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In the beginning, there were Levi's. In 1853, during the heart of the gold rush, a Bavarian émigré named Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco from New York, looking to expand his family's East Coast dry-goods business. Among his wares were blankets, cloth by the yard and durable work pants, sometimes called "jeans pants." Then in 1872, one of Strauss's customers, a tailor named Jacob Davis, made him the offer that would change his fortunes — and the way Americans dressed — forever. Davis had been buying Strauss's blue denim and duck cloth to sew "waist-overalls" and had perfected a method of reinforcing them with the same copper rivets he used on horse blankets. Unwilling to put up the $68 necessary to patent his creation, he suggested that Strauss pay the fee in exchange for a half-interest in the business. 起初，有Levi's牛仔裤。1853年，在淘金热的高潮，一个名叫利维·斯特劳斯(Levi Strauss)的巴伐利亚移民从纽约来到旧金山，想扩大他家族的东海岸公司(East Coast)的纺织品生意。他的产品包括毯子、大量布料和耐磨的工作裤——这种裤子有时被称为“牛仔裤'”。1872年，斯特劳斯的一位顾客、一个名叫雅可布·戴维斯(Jacob Davis)的裁缝提出一个建议，这个建议将彻底改变利维的命运以及美国人的着装方式。之前戴维斯经常购买斯特劳斯的蓝色粗斜纹布和帆布，缝制“齐腰工装裤”，而且用他做马鞍褥的铜铆钉改进了加固方法。他不愿花68美元给自己的创造申请专利，所以提议让斯特劳斯来支付这个费用，回报是这个生意一半的利润。 | 
