May 20 is denim’s birthday. On this day in 1873, Levi Strauss & Co. received a license granting the exclusive right to produce pants with riveted pockets. The document described the product as a “suspenderless work overall with pockets for a knife, money, and a watch.”
Levi Strauss had actually sewn the first canvas pants with multiple pockets and double-stitched seams 23 years earlier, selling them for $1.50. Those sturdy pants quickly won the hearts of gold miners, laborers, and other working-class customers, and Strauss set up Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco to manufacture workwear. By the mid-20th century, other brands began to appear offering jeans too—Lee, Wrangler, and Cooper.
Do you love jeans? How many pairs do you have in your closet, and when did you get your first coveted pair?
