Here’s some Jewish history behind the invention of jeans. Levi Strauss was born as Loeb Strauss in 1829 to a Jewish family in Bavaria, Germany. As a teenager, Levi immigrated to the US and joined his brothers in a dry goods business in New York City.
In the 1850s, they expanded their business to San Francisco during the Gold Rush. At the time, there was a demand for durable clothing for miners, to which Levi had the idea of using heavy canvas as the primary material. In 1873, Jacob Davis, also a Jewish immigrant, teamed up with Levi and introduced metal rivets to reinforce the pants, and the two patented ‘waist overalls,’ better known today as blue jeans.
Strauss passed away on September 26, 1902, at his home in San Francisco; he was 73. At the time of his death, Levi’s estate was estimated to be worth $6M.
Photo: Levi Strauss factory in San Francisco, 1882.
