WHY did levi strauss "INVENT" the BLUE JEANS?

Question

I need this for Homework and it asks specifically WHY and WHEN I got the when but I dont have the why, you could give me the answer but a link to a page that says WHY would help as well. THANX!

Answer 1

gold miners and cowboys needed tough pants that would last a long time, and were cheap.

Answer 2

When Was Blue Jeans Invented

Answer 3

Strauss Direct Workwear

Answer 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Levi_Strauss

(he was a tailor before coming to the US)

HOW HE GOT STARTED:
In 1847, Strauss, his mother and two sisters moved to New York City to join his brothers Jonas and Louis in their dry goods business. By 1850 he had adopted the name "Levi Strauss".

In 1853, Strauss became an American citizen and moved to bustling San Francisco, California, where the California Gold Rush was still in high gear. Levi expected that the mining camps would welcome his buttons, scissors, thread and bolts of fabric; additionally, he had yards of canvas sailcloth intended for tent-making and as covers for the Conestoga wagons that dotted the landscape next to every stream and river in the area.

Strauss and his brother-in-law David Stern opened a dry goods wholesale business called Levi Strauss & Co. Levi, estimated at about 5' 11" and 185 pounds, was often found leading a pack-horse, heavily laden with merchandise, directly into the mining camps found throughout the region. The story goes that both prospectors and miners, often complaining about the easily torn cotton "britches" and pockets that "split right out" gave Levi the idea to make a rugged overall trouser for the miners to wear. These were fashioned from bolts of brown canvas sailcloth, with gold ore storage pockets that were nearly impossible to split. Levi exhausted his original supply of canvas as the demand grew for his hard-wearing overalls, and so he switched to a sturdy fabric called serge, made in Nimes, France by the Andre family. Originally called serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to "denim".

Business
In 1872, Levi received a letter from Jacob Davis, a Reno, Nevada tailor. Jacob W. Davis (born as Jacob Youphes) was a Jewish tailor from Latvia. Davis was one of Levi Strauss' regular customers, who purchased bolts of cloth from the company to use for his own business. In this letter, Davis told Levi about the interesting way in which he made pants for his customers: he placed metal rivets at the points of strain—--pocket corners and on the base of the fly. As he did not have the money to patent his process he suggested that Levi pay for the paperwork and that they take out the patent together.

On May 20, 1873, Strauss and Davis received United States patent #139121 for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. began manufacturing the first of the famous Levi's brand of jeans in San Francisco, using fabric from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Answer 5

Levi Strauss was born on February 26,1829 to Hirsch Strauss and Rebecca Haas Strauss, both Jewish. He was born in Buttenheim in Bavaria[2], Germany. Young Levi sailed from Bremerhaven to New York where his two older brothers, Jonas and Louis, had already established a successful wholesale textile and tailoring business. After a stay of two days in New York, he continued on to the ranch of his uncle, Daniel Goldman in Louisville, Kentucky.[citation needed] There he spent the next five years learning the language and the ways of his new homeland in order that he might someday take over his uncle's ranch.[citation needed] But Levi had dreams of becoming an independent businessman, and for several years he walked the roads of Kentucky, selling cloth and notions from the pack on his back.[citation needed]

In 1847, Strauss, his mother and two sisters moved to New York City to join his brothers Jonas and Louis Löb in their dry goods business. By 1850 he had adopted the name "Levi Strauss".

In 1853, Strauss became an American citizen[3]and moved to bustling San Francisco, California, where the California Gold Rush was still in high gear. Levi expected that the mining camps would welcome his buttons, scissors, thread and bolts of fabric; additionally, he had yards of canvas sailcloth intended for tent-making and as covers for the Conestoga wagons that dotted the landscape next to every stream and river in the area.

