Levi Strauss

Loeb Strauss, whose name was later changed to Levi, was born on February 26, 1829, in Buttenheim Bavaria in Germany. He was born to his Jewish parents Hirsch Strauss and his second wife, Rebecca Haas Strauss. His father, was a dry goods peddler who traveled around the country selling dry goods. Hirsch Strauss had five other children Jacob, Jonas, Louis, Rosla and Mathilde from his first wife, who had died several years earlier. Loeb and his older sister Fanny were the two children Hirsch had with his second wife. In 1845 Hirsch died of tuberculosis. After this, the already poor Strauss family became much poorer because there was no income. At this time two of Levi’s older brothers Jonas and Louis left for America. Two years later, Rebecca and the other children left on a boat for New York. When Levi got to New York, he was taught the ways of pedaling by his brothers, who had already started a dry goods business called J. Strauss Brother & Co.

	In 1848 Levi moved to Louisville, Kentucky, where he sold goods from his brother's store. In 1853 he returned to New York upon hearing gold had been discovered in California. He persuaded his two brothers to provide him with a supply of silk, cloth, and a few luxury items, which he planned to sell in San Francisco. He also took a supply of canvas, which he intended to use to make tents, and wagon covers to sell to prospectors who were crossing the continent. In January of 1853 Levi became a United States citizen, and by March of the same year he arrived in San Francisco, by the time he landed, Levi had sold all his goods to passengers on the ship except for the canvas.

When Levi Strauss got to San Francisco, he opened up a dry goods store under his own name representing his family’s New York firm. The name of his firm was "Levi Strauss." At this time the companies main products were the dry goods shipped to it from New York, but this was about to change. While here, a local miner asked if he sold pants. Levi, being a keen business man, decided to make pants from the rolls of canvas originally brought over to make tents, Levi’s were born. When Levi ran out of canvas, his brothers sent him a new fabric called denim.