Belying their high-end image today, when a pair of jeans can run upwards of several hundred dollars, the first ones were workers pants. Levi Strauss, a German immigrant and their creator, took a supply of canvas with him to open up a shop in booming gold-rush era San Francisco. Shortly after opening he got a visit from one of the miners, asking for Strauss had for sale. Strauss said he had tough canvas for tents, and the miner replied “You should have brought pants!” Apparently no pants made at that time were strong enough to support the miners’ work.

On this day, May 20, in 1873 Strauss and his partner Jacob Davis received a patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings” by means of studs. This completed the modern-day jeans. Levi had already designed the material, putting a twilled cotton layer over tough canvas, creating pants that were comfortable to the skin but still durable.

Davis was a regular customer of Strauss, and first came up with the idea of rivets at the stress points to keep the pockets from tearing. But David did not have enough money to develop the idea, and proposed to Strauss to share the invention in exchange for funding. Their blue jeans became best sellers among factory and blue-collar workers in the early 1900s, and entered into mainstream culture from there.