Think $200 is a lot to ask for a pair of jeans? Try $46,532.
That’s how much Levi Strauss & Co. paid on eBay a few years ago for what is believed to be the world’s oldest and most expensive pair of blue jeans, dating to the 1880s and found in a Nevada mining town.
That and other relics from the Levi’s archives were on display last weekend at The Levi’s Store on Michigan Avenue, in honor of the 150th anniversary of the brand, which presents an apt opportunity for a Levi’s aptitude test.
Q. Did Levi Strauss invent blue jeans?
A. Men had been wearing denim work pants for decades before Levi’s got in the game in the 1870s, said Levi’s historian Lynn Downey. “But we were the first to rivet them.”
Q. So did Strauss himself conceive of the copper rivet idea?
A. That idea came from one of Strauss’ customers, a tailor named Jacob Davis, who had the notion to reinforce stress points in work pants with rivets. But he didn’t have the $65 for the patent fee. So, for financial backing, he called on Strauss, who was operating a prosperous wholesale dry-goods business in San Francisco. Strauss was astute enough to sign on. The two received the patent in 1873.
Q. Jeans were formerly known as … ?
A. Until as recently as the 1950s, jeans were called “overalls,” so named because they were cut to be worn over miners’ other clothing. If you wanted a bib on them, you asked for bib overalls; otherwise they were waist overalls.
The origin of the word “jeans” hasn’t been nailed down, Downey said, though she thinks it was inspired by a material containing one white and one blue thread and called–you guessed it–jean fabric.
