The first pair of modern blue jeans was made by Jacob W. Davis, a Reno, Nevada tailor, who partnered with Levi Strauss to patent riveted denim work pants on May 20, 1873.
Who made them
Jacob W. Davis devised the idea to reinforce stress points on sturdy work trousers with metal rivets, creating the prototype of what became jeans, and then approached Levi Strauss to jointly file the patent and manufacture them at scale. Levi Strauss & Co. considers May 20, 1873—the date of U.S. Patent No. 139,121—the “birthday” of blue jeans because the riveted construction defined the garment we now call jeans.
Why Levi is associated
Because Levi Strauss financed and produced the riveted pants after partnering with Davis, the brand became synonymous with jeans, leading many to assume Strauss invented them, though Davis originated the rivet design and first pair; historical accounts and company history credit both men, with Davis as inventor and Strauss as manufacturer-patent partner. Archival and museum write-ups similarly trace the origin to Davis’s riveted work pants, popularized and mass-produced by Levi Strauss & Co. after the 1873 patent.
