Fill in the Blanks Levi JeansOnline version The story of the world's favorite jeans by Marci D Nelson Ozer 1 that uncomfortable demand had By which were created were When advice a culture the where would suitable most than leading would common Many inventions have shaped American in the minds of people around the world . One was many years ago but is still popular today : Levi's jeans . Levi Strauss was born in 1829 in Bavaria , is part of present day Germany . As a young man he moved to the USA and settled in New York . In 1853 , the young immigrant decided he wanted to start his own business . He moved from New York to San Francisco , the gold rush was well underway . He travelled across Panama and began trading on 14 March that year . Unlike many other hopeful travellers , Strauss did not go to California to mine for gold . He sold tents and covers for wagons to the miners . One day man asked Strauss if he sold trousers . Looking for gold was hard work and miners needed clothes that last . This conversation inspired Strauss to make strong trousers for workers . In 1866 he started selling canvas trousers called Levi's and the miners bought them faster Strauss could make them . Strauss soon received a lot of on ways to improve his jeans . In 1873 Jacob Davis gave him an idea to make the jeans even stronger by adding metal rivets to the pockets so that they not tear . Strauss liked idea and decided to use it . However , many people complained that the canvas was , so Strauss changed from canvas to a heavy denim material . It was dyed indigo blue and miners liked the new material because dirty marks did not show on the dark colour . In 1873 the jeans sold for 22 cents a pair . the end of that year , for the product had increased dramatically . Strauss opened a factory in San Francisco and hired hundreds of workers to keep up with demand . he died in 1902 , the company kept going . By the 1920s , the miners left California and instead cowboys and steel workers buying Levi's . It became the brand in men's work clothing . In the 1950s , after movie stars Marlon Brando and James Dean seen wearing them , jeans became a item of clothing for all Americans . Today Levi's jeans are still one of the popular products of American culture .