The story ofblue jeanshas become the stuff of fable : After purchase jean trousers from San Francisco - based merchant Levi Strauss , a sartor nominate Jacob Davis was inspired to reinforce them with copper rivet at their most vulnerable point . The two businessmen secured a letters patent for the blue denim conception in 1873 , and shortly later , the pants were encompass by miners , cowboys , and other working - course of instruction manpower .
But their popularity with women did n’t come until 10 subsequently . Levi Strauss & Co. produce its first line of jeans for women in the 1930s , and nowTIMEreports that what may be the oldest surviving pair of denim from that earned run average has been reacquired by the company .
The jean , which lark a gamey waist , a cloth back plot , and a cinch in stead of a knock , were first happen upon at an estate sale by a vintage clothing collector . They originally belong to a teacher named Viola Longacre , who died in 2014 at old age 100 . While earning her knight bachelor ’s and master ’s arcdegree at Fresno State College ( now California State University , Fresno ) , she wear out the pants in the Sierra Mountains , where classes were held in the summertime .
The pair was likely made prior to 1934 , which was the class the Lady Levi ’s collection was first released . The fact that the Levi Strauss & Co. patch on the back of the waistline is fabric or else of leather leads fellowship historian Tracey Panek to trust they were relinquish as part of an experimental peck meant to gauge cleaning lady ’s involvement in the mathematical product . Though they were a raw material in men ’s wardrobes at the time , jeans did n’t become a familiar mint on women until World War II .
After acquiring the garment from the article of clothing collector , Levi Strauss & Co. named it “ Viola ” after its original possessor . It join theoldest knownmen ’s jeans , a yoke produced in 1879 , in the troupe archives .
[ h / tTIME ]
