robust cotton fabric which they dyed blue. The denim pieces were then sewn together with orange yarn. This marked the birth of the first Levi Strauss jeans. But where does the name jeans come from? The fabric they used came from the city Genoa. Since the workers used the French name “Gênes” and pronounced it “jeans”, the studded denim pants were soon called “jeans” by everyone.
Since then, the victory march of the jeans has never ended. Thanks to its sturdiness, jeans were, above all, worn by gold diggers, cowboys, factory workers and other hardworking professions. By the way, if you wondered why jeans are all characterized by a fifth mini pocket inside the right pocket: Cowboys used to store their pocket watch inside the small pocket.
Image: © www.levistrauss.com
