May 20: Blue Jeans

Levi Strauss, a dry-goods merchant from Germany, and David Jacobs, a tailor, received U.S Patent #139,121 on this date in 1873 for putting copper rivets into denim pants to make them more durable. Strauss was already a successful storeowner in San Francisco serving the miners and settlers of the California Gold Rush; Jacobs was one of his customers and sought partnership with Strauss to bring the blue jeans, which were originally called “waist overalls,” to market. At his death in 1902, Levi Strauss left an estate worth $6 million.

“Objects are what matter. Only they carry the evidence that throughout the centuries something really happened among human beings.” —Levi Strauss