Blue jean birthday
Hold on to your pockets, kids. Your Levi’s were born today.
In 1872, a Reno tailor named Jacob Davis wrote to Levi Strauss in San Francisco about a modification he had invented to make work pants stronger. He didn’t have the money to apply for the patent alone and asked Strauss if he would be willing to provide the funds. Strauss agreed. When the patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings” was granted on May 20, 1873, modern blue jeans were born (though they were called “waist overalls” back then).
The modification that made all the difference? The small metal rivets that fasten pocket seams in place. You can still find them on your jeans today.
The invention, though incredibly simple, was key. The June 28, 1873 edition of the Pacific Rural Press noted:
“Simple as this device seems, nevertheless it is quite effective, and we do not doubt that his manufacture, of overalls especially, will become quite popular amongst our working men, as the overalls are made and cut in the style of the best custom made pants. Nothing looks more slouchy in a workman than to see his pockets ripped open and hanging down, and no other part of the clothing is so apt to be torn and ripped as the pockets.”
Levi’s new work pants featuring the rivets were called “XX,” a reference to the 9 oz. XX denim used to make the pants. In 1890 they would be rebranded as 501’s, which they still go by today. By the 1920’s they were the top-selling work pant for men in the United States.
The patent was made public in 1890, and once other manufacturers jumped on the bandwagon, blue jeans became a staple of American fashion.
