Levi Strauss and His World Changing Invention
“Levi”, when most people hear that name they think of blue jeans, but most people don’t know the story of Levi Strauss; one of the most iconic blue jean producers around the world. Levi Strauss invented the first pair of blue jeans, he was one of the most innovative inventors of the Nineteenth century who took advantage of a situation he saw, and his idea and invention is still important today.
May 20, 1873 was the day a patent from the U.S. was issued allowing Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis to place rivets on work pants for the first time (Our Story). The idea to place rivets on jeans first came from Jacob. He was going to patent the idea himself, but his wife told him not to waste the money again. So he sold the idea to Levi and received sixty-eight dollars for it (Our Story). This was an important step for work pants because when the gold miner would put diamonds or gold nuggets in their pockets they would tear the seam (Henry, Taitz 60). Placing rivets on the pockets helped to keep them sturdy. Also the pants had a policy with them reading “It’s no use they can’t be ripped,” which they rarely did (Our Story). The rivets were placed where the seams meet so it reinforced the seams of the pocket preventing them from tearing away from the pants. At this time interest in the gold rush was growing and many men greatly appreciated the riveted pockets because they did not have to spend more money to continually buy new pants. Levis’ pants were the most widely used pants in California in the 1880s. For many years the pants were continuously used by working men in the field such as for the gold rush.
Before Levi Strauss invented blue jeans in California he lived in Bavaria, a small village ...
... middle of paper ...
...blue jeans. He was one of the most innovative inventors of the Nineteenth century who took advantage of a situation he saw. Levi Strauss‘s invention is still important today. Levi Strauss and Co. is one of the biggest businesses that is still 99.8% owned by family members. Although Levi never married, twelve years before his death in 1902 he had handed over the company to nephews; Jacob, Sigmund, Louis and Abraham allowing them to run the business (Henry, Taitz 74). Levi Plaza is the number one jean manufacturer in the world with over thirty-five thousand people it still maintains it reputation for quality workmanship. They also still donate money to charities in which Levi donated to such as the Jewish church in San Francisco (Henry, Taitz 112). Levi Strauss is an example for the whole world that even if you start out small you can rise to the top and succeed.
In the Article “Sewing Machines Liberation or Drudgery for Women” Joan Perkin wrote about the positive and negative effects that came from the invention of the sewing machine. The sewing machine was invented by Elias Howe and Isaac Merritt Singer in the 1800’s. by 1877 almost half a million sewing machines were being used in the United States, making it the first home appliance in American homes. The author writes that this invention will transform the way clothing would be made from then on. Before the sewing machine women would make their clothes by hand at home, it would take up to twenty hours to produce one shirt. With this new invention the time was cut down to about an hour for the same amount of work.
J. Crew, also known as J. Crew Group Inc., is a private label company known for its preppy fashions that are fashionable yet costly. Essentially, the company was owned by the Cinader family for most of its history. Mitchell Cinader and Saul Charles founded the company in 1947. It was originally known as Popular Merchandise Inc. doing business as the Popular Club Plan, in which Mitchell’s son Arthur was the overseer. The company sold women’s clothing through in-home demonstrations. In the early 1980’s, Cinader and Charles observed catalog retailers such as Land’s End, Talbots and L.L. Bean reporting rising sales in revenue. With intentions to increase sales and duplicate success of these well known companies, Popular Club Plan began its own catalog (http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/j-crew-group-inc-history/).
John Jacob Astor found the American Fur Company in 1808, The Pacific Fur Company in 1810 and the South West Company in 1811. He was the first millionaire in American history.
Levi's had sold to Wal-Mart through a value brand called Brittania in the 80's and the 90s, but that came to an end in 1994 over a dispute in Canada about Levi's Orange Tab jeans. After that, sales dwindled for Brittania, and Levi's sold Brittania to VF Corp. In 2002, however, Levi's was thinking about offering a new value brand for Wal-Mart. It was not that easy of a decision though. They had to think of a way to keep the existing customers in the other channels and not lessen the brand's perceived quality overall.
