Posted on May 20, 2018
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Acting at the behest of a Reno, Nevada, tailor who had invented the idea, Levi Strauss secures the necessary patents for canvas pants with copper rivets to reinforce the stress points.
Born in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young Levi Strauss emigrated to the United States in 1847. Strauss initially went into business selling dry goods along the East Coast, but in 1852, his brother-in-law encouraged him to relocate to the booming city of San Francisco. He arrived in San Francisco in 1853 with a load of merchandise that he hoped to sell in the California mining camps. Unable to sell a large supply of canvas, Strauss hit on the idea of using the durable material to make work pants for miners. Strauss’ canvas pants were an immediate success among hardworking miners who had long complained that conventional pants wore out too quickly.
In 1872, Strauss received a letter from Jacob Davis, a customer and tailor who worked in the mining town of Reno, Nevada. Davis reported that he had discovered canvas pants could be improved if the pocket seams and other weak points that tended to tear were strengthened by copper rivets. Davis’ riveted pants had proven popular in Reno, but he needed a patent to protect his invention. Intrigued by the copper-riveted pants, Strauss and his partners agreed to undertake the necessary legal work for the patent and begin large-scale production of the pants. Davis’ invention was patented on this day in 1873. In exchange for his idea, Strauss made the Reno tailor his production manager. Eventually, Strauss switched from using canvas to heavyweight blue denim, and the modern “blue jeans” were born.
Born in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young Levi Strauss emigrated to the United States in 1847. Strauss initially went into business selling dry goods along the East Coast, but in 1852, his brother-in-law encouraged him to relocate to the booming city of San Francisco. He arrived in San Francisco in 1853 with a load of merchandise that he hoped to sell in the California mining camps. Unable to sell a large supply of canvas, Strauss hit on the idea of using the durable material to make work pants for miners. Strauss’ canvas pants were an immediate success among hardworking miners who had long complained that conventional pants wore out too quickly.
In 1872, Strauss received a letter from Jacob Davis, a customer and tailor who worked in the mining town of Reno, Nevada. Davis reported that he had discovered canvas pants could be improved if the pocket seams and other weak points that tended to tear were strengthened by copper rivets. Davis’ riveted pants had proven popular in Reno, but he needed a patent to protect his invention. Intrigued by the copper-riveted pants, Strauss and his partners agreed to undertake the necessary legal work for the patent and begin large-scale production of the pants. Davis’ invention was patented on this day in 1873. In exchange for his idea, Strauss made the Reno tailor his production manager. Eventually, Strauss switched from using canvas to heavyweight blue denim, and the modern “blue jeans” were born.
Levi Strauss patents copper-riveted jeans - May 20, 1873 - HISTORY.com
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Levis Strauss & Co. Denim Story
The Levis Strauss & Co. Denim Story
Thank you for reminding us my friend TSgt Joe C. that on May 20, "1873 San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis were given a patent to create work pants reinforced with metal rivets, marking the birth of one of the world’s most famous garments: blue jeans."
I began wearing Levi jeans in the early 1970s and have generally worn them since - blue or black jeans.
Background from history.com/this-day-in-history/levi-strauss-and-jacob-davis-receive-patent-for-blue-jeans
"In San Francisco, Strauss established a wholesale dry goods business under his own name and worked as the West Coast representative of his family’s firm. His new business imported clothing, fabric and other dry goods to sell in the small stores opening all over California and other Western states to supply the rapidly expanding communities of gold miners and other settlers. By 1866, Strauss had moved his company to expanded headquarters and was a well-known businessman and supporter of the Jewish community in San Francisco.
Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, Nevada, was one of Levi Strauss’ regular customers. In 1872, he wrote a letter to Strauss about his method of making work pants with metal rivets on the stress points–at the corners of the pockets and the base of the button fly–to make them stronger. As Davis didn’t have the money for the necessary paperwork, he suggested that Strauss provide the funds and that the two men get the patent together. Strauss agreed enthusiastically, and the patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings”–the innovation that would produce blue jeans as we know them–was granted to both men on May 20, 1873.
