Levi’s Jeans 501XX
USA, 1930s
Cotton denim, copper, leather
Museum Collection
Must Know
Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria in 1829. After the death of his father when he was 18 years old, he took over the running of his father’s peddling business. In 1847 he emigrated to the U.S. with his mother and sisters in order to join his two older brothers, and after a few years he founded a company in New York with them. In the mid-19th century “Gold Rush”, thousands of Americans travelled to the west of the country to find gold in the new rivers and mines. Strauss educated himself on the needs of the new population and in 1853 he moved to San Francisco and opened a chain of small shops across California to import products from the West. Among the products that Strauss sold was Danish canvas which, due to its strength, was suitable material for erecting tents. One of Strauss’ customers was a Jewish tailor called Jacob Davis who emigrated from Latvia to the U.S. in 1854 and worked as a tailor in New York. After a few moves within the U.S., he settled in Nevada in 1869 and worked by stitching tents, horse blankets and cart covers from denim fabrics which he bought from Strauss. One day, a client asked him to sew strong, tear-resistant work trousers for her husband. Davis stitched the pants using blue denim and reinforced the pockets and other areas using metal push buttons designed for horse riding blankets. The demand for strong work trousers rose and Davis wanted to register a patent for using the metal buttons to strengthen the trousers. he turned to Strauss and proposed to finance the patent registration. On 20th May 1873, both registered the patent and together began to produce the blue jeans. Davis was employed by Strauss’ company as the production manager and received a fixed salary until the day he died. In 1880, the first factory opened and production went into their own hands. By 1920, the 501 jeans were the best-selling work trousers in the U.S.
More Info
Due to the prohibition in Jewish law of wearing shatnez material, the tailor’s profession exists in every Jewish community around the world. Tailoring was not considered to be a desired profession which resulted in Jewish immigrants working in sweatshops in the Lower East Side of New York. Levi Strauss started as a poor immigrant from Germany who arrived in the U.S. during the Great Migration and today, his name is associated with an economic and social empire which reaches across the globe. The jeans he made together with Jacob Davis were specialised because of a few details: the patent for push buttons to strengthen the pockets, the golden sewing thread which matches the colour of the metal button, and the small pocket inside the normal pocket which was designed to hold the pocket watches which cowboys would usually wear with a chain inside their jacket pockets. The model number 501 represented the amount of fabric which was imported from the east coast to the west coast in order to produce this model. The location of the push buttons has since been changed following reviews from the customers. Initially, they used copper buttons for the back pockets, but this caused scratches on the saddles and seats. In the 1950s, people were banned from wearing jeans in school, theatres and restaurants because they were perceived as a symbol of rebellion against the conformist society. They were worn by actors and cultural leaders who were perceived as rebels, like James Dean. In the 1960s, blue jeans were accepted as an integral part of fashion and they have since been worn in numerous classes and age groups. Jeans became popular outside of the U.S. during the Second World War when American soldiers wore them in their leisure time.