Strauss and his brother-in-law David Stern opened a dry goods wholesale business called Levi Strauss & Co. Levi, estimated at about 5' 11" and 185 pounds, was often found leading a pack-horse, heavily laden with merchandise, directly into the mining camps found throughout the region.[citation needed] The story goes[attribution needed] that both prospectors and miners, often complaining about the easily torn cotton "britches" and pockets that "split right out" gave Levi the idea to make a rugged overall trouser for the miners to wear.[citation needed] These were fashioned from bolts of brown canvas sailcloth, with gold ore storage pockets that were nearly impossible to split.[citation needed] Levi exhausted his original supply of canvas as the demand grew for his hard-wearing overalls, and so he switched to a sturdy fabric called serge, made in Nimes, France by the Andre family. Originally called serge de Nimes, the name was soon shortened to denim.[citation needed]

Answer 6

he didnt invent jeans! jeans were first made during the industrial revolution in the mines in california were most asians settled and work. it was the right type of clothes to wear for the job.

Answer 7

1

Answer 8

Jeans where invented for mine workers.
They needed a pant which is strong and durable.
Also they could go out with it and go to war with it.

Answer 9

origanilly they were work wear, for tradesman and more so prison inmates, while they were doing hard labour their clothes would get trashed so they designed a super tough and durable (and cheap) piece of clothing that would save the prisons money on clothing.

In 1872, Levi received a letter from Jacob Davis, a Reno, Nev., tailor. Davis was one of Levi Strauss’ regular customers; he purchased bolts of cloth from the company to use for his own business. In his letter, he told the prosperous merchant about the interesting way he made pants for his customers: he placed metal rivets at the points of strain - pocket corners, and at the base of the button fly. He did this in order to make the pants stronger for the laboring men who were his customers. He didn't have the money to patent his process, so he suggested that Levi pay for the paperwork and that they take out the patent together. Levi was enthusiastic about the idea and the patent was granted to both men on May 20, 1873. The blue jean was born.
He knew that demand would be great for these riveted "waist overalls" (the old name for jeans), so Levi brought Jacob Davis to San Francisco to oversee the first West Coast manufacturing facility. The first manufacture of the jeans was undertaken by individual seamstresses who worked out of their homes. By the 1880s Levi had leased factory space and then opened his own factory south of Market Street (though the dates and information are a bit vague here, thanks to the loss of the company’s historical records in the 1906 earthquake and fire). The famous 501® jean – known at the time simply as “XX” – was soon a best seller, as were the other riveted products Levi and Jacob added to their new manufactured lines.

So how did jeans get invented? It’s really a simple story. Levi Strauss was a dry goods merchant, who came to San Francisco in 1853 at the age of twenty-four to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ dry goods business. He had spent a number of years learning the trade in New York after emigrating there from his native Germany. He built his business into a very successful operation over the succeeding twenty years, making a name for himself not only as a well-respected businessman, but as a local philanthropist as well.
One of Levi’s many customers was a man named Jacob Davis. Originally from Latvia, he made his living as a tailor in Reno, Nevada. He regularly purchased bolts of cloth from the wholesale house of Levi Strauss & Co. Among Jacob’s customers was a difficult man who kept ripping the pockets of the pants that were made for him. Jacob tried to think of a way to strengthen his trousers, and one day hit upon the idea of putting metal rivets at points of strain: pocket corners, base of the button fly, etc. These riveted pants were an instant hit with everyone, and Jacob began to get worried that someone might steal this great idea. So, he decided to take out a patent on the process, but had trouble scraping together the $68 he needed to file the papers. What he needed was a business partner, and he immediately thought of Levi Strauss.
He wrote to Levi to suggest that the two men hold the patent together. Levi, being an astute businessman, saw the potential for this new product, and agreed to Jacob’s proposal. The two men received patent #139,121 from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on May 20, 1873.
Soon the first riveted clothing was made and sold. (We’re not sure of the exact date because we lost all our historic records in the 1906 earthquake and fire.) Jacob Davis was in charge of manufacturing once the company opened its two San Francisco factories. The denim for the riveted work pants came from the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, New Hampshire, a company known for the quality of its fabrics. We made our first jeans out of denim because denim was the traditional fabric for men’s workwear, which is what the new riveted products were. Within a very short time, all types of working men were buying up the innovative new clothing, and spreading the word.
We consider May 20, 1873 the “birthday” of blue jeans, because although denim pants had been around as workwear for many years, it was the act of placing rivets in these traditional pants for the first time that created what we now call jeans.

Answer 10

For miners during the gold mining days. They were durable.