On 20th May in 1873, Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received the patent for riveted blue jeans
Photo thanks to Wikipedia
Photo thanks to Wikipedia
Levi Strauss emigrated from Germany to New York in 1851 and in 1853 he took a supply of canvas with him to open up a dry goods shop during the gold-rush era in San Francisco. Shortly after opening a miner asked him what he had for sale and when Strauss told him he had tough canvas for tents, the miner replied “You should have brought pants!” There were no trousers available that were strong enough to cope with the miner’s work.
In 1872 Jacob Davis, a tailor who bought bolts of cloth from Levi Strauss, came up with the idea of using copper rivets to reinforce the points of stress on clothing, such as the pocket corners. Not having enough money to develop the idea Davis asked Strauss to fund the idea in exchange for sharing the invention. On May 20th 1873 Strauss and Davis received a patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings”.
Levi went on to design the jean, putting a twilled cotton layer over tough canvas, creating tough, durable trousers that were comfortable to the skin.
It is falsely told that Levi initially sold brown canvas trousers to miners, eventually dying them blue. However, this story is probably due to the brown cotton duck fabric which Strauss and Levi used until they discovered that denim was a more suitable material for work trousers.
Their blue jeans became best sellers among factory and blue-collar workers in the early 1900s, and after James Dean wore jeans in the film Rebel Without A Cause, jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion during the 1950’s. Now a wardrobe must for all of us, jeans are worn by men, women and children of all ages.
Hoggs of Fife, comfort fit stonewashed jeans are perfect for everyday wear. Cut from top grade 14oz heavyweight denim with double rolled seams and copper rivets at stress points to give added strength, these jeans are ideal for work or fun.
