Julie is a business information consultant in the health care industry. She has a B.S. degree in Managerial Economics from the University of California, Davis. She is a frequent contributor to Jolique.

photo courtesy of freestockphotos.com

Eureka. So proclaims the seal of the State of California. The Greek expression for ‘I have found it’, Eureka is the fitting motto of a land settled by fortune seekers. California achieved statehood in 1850, two years after the United States snatched the territory from Mexico, and amid the great Gold Rush that lured tens of thousands to the remote foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Gold diggers came by land and by sea, along with prospective entrepreneurs that intended not to find buried treasure, but to set up shop in the bustling boomtowns. One of these opportunists, a dry goods peddler named Levi Strauss, struck gold by securing a patent for a pair of denim trousers with riveted pockets, and subsequently built an apparel empire that would come to influence fashion throughout the West and beyond.

Levi Strauss sailed to San Francisco in 1853, an arduous three-month voyage around Cape Horn from New York City that was amazingly common during the Gold Rush era--at its peak in 1849, more than 50 ships per month left New York Harbor bound for California. These vessels carried both passengers and freight, such as the wares Strauss’ brothers would send to stock the shelves of the Levi Strauss & Co. emporium in San Francisco. The bloated citizenry of San Francisco (78,000 in 1853 from 500 just five years earlier) provided ample demand for the shirts, hats, shovels, boots, and fabric that Levi offered for sale. He prospered as a retailer and wholesaler until 1870, when a tailor from Reno, Nevada named Jacob Davis presented Levi Strauss an offer he couldn’t refuse, and the two made a foray into the business of manufacturing.

Jacob Davis had stumbled upon a method to reinforce the pockets of men’s denim work pants by hammering metal rivets into their corners, similar to the way he routinely secured straps to horse blankets. His dungaree design proved wildly popular in the burgeoning silver mining town of Reno, where prospectors and lumberjacks quickly wore through the linen-stitched pockets of their overalls. Lacking the resources to meet the increasing demand for his product, Davis approached his yardage supplier, the reputable Levi Strauss & Co., about a joint venture. Strauss would front the capital to produce and market the riveted trousers, as well as expedite the patent process; in exchange, Davis would turn over half of his rights to sell. A deal was struck, and the prototype for blue jeans as we know them was launched.

In fact, many of the standard features of today’s blue jeans first appeared in the 501 overall developed by Levi Strauss & Co. in the 1870s: the leather patch above the right back pocket displaying trademark, the orange-colored thread, the metal buttons embossed with manufacturer’s name, and the metal rivets. But 501 trousers were best known for durability. The company purchased only denim of top quality, from select mills that maintained a high thread count and consistent indigo color. The pants were marketed as the toughest and longest-lasting available, as this early advertisement attests:

These goods are specially adapted for the use of FARMERS, MECHANICS, MINERS, and WORKING MEN in general. They are manufactured of the Best Material, and in a Superior Manner. A trial will convince everybody of this fact. USE NO OTHER, AND INQUIRE FOR THESE GOODS ONLY (Cray, 27).

501 blue jeans built a loyal following among laborers in the West, and Levi Strauss & Co. quietly and profitably grew into the 20th century.

While Levi Strauss had dreamed of selling his product nationally, the firm’s growth was limited in his lifetime by the inaccessibility of the San Francisco region. At the close of the 19th century, the balance of power in the state shifted southward, to Los Angeles, enabling the Southern California and Central Valley agricultural industries to thrive via the newly expanded Santa Fe Railroad. The Santa Fe Railroad also offered, for the first time, an efficient and safe means of travel for newcomers to the West Coast. In the early 1900s, the development of automobile and aeronautic industries further fueled a population and economic explosion in Southern California, while the advent of the film industry perpetuated the state’s reputation as a glamorous land of opportunity. In time, the Hollywood image-making machine would have the power to transform blue jeans from blue collar staple to cutting edge fashion.

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