Strauss brought Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first manufacturing facility for “waist overalls,” as the original jeans were known. At first they employed seamstresses working out of their homes, but by the 1880s, Strauss had opened his own factory. The famous 501brand jean–known until 1890 as “XX”–was soon a bestseller, and the company grew quickly. By the 1920s, Levi’s denim waist overalls were the top-selling men’s work pant in the United States. As decades passed, the craze only grew, and now blue jeans are worn by men and women, young and old, around the world."
The Levis Strauss & Co. Denim Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L-nD3VTKZI
Thank for mentioning me LTC Stephen C.
FYI Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSgt (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell SGT Robert George SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright SPC Margaret Higgins Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Craig Cheltenham
I began wearing Levi jeans in the early 1970s and have generally worn them since - blue or black jeans.
Background from history.com/this-day-in-history/levi-strauss-and-jacob-davis-receive-patent-for-blue-jeans
"In San Francisco, Strauss established a wholesale dry goods business under his own name and worked as the West Coast representative of his family’s firm. His new business imported clothing, fabric and other dry goods to sell in the small stores opening all over California and other Western states to supply the rapidly expanding communities of gold miners and other settlers. By 1866, Strauss had moved his company to expanded headquarters and was a well-known businessman and supporter of the Jewish community in San Francisco.
Jacob Davis, a tailor in Reno, Nevada, was one of Levi Strauss’ regular customers. In 1872, he wrote a letter to Strauss about his method of making work pants with metal rivets on the stress points–at the corners of the pockets and the base of the button fly–to make them stronger. As Davis didn’t have the money for the necessary paperwork, he suggested that Strauss provide the funds and that the two men get the patent together. Strauss agreed enthusiastically, and the patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings”–the innovation that would produce blue jeans as we know them–was granted to both men on May 20, 1873.
Strauss brought Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first manufacturing facility for “waist overalls,” as the original jeans were known. At first they employed seamstresses working out of their homes, but by the 1880s, Strauss had opened his own factory. The famous 501brand jean–known until 1890 as “XX”–was soon a bestseller, and the company grew quickly. By the 1920s, Levi’s denim waist overalls were the top-selling men’s work pant in the United States. As decades passed, the craze only grew, and now blue jeans are worn by men and women, young and old, around the world."
The Levis Strauss & Co. Denim Story
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_L-nD3VTKZI
Thank for mentioning me LTC Stephen C.
FYI Capt Seid Waddell CW5 (Join to see) SMSgt Minister Gerald A. Thomas SFC Joe S. Davis Jr., MSM, DSL SSgt (Join to see) SP5 Mark Kuzinski SGT John " Mac " McConnell SGT Robert George SP5 Robert Ruck SCPO Morris RamseyCPL Eric Escasio SPC (Join to see) SrA Christopher Wright SPC Margaret Higgins Kim Bolen RN CCM ACM SGT Gregory Lawritson CPL Craig Cheltenham
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TSgt Joe C., the word “jeans” is derived (possibly) from Genoa, Italy and the word “denim” is derived from “de” Nimes, France!
“Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, and Nîmes, France. Gênes, the French word for Genoa, may be the origin of the word ‘jeans’. In Nîmes, weavers tried to reproduce jean but instead developed a similar twill fabric that became known as denim, from de Nîmes, meaning ‘from Nîmes’. Genoa’s jean was a fustian textile of ‘medium quality and of reasonable cost’, very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, and was ‘used for work clothes in general’. The Genoese navy equipped its sailors with jeans, as they needed a fabric which could be worn wet or dry. Nîmes’s ‘denim’ was coarser.”
CW5 Jack Cardwell SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas LTC Stephen F. COL Mikel J. Burroughs
“Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, and Nîmes, France. Gênes, the French word for Genoa, may be the origin of the word ‘jeans’. In Nîmes, weavers tried to reproduce jean but instead developed a similar twill fabric that became known as denim, from de Nîmes, meaning ‘from Nîmes’. Genoa’s jean was a fustian textile of ‘medium quality and of reasonable cost’, very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, and was ‘used for work clothes in general’. The Genoese navy equipped its sailors with jeans, as they needed a fabric which could be worn wet or dry. Nîmes’s ‘denim’ was coarser.”
CW5 Jack Cardwell SMSgt Minister Gerald A. "Doc" Thomas LTC Stephen F. COL Mikel J. Burroughs
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