Profile of the Day: Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss

Do you have a favorite pair of blue jeans? On this day in 1829, Levi Strauss, the founder of the first company to manufacture blue jeans, was born in Buttenheim, Germany.

Strauss immigrated to America in 1847 to work for his brothers’ dry goods business in New York. After gaining his American citizenship, Strauss headed west to open his own branch of the family’s business in San Francisco, California. The city had become the commercial hub of the California Gold Rush and the perfect location for the Levi Strauss & Co. to thrive.

In 1872, Strauss formed a partnership with Jacob Davis, a tailor and a customer of Strauss’ dry goods business. Davis had developed a way to make pants more durable by reinforcing them with metal rivets. A year later, the partners received the patent and blue jeans were born. Today, the Levi’s brand of jeans is one of the most popular in the world.

Levi Strauss is connected to over 88 million people in Geni’s World Family Tree. How are you related?

View Levi Strauss’s Geni Profile