So there were all these people in California prospecting for gold in the 1800s. It was hard hard work. The clothes they wore were just not strong enough to take the pounding.The stitching just fell apart.
So Jacob Youphes a native of Riga, immigrated to the U.S. in 1854, ending up in Reno in 1868 with a tailor's business under the name of Jacob Davis.
In 1871, Jacob Davis was approached to make a pair of men's trousers, with the brief to make them as strong as possible. Using white duck cloth purchased from the small merchants business Levi Strauss & Co. he came across the idea to also use copper rivets to fasten the pockets together. Soon, the demand for his strong pants grew amongst the miners, so he turned to the merchant Levi Strauss to go into business with him.
The 501 was born.
I love Levi's jeans. The quality of the jeans are incredible. I worked for the company for 4 years, and still wear the product.
One of the iconic design features is the watch pocket. This is the little pocket on the front right side of the jeans which the prospectors would put their pocket watch. These days, it is more than likely used for change or condoms...
Slight problem though. Being a right hand pocket, it is tricky for us left-handers to use it at all.
Clearly Jacob Davis must have been right-handed along with all the gold prospectors.
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