Levi's jeans are one of the most well-known brands of pants worldwide. Photograph by Carl Corey. Corbis Corporation. Reproduced by permission.

Levi's denim blue jeans (see entry under 1950s—Fashion in volume 3) are made by Levi Strauss & Company of San Francisco, California. They were originally produced as tough trousers made from tent canvas. The rugged pants were intended for miners in the California gold rush, cowboys, and farm workers. Levi Strauss (c. 1829–1902) himself emigrated to California from Germany in 1850. In 1853, his company began making the denim jeans that became the famous shrink-to-fit "501" style of jeans.

Although the company made other garments, by the 1950s it was the "501" jeans that people meant when they used the term "Levi's." With their button fly, real copper rivets and the red "Levi's" tag sewn into the right back pocket, Levi's became the must-have brand of denim jeans. Their...