Levi Strauss had moved to San Francisco during the 1853 California ‘gold rush’ to start a Western branch of his family’s dry goods business. He was a German immigrant to the USA, moving to New York in 1851 to work with his brother.

Levi sold many products. One of which was a sturdy imported cotton fabric, denim.

One of his customers was a tailor called Jacob W. Davis. Originally from Reno, Nevada , Davis had bought Levi’s denim fabric for his business, where he produced rugged items like tents, horse blankets and wagon covers. He was commissioned by a gold mining company to create trousers which were strong and could withstand hard work.

Davis improved the strength and durability of the denim workwear using metal rivets; because Levi’s fabric was so integral to them he proposed a partnership . They became partners and on May 20, 1873, the two men received U.S. Patent 139,121 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patented rivet was later incorporated into the company’s jean design and advertisements. The manufacturing of denim overalls began in the 1870s and the company created their first pair of jeans in the 1890s.

It was only after the 19th century that competitors for the denim market began to appear: namely Wrangler (1905) and Lee (1911).