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Nelson Creath (Harry)

Professor Smith

History 1700

24 June 2020

Podcast Paper

I chose to listen to the podcast that covered the story of Levi Strauss, a German-

American who came to the United States to work with his mother and sisters after his father had

passed away. They went to New York because he had brothers that owned a dry goods business

so he was able to find work.

Levi was intrigued by the California gold rush at the time and so he decided to travel to

San Fransisco to sell dry goods to those who were mining and working in the field. He became

very successful in that area and helped contribute to stabilizing the local economy when the Civil

War came to pass as well.

In 1872 a man named Jacob Davis invented a pair of work pants that used metal rivets to

secure the seams. This was a revolutionary idea seeing that pants normally would wear out much

quicker without the rivets. The only issue was that Davis didn’t have the funds to secure a patent.

He then turned to Levi Strauss who loved the idea. The idea took a year to receive a patent and

was rejected by the patent office because they said the idea “was not original enough”. It

obviously was and so after some legal battles they were awarded the patent.

The pants were durable and made of a tough canvas and had the metal rivets to support

them. They also had cost a pretty penny back then because of their durability. Eventually the

pants were dyed blue to hide stains apparently. The blue jean is mostly what Levi Strauss Co. is
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famous for. It was a pant that impacted the country, style, culture, not to mention the entire

textile industry.

The company itself had a massive effect on the surrounding economy. Initially when Levi

started it during the gold rush he was sending massive quantities of gold back to his brothers in

New York and his business became a staple in the community mostly due to Levi’s ability to be a

phenomenal businessman. Levi was named one of San Fransisco’s only millionaires which gave

him the ability to build his community. He was famous for supporting local causes and he even

established one of the first synagogues in California at the time. He even helped with tuitions for

students.

The history of Levi Strauss is underrated in my opinion and I was blown away at how he

directly and indirectly helped the state of California grow as well as the national economy. It’s

important to realize that there are not many companies that stick around like Levi Strauss Co.

With that, it’s also important to give him the credit where it is due. Levi was an example of the

American dream. He was Jewish, German, and had the odds against him but through

perseverance he was able to create a company that has stood the tests of time. And as mentioned

before, his company helped keep California afloat during times of crisis like the Civil War.

This was a topic that I had definitely missed out on in history class. It is interesting

learning about the early phases of American Capitalism and important to the construction of our

market economy. In most classes they spend time on war and politics and thats mostly it. Rarely

are we able to learn about our history from the perspective of a major clothing manufacturer; this

makes sense but it does help one understand how our country was built.
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Through this project I learned two things. One, that there is an entire side to American

History that is constantly left out. Two, I very much enjoy listening to podcast related to history

of really any kind. I enjoyed this project and I feel satisfied about understanding the history of a

blue jean company that I wear religiously.