A Short History of American Blue Jeans
The Quintessential, Egalitarian American Clothing Design Capturing the Pioneering Spirit and Pursuits of Happiness. The Founding Fathers of Jeans Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis Like so many American stories, we find the history of jeans interwoven with the lives of immigrants in pursuit of opportunities and new beginnings. In the 1850’s, a European immigrant named Levi Strauss around San Francisco, California began making brown trousers with little or no belt loops and neither pockets for miners by using cotton tent canvas from existing stock selling it out of his family’s dry goods store. Cinch belts helped to keep the pants up as the miners worked among the rocks and rivers. They were cheap, comfortable and they did the job of...