WEBVTT

00:00:06.504 --> 00:00:13.174
In a Moment of Vision...

00:00:13.174 --> 00:00:17.395
It's the height of the Gold Rush,
1850s California.

00:00:17.395 --> 00:00:22.025
A young tailor named Jacob Davis notices
that his gold-mining customers

00:00:22.025 --> 00:00:25.974
are wearing through pants faster
than they can patch them.

00:00:25.974 --> 00:00:27.395
In a moment of vision,

00:00:27.395 --> 00:00:31.544
Davis adds reinforcing metal rivets 
to his pant design,

00:00:31.544 --> 00:00:34.224
strategically placing them 
at points of strain,

00:00:34.224 --> 00:00:38.403
like the corners of pockets
and the base of the fly.

00:00:38.403 --> 00:00:42.274
The enhanced trousers are soon
in high demand.

00:00:42.274 --> 00:00:46.114
In order to take out a patent on
the highly successful riveted pant,

00:00:46.114 --> 00:00:48.745
Davis needs a business partner.

00:00:48.745 --> 00:00:51.184
He approaches the supplier
of his cloth,

00:00:51.184 --> 00:00:55.335
a dry goods merchant
by the name of Levi Strauss.

00:00:55.335 --> 00:00:58.825
Strauss and Davis begin manufacturing
pants out of denim,

00:00:58.825 --> 00:01:04.376
and continue to modify the design
to accommodate their customers.

00:01:04.376 --> 00:01:06.725
It is rumored that the removal
of the crotch rivet

00:01:06.725 --> 00:01:09.205
was due to a complaint from the miners

00:01:09.205 --> 00:01:14.396
that squatting too near a campfire
in their typical underwear-free fashion

00:01:14.396 --> 00:01:17.496
could be painful.

00:01:17.496 --> 00:01:20.896
Jeans continued to be modified
and diversified over the years,

00:01:20.896 --> 00:01:23.876
eventually becoming 
an everyday fashion item

00:01:23.876 --> 00:01:27.376
for both work and play by the 1960s.

00:01:27.376 --> 00:01:34.202
Today, 96% of American consumers own
at least one, if not many, pairs of jeans.