Riveted Denim Clothing
Denim pants and overalls were common among those who worked in factories, as miners, or on farms and ranches. In the early 1870s, tailor Jacob Davis, in partnership with Levi Strauss & Co., created a type of copper rivet to be used to reinforce the seams at the pockets and flies of denim jeans. These were the weak points of the clothing, where the material would wear out the quickest. The technology proved to be revolutionary.
Utility
The rivets added to jeans and denim overalls kept the pockets from tearing, therefore making the clothing last longer.
Manufacturing
Jeans with the rivets were able to be manufactured by Levi Strauss & Co. beginning in the 1870s. This began with overalls.
Social Impact
Though it wasn't known at the time, jeans would go on to be a regular part of American clothing. Originally make as work clothing for those who did much physical labor, jeans would become more mainstream in the mid to late-1900s. The typical imagery of workers in jeans would transform until just about everyone, regardless of profession, owned at least one pair of jeans with riveted pockets.
Image by Lernestorod on Pixabay.
Credit for inventing the riveted jeans goes to a tailor from Nevada named Jacob Davis, who noticed where his customers' pants were quickly wearing out. He purchased his material from denim manucturer Levi Strauss & Co., so he wrote to them seeking a partnership in the creation of a copper rivet that could be used to reinforce weak points in the pants.
Access & Availability
The rivets were first patented in May of 1873, and the design entered the public domanin in 1890. The typical people purchasing these jeans were factory workers, miners, farmers, and cattlemen.
Complexity
The design of the rivets themselves was not complex, as similar rivets had been used in shoemaking. Rivets were a straight-forward technology that just needed to be applied to clothing in this case.
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