Levi Strauss, founder of Levi Strauss & Co., the company that develops Levi's shoes, was born on February 26, 1829, in Battenheim, Germany.
He moved to New York in 1847 and helped his brother run a textile business as a teenager. In 1853, he moved to San Francisco, a city booming with the Gold Rush, and opened a general merchandise store that would become Levi Strauss & Co. He commercialized durable canvas work pants in response to feedback from gold miners. The material was later changed to denim, and the color indigo blue was adopted.
In 1873, Jacob Davis, a tailor who did business with Levi Strauss & Co., came up with the idea of reinforcing pants with rivets. The two men jointly patented a method for using rivets to reinforce pockets on clothing. This marked the birth of jeans. In 1890, the lot number "501" was first used on a product. This marked the birth of a masterpiece.

Levi passed away in September 1902. The brand overcame the threat of a major earthquake that destroyed its factories, and became a huge hit among students on the West Coast of the United States. In the 1950s, influenced by Marlon Brando and James Dean, pants evolved from being perceived as work pants into a fashion item.