Today Is the Birthday of Blue Jeans

Thanks to Levi Strauss and David Jacobs, blue jeans have not only become a part of our everyday lives, but they're also a multibillion-dollar industry.

On May 20, 1873, the two immigrants received a patent for manufacturing blue jeans with copper rivets, and today, Levi Strauss & Co., is still going strong.

Whether you like yours faded, full of holes, super dark, bell bottoms, or skinny, there's a pair with your name on them.

Since Levi's first came on the scene, thousands of other blue jean companies have sprouted, but it's probably safe to say that most everyone at one time has owned a pair of Levi's.

Maybe you've outgrown the ones you have or it's just time for a new pair. Luckily, there's still a few places around town that sell the old standbys for those who want to forgo the designer duds.

Here are some facts about the world's oldest jeans pictured here:

• These are the oldest 501 jeans in the world, and therefore the oldest jeans in the world. Levi Strauss & Co. created the 501—the world’s first blue jeans—in 1873.
• The jeans were made sometime between 1873 and 1890, very likely around 1879.
• In price lists from this era these jeans were called XX—a designation meaning highest quality.
• In 1890 this design was given the lot number 501.
• They were acquired by Levi Strauss & Co. in the summer of 2003 from a vintage clothing dealer.
• The jeans were manufactured in San Francisco in a factory that was later destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire.
• The denim for the jeans came from the Amoskeag Mill in Manchester, NH.
• The denim would have been put on the transcontinental railroad and sent across the country to San Francisco to be sewn up into jeans.
• The denim weighs 9 ounces. The denim was called XX–which is why Levi Strauss & Co. gave this name to the first jeans. It was a way to communicate that the best denim was used for these jeans.
• The jeans have a leather label, but it might not have had the "two horse" logo, since the company believes these predate 1886, the year it first used the "two horse." The label probably just had text on it about Levi Strauss & Co. originating patent riveted clothing.
• Other design features are: only one back pocket (Levi’s jeans acquired the second back pocket in 1901), two front pockets and watch pocket, back cinch and suspender buttons.
• These were purchased in a small general store, or men’s clothing store somewhere in the American West, as that is the only place Levi Strauss & Co. sold its products prior to the 1930s. 
• The original owner was some sort of laborer, as the 501 jeans originated as strong, riveted work wear for working men: miners, cowboys, carpenters, lumbermen, etc.
•  These are kept in a fireproof safe in the Levi Strauss & Co. archives in San Francisco and are valued at $150,000.

Here are five places that sell Levi's:

1.

2.

3.

4. at Crown Valley and Forbes

5. Macy's

Source: Levi Strauss & Co.