Who invented blue jeans? Blue jeans, the most typically American item of clothing, have become popular worldwide. Almost every person has at least one pair of jeans, whether simple or fancy, blue or other colours, in his wardrobe.
Jeans were invented and perfected in the mid-19th century by Levi Strauss, with the help of Nevada tailor Jacob Davis.
In 1853, Strauss, 24, left New York for San Francisco, hoping to cash in on the California gold rush that had begun in 1849. He opened a dry goods store that sold supplies as well as fancy linens to miners.
In 1872, he worked with Davis, who was one of his regular customers, and bought bolts of cloth to use for his own business, and came up with an interesting way to make trousers by using metal rivets at the main stress points - pocket corners and the base of the fly.
The patent for their design was granted in May 1873, and the first blue jeans were born. The first jeans came in two styles, indigo blue (denim) and brown cotton 'duck'. Unlike denim, the duck material never became soft and comfortable and was eventually dropped from the line.
Hard-wearing and practical, blue jeans were quickly embraced by the fashion industry and soon became an international phenomenon and an icon of American culture.