Levi Strauss (/ˈliːvaɪ ˈstraʊs/ LEE-vy STROWSS; born Löb Strauß, German: [løːp ˈʃtʁaʊs]; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans.

[1][2] Levi Strauss was born to a Jewish family in Buttenheim on February 26, 1829, in the Franconia region of the Kingdom of Bavaria in the German Confederation.

[11] The family decided to open a West Coast branch of their dry goods business in San Francisco, which was the commercial hub of the California gold rush.

[12] Levi was chosen to represent them, and he took steamships for San Francisco via Panama,[13] where he arrived in early March 1854 and joined his sister's family.

[16] Tailor Jacob W. Davis of Reno, Nevada, was one of his customers; in 1871, having invented a way to strengthen work pants using rivets, he went into business with Strauss to mass produce them.