History of Levi Strauss - Started as Pants for Miners

For those denim jeans lovers out there, you must have heard of the brand Levi right? These denim brands are considered one of the popular ones available out there worldwide producing the top quality jeans we wear today.

But do you actually know that originally these famous denim jeans were specifically designed for the miners that lived in America? How ironic right?

This company was founded by Levi Strauss who is a jew immigrant that moved to America from Germany. He was born in Butteinheim, Bavaria on 26 February 1829. After his father passed away due to Tuberculosis, he moved to America together with his mother and his cousin.

When in America, he helped his brothers run their wholesale business in which their company supplied raw materials and it was called J. Strauss Brother & Co. From there Levi learned the inside out of how to run a business.

When there was news about the opening of a gold mine in California, this made Levi realized that he could expand his wholesale business there as well. He then later changed the name of their company to Levi Strauss and Co. From there onwards, his business starts to take off in which his company became the main supplier of raw materials across western America.

Finding solutions to people's problems

At this point in time, Levi came up with the brilliant idea of selling pants specifically for miners. The miners always complained that their pants did not last very long and were worn out easily. This made the tin ore to be slipped out of their pocket and resulted in their loss.

Therefore, Levi decided to create a pocket shirt that is made from canvas for the use of these miners. Surprisingly, the shirt was a success and everybody seems to like it which causes Levi to run out of canvas to make new shirts.

He then uses another type of fabric that was imported from France and this fabric was called 'serge de Nimes' which was named after a city in France. This particular fabric was then called denim.

Innovation toward the better

In 1872, Levi has received a letter from his customer, Davis who was also a tailor. In that letter, he told Levi that he was able to create pants with a rivet.

This method has proven to make the pants last longer. He then wanted to patent this process but was low on funds and he wanted to ask Levis to become partners. Levis who was fascinated with this innovation finally agreed to collaborate to get the patent. And 1873 was the year when the first blue jeans were made in the world.

Starting from that point, fashion in jeans was not only worn by miners but also has become a trend in the whole society across the globe without looking at status or age.

As a pioneer in denim jeans, this company is still the most famous clothing brand in the world. It has a long history up until now and it is not only a brand of clothing but it also symbolizes culture and pride for the Americans.

Have you worn levis before? You probably wouldn't have thought that it used to be for miners

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