STRONG JEANS

May 20, 1873, was the day Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis received their patent for riveted pants. The patent was submitted 150 years ago and resulted in huge success for the California clothing company.

Riveting history

The inventor of blue jeans was Jacob Davis. Davis was a tailor living in Reno, Nevada, who began using rivets to make miners’ clothing more sturdy. Davis wrote to his supplier, San Francisco-based Levi Strauss & Co., in 1872 asking for help getting a patent for his invention. Strauss paid the $68 patenting fee. They were awarded the patent in 1873 and blue jeans were born. Originally called “waist overalls,” they sold for $3 a pair in 1873 (About $88 today). Sales soared to miners in the California gold rush.

Buttoned up

The original jeans had buttons for suspenders, and a button fly. This was nothing new in the 1870s. The Levi’s button changed over the years, from a silver style in the 1870s to a darker bronze color in the early 1900s and a hollowed-out version to save materials in World War II.

What’s in a name?

1890: The name 501 is first used. Little is known as to why this name was chosen after the factory records were destroyed in the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. The company’s patent protection was about to expire and it needed a more marketable name.

Getting loopy

1922: Levi’s adds belt loops to keep up with the times. The cinch on the back is still manufactured, but many remove it to use a belt. Levi’s ceases using the cinch during World War II to conserve metal for the war effort. 1937: Suspender buttons are removed, but snap-on buttons are available for those who opt for suspenders.

Pocketing the look

1873: The first jeans have one back pocket with arcuate stitching (shaped like a bow) and a watch pocket.

1901: The pants get a second back pocket.

1936: The red tab is placed onto the right back pocket. “Levi’s” is stitched in all caps to one side of the tab.

1937: Back pockets are sewn so rivets are covered and will not scratch furniture.

1947: New machines for the stitching add a diamond shape to the arcuate shape on back pockets.

1966: Back-pocket rivets are replaced with bar tacking after continuous complaints of rivets wearing through jeans and scratching furniture.

1971: The red tab on the back pocket is stitched in upper and lower case. This becomes significant for collectors looking for “Big E” jeans.

Rivets: In the 1960s, rivets were introduced as flat and colored silver. Those released before were copper or aluminum with a round pattern. Buttons: Vintage buttons on jeans of the 1970s have single digits inscribed on them. Today’s buttons have “501” embossed on them. 501s began using a felled inseam in the 1910s. In the 1980s the jeans inseam was given two rows of stitches.

1954: 501Z is introduced, the version with a zipper. Horsing around 1886: The ”two horse” leather patch is first used on overalls. Late ’50s: The two-horse logo is no longer made of leather, but of less expensive, heavy-duty card stock. Date patent was issued

Davis’ 1872 patent drawing Pocket rivets The crotch rivet was permanently removed during WWII.