Before the American Civil War, ready-made apparel existed but its variety was limited. Coats, jackets and undergarments were only available in predetermined sizes. Most clothing was made by tailors, by individuals, or by their family members at home. The Civil War was a pivotal event in the historical development of men’s ready-made clothing. At the outset of the Civil War, most uniforms were custom-made in workers’ homes under government contract. As the war continued, however, manufacturers started to build factories that could quickly and efficiently meet the growing demands of the military. These factories were able to make uniforms for a fraction of the cost of home sewers. Mass-producing uniforms necessitated the development of standard sizes. Measurements taken of soldiers revealed that certain sets of measurements tended to recur with predictable regularity. There were certain ratios of shoulder to waist measurements that occurred more frequently than others. After the war, these measurements were used to create the first commercial sizing scales for men. Today these ratios p...
grew up in the San Joaquin Valley in the industrial part of a town called Fresno.
The remains of a pair of trousers found at Birka, Sweden were probably of the short and baggy style. These trousers were made from linen and had little metal eyes set into their lower edges. The accompanying leg stockings were made from wool with little hooks sewn onto them. The woolen leg stockings were hooked to the lower edges of the linen trousers just below the knees. The little hooks used to connect the trousers to the leg stockings were called "garter hooks."
Henry Ford was one of the greatest inventors of the 20th century. Brilliant and eccentric are words that where used to describe him. His vision was to help create the middle class in the US. By raising wages and raise free time. His greatest inventions where the assembly line, and the T- model car, each revolutionized the car industry. Ford Motor Company was founded by Henry Ford and is now the second largest U.S based automaker, and the fifth largest in the world. On April 7th 1947 at the age of 83, Ford died in his home in Dearborn Michigan
...sed for the mass production of cars but it was also used for many of the products today. It is still the most famous and most reliable system of work. Henry Ford died in 1942 at the age of 83, a happy man still with the ambition to do more. He blessed the world with his famous ability to invent and impacted America for the better. Think about what life would be like with out the automobile, transportation would barley exist. My definition of an entrepreneur is one who has the drive and ambition to work, and make success from something that they created. “If not for his drive to create a mass amount of automobiles the United States would not have its middle class today” (Laccoce, 200).
This bibliography about Samuel Slater describes his origins and how he ultimately became known as “the Father of the American textile industry.”
During the early 19th century women were expected to wear long, heavy skirts and tight corsets, which often made breathing strenuous. Those who rejected these styles found themselves the center of public humiliation. Gerrit Smith, a top United States politician and abolonist declared, “Women could not hope to be accepted by men as equals until they began to dress more practically.” (George Sullivan) Gerrit Smith’s ideas sparked an idea in his daughter, Elizabeth Smith Miller’s mind. Elizabeth thought of wearing a pair of ballooning pants under a skirt at knee level. This impressed Elizabeth’s cousin Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who was an American social activist and was extremely influential in the Women’s right movement. Elizabeth loved her cousin, Elizabeth Smith...
An incredible event happened in the 1930¡¯s that has changed lives ever since. That event, the creation of nylon, has manipulated the way people dress and live their everyday lives. It even provided more employment opportunities and job improvements throughout the years.
I believe that if Levi’s had recognized the market demands the time it start to change and
In the world of fashion, there is denim. It is one of the world’s oldest fabrics, and has been modified and remodelled to go with the latest fashion trends. The first ones who wore this fabric are workers in the California Gold Rush era, designed by Jacob Davis because of its sturdy material that withstood the harsh working conditions. Not just them, even sailors from Italy use this material too as their sailing uniform. Then, it started appearing as an actor’s apparel, and that’s when denim started to become one of a fashion item. People started wearing jeans as part of their daily apparel and even adding their own ideas, such as studs and colouring it with different shades of denim. It doesn’t only stop around that era, but today, they are seen everywhere and has become a major clothing piece for almost all of the age groups. As a reference, we can see young children already wears jeans as part of their clothing, the teenagers added jeans to their wardrobe, and even for the seniors, they consider jeans as a simple and comfortable clothing pieces.