Downey sold 300 pairs of pants by 1872

Yet Davis wasn't a sure thing, if his past was any indication.
"He had applied for several other patents, and they came to nothing," Marschall said.
Davis didn't even want to be a tailor, but had to take on the craft after his other efforts didn't pan out.
Despite those challenges, the pants were a hit. Downey said he had sold around 300 pairs by 1872.

Jacob Davis put metal rivets at the corners of the pockets on denim pants

Davis put metal rivets at the corners of the pockets on denim pants, already the popular fabric for laborers' trousers. He also attached them at the base of the button fly. These were the stress points.
The pants held up longer than anything on the market. "Word went up and down the railroad lines: Someone has found out how to make pants that would last," said John Marschall, professor emeritus at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Jacob Davis and his great idea about metal rivets

In 1872, a tailor in Reno, Nev., Jacob Davis, contacted Strauss about an idea for a new kind of pants. He thought Strauss was the right choice of business partner.
Davis found an unusual way to make pants after a local asked him to make a long-lasting pair for her husband.
Davis put metal rivets at the corners of the pockets on denim pants, already the popular fabric for laborers' trousers. He also attached them at the base of the button fly. These were the stress points.

My life is my business

Strauss' company imported clothing, umbrellas, bolts of fabric and even handkerchiefs. He sold them to small stores across the West that were supplying the miners of the gold rush. Later the stores would sell to the families that settled there.
Although no historical record exists of how he grew his business, Strauss became widely known and respected on the West Coast.
"He has been quoted as saying, 'My life is my business,'" Downey said.
With that success, the rugged jeans would soon have legs.
"Everybody knew Levi Strauss' name," Downey said. "The reach of his business was so fast. He already had a reputation for being an upright businessman."

Levi Strauss Prevailed

Still, Strauss was sharp with an untiring love of his work and the ability to see and seize opportunities. Risk wasn't a problem for Strauss.
Those characteristics would later help him create the popular jeans now synonymous with 20th century American culture.
"He prevailed. He survived," said Downey. "There are a lot of other names of dry-goods businesses in the San Francisco directory at the time that you haven't heard of anymore -- because they're long gone."

Strauss was not the only wholesale merchant

Neither did he have any special advantages. Strauss was just another man from the East Coast who wanted to tap a hot economy.
"He had a lot of competition in San Francisco," Lynn Downey, a Strauss historian, told IBD. "He was not the only wholesale merchant. Everybody got on the bandwagon."

Levi Strauss networking with Jewish merchants

Strauss, who was still a couple of decades from launching his famous jeans, was relatively unknown. He was there to set up a West Coast branch for his brothers' New York dry-goods distribution business.
He wasn't penniless - and likely networked with a few fellow Jewish merchants.

Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco in 1853

Levi Strauss arrived in wild San Francisco in 1853. The gold rush was on, but Strauss (1829-1902) had no guarantees that he would make his own fortune.

Levi Strauss died at the age of 73

Levi Strauss died on September 26, 1902, at the age of 73. He left his thriving manufacturing and dry goods business to his four nephews — Jacob, Louis, Abraham and Sigmund Stern — who helped rebuild the company after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The following year, Jacob Davis sold back his share of the company.

Levi´s patent 139121

On May 20, 1873, Strauss and Jacob Davis received United States patent #139121 for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. began manufacturing the first of the famous Levi's brand of jeans in San Francisco.

Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss

In 1872, Levi received a letter from Jacob Davis, a Reno, Nevada tailor. Davis was one of Levi Strauss' regular customers, who purchased bolts of cloth from the company to use for his own business. In this letter, Davis told Levi about the interesting way in which he made pants for his customers: he placed metal rivets at the points of strain - pocket corners and on the base of the fly. As he didn't have the money to patent his process he suggested that Levi pay for the paperwork and that they take out the patent together.

Levi and denim

Levi was often found leading a pack-horse, heavily laden with merchandise, directly into the mining camps found throughout the region. The story goes that both prospectors and miners, often complaining about the easily torn cotton "britches" and pockets that "split right out" gave Levi the idea to make a rugged overall trouser for the miners to wear. These were fashioned from bolts of brown canvas sailcloth, with gold ore storage pockets that were nearly impossible to split. Levi exhausted his original supply of canvas as the demand grew for his hard-wearing overalls, and so he switched to a sturdy fabric called serge, made in Nimes, France. Originally called serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to denim.

Strauss discovered denim

It was on California Street that Levi and his brother-in-law David Stern opened a dry goods wholesale business called Levi Strauss & Co. Strauss observed that the work clothes worn by gold prospectors and miners did not stand up well under the torturous work in mine shafts, digging in the dirt and grime. To solve this problem, Strauss developed the concept of durable canvas pants. Initially, they were not very comfortable to wear but were very durable. Later, Strauss discovered denim and produced even more popular and comfortable apparel.

In 1853, Strauss moved to bustling San Francisco, California, where the California Gold Rush was still in high gear. Levi expected that the mining camps would welcome his buttons, scissors, thread and bolts of fabric; additionally, he had yards of canvas sailcloth intended for tent-making and as covers for the Conestoga wagons that dotted the landscape next to every stream and river in the area.

Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria

Levi Strauss (February 26, 1829–September 26, 1902) was a German-born American clothing manufacturer.
Born as Loeb Strauss into a Jewish family in Buttenheim in Franconia, Bavaria, now a part of Germany. In 1847, Strauss, his mother and two sisters moved to New York City to join his brothers Jonas and Louis Loeb in their dry goods business. By 1850 he had adopted the name "Levi Strauss."

Levi Strauss Profile

Name:Levi Strauss
Variant Name:Loeb Strauss
Birth Date:February 26, 1829
Death Date:September 26, 1902
Place of Birth:Buttenheim, Bavaria
Place of Death:San Francisco, California, United States of America
Nationality:American
Gender:Male
Occupations:businessman