After immigrating to New York from Germany to help his older brother with his dry goods store, a man named Levi Strauss takes off for San Francisco to establish his own business.

Jacob Davis is sold white cotton duck fabric from Levi Strauss to make a pair of work trousers. He fastens copper rivets to the stress points of the trousers.

Levi and Jacob come together to discuss partnership between selling clothing reinforced with copper rivets. They first use brown cotton duck, a bottom-weight fabric, but later discover denim is much more sturdy a material.

Jacob Davis and Levi Stauss are granted the patent for "Improvement in Fastening Pocket Openings" #139121 and the modern jean is born.

While denim production was still small scale and localized, a range of companies existed to support the demand. A demand driven by the growing American workforce. The iconic Levis 501 evolved with details such as a leather brand patch, a second rear pocket, and belt loops.

Jeans shifted from workwear to fashion and entered into the American wardrobe. The iconic Levis 501 5-pocket jean began to become a staple in the clothing collections of most Americans.

The days of the Western in cinema fueled denim brands to focus their advertising on cowboys and the Wild West. Jeans were the symbol of this myth of the West and people wanted a piece of the romanticized wild lifestyle.