In 1852, Levi Strauss, an immigrant from Bavaria, opened a dry goods company in San Francisco at the height of the California Gold Rush. While he was working, he recognized a need among hardworking people: clothes built to endure anything. He and tailor Jacob Davis combined copper rivet reinforcements with tough denim, leading to the first manufactured waist overalls in 1873. Today, we call them "blue jeans.

Denim work pants have been around since as early as the 17th century, when nobody could tell how they looked after 5pm because electricity had not been invented. But the first official blue jean dates back to May 20, 1873, when the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted patent #139,121 to Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis for the process of placing rivets on men’s denim work pants for strength.