Jacob
Davis was Born in 1834 in Riga Latvia. He came to the US
and then to San Francisco in the 1850s. He moved around
the West extensively trying to make a living through the
1860s. In 1870 Jacob settled in Reno tailoring fine clothing
and manufacturing utilitarian items such as tents and horse
blankets from "duck" (a sturdy cotton fabric) with copper
rivets for added strength.
In the late 1870s a woman came to him for a pair of "cheap"
pants for her "large" husband who had the habit of going
through pants rather quickly. Having found that thread alone
did not always adequately hold the pockets onto work pants,
Jacob decided to try out rivets, which had proven their
worth on horse blankets on the pockets for these pants.
By 1871 Davis was routinely using rivets on the pants he
made, first on duck, soon after on denim, and was beginning
to be imitated by other tailors. He contacted Levi Strauss,
his fabric supplier, to help him apply for a patent. The
patent was approved in 1873. Levi invited Davis to San Francisco
to oversee production of the riveted pants for the Levi
Strauss and Company. Davis continued to supervise the Levi
Strauss factory until his death in 1908, the same year that
the rivet patent went into public domain.
Click here to see the text of the letter
Jacob Davis wrote to Levi Strauss in 1872.
