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N0KFQ > TODAY 20.05.15 16:46l 55 Lines 2519 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 56309_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 20
Path: IW8PGT<IW7BFZ<I3XTY<I0OJJ<N6RME<N0KFQ
Sent: 150520/1445Z 56309@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
1873
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive patent for blue jeans
On this day in 1873, San Francisco businessman Levi Strauss and
Reno, Nevada, tailor Jacob Davis are 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.
Born Loeb Strauss in Buttenheim, Bavaria, in 1829, the young
Strauss immigrated to New York with his family in 1847 after the
death of his father. By 1850, Loeb had changed his name to Levi
and was working in the family dry goods business, J. Strauss
Brother & Co. In early 1853, Levi Strauss went west to seek his
fortune during the heady days of the Gold Rush.
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.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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