Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Germany. The name Levi Strauss is now synonymous with jeans. However, it was not always so for the young, American immigrant. When Strauss was seventeen, he moved from Germany to America. At this time, he supported himself by selling household goods to people who lived in nearby towns, but Strauss was looking to expand his opportunities. When people began moving to California hoping to find gold, Strauss decided to move too.

Levi Strauss would not make his fortune by finding gold. Instead, he would provide something the miners needed: a good pair of work pants. When he arrived in California, he began constructing his first pair of jeans. The pants did not look like the jeans you might find in a store today. They were made out of a brown canvas-like material. The pants were extremely popular, and before long, Levi ran out of material to make the jeans. It did not take him long to discover a new type of material that is like the fabric used today. Strauss dyed the fabric blue and dubbed the new name for his pants “blue jeans.”