In what year was Levi Strauss & Co. founded?

Levi Strauss & Co. was founded in 1853. That year, German-born immigrant Levi Strauss arrived in San Francisco and opened a wholesale dry-goods business serving small stores across the American West.

The company began as a supplier of clothing, fabric, blankets, handkerchiefs, and other goods rather than as a jeans manufacturer. Its San Francisco location connected Strauss with merchants serving miners, laborers, and growing communities during the Gold Rush era. The firm later became famous for riveted work trousers and the Levi’s denim brand.

A frequent mix-up is 1873, which was not the company’s founding year. It was the year Levi Strauss and tailor Jacob Davis received the patent for riveted work pants. Another confusion comes from an old “Since 1850” marketing date; company historians later determined that 1853 was the accurate founding year.