Who invented jeans?

The world’s first jeans was invented in 1873 by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis. This apparel was called waist overall in its earliest days. The word jeans became popular in 1950s. These work pants were specially designed for miners and cowboys due to the strength of the fabric used. The word jeans was derived from the Italian word ”Genoese” which means “Italian sailors from Genoa who wore trousers made of blue cloth in 17^th century|”. The second reference talks about a French word “serge de Nimes” which means heavy cloth from nimes used by hard labors of England in the 19^th century. The word denim was derived from de nimes.Levi Strauss was a Bavarian born American who came to San Francisco with his siblings and established a dry-goods store in 1866 on Battery Street.

Jacob Davis, an immigrant from Riga, Latvia, was his regular customer who purchased cloth for his tailoring shop. He came to Levi with an idea of jeans as he was short of money for the patent. The trousers designed by Jacob was a great hit. Both became business partners and filed a patent on May 20, 1873. The jeans was earlier known as “Levi’s 501 jeans”. It was in 1960s that people accepted it as jeans.

It is amazing to know that the designer of jeans, Jacob Davis was an unsuccessful businessman who had a cigar store and a brewery both in losses. He then worked as a tailor for horse blankets were he had an idea of jeans. Some famous brands for this comfortable apparel are Levis, Wrangler and Lee Cooper.