Levi Strauss was born on February 26, 1829.

Levi Strauss was a German-American businessman born on February 26th, 1829 in Bavaria, who immigrated to the United States with his family when he was 18 years old.

Strauss began his career as a dry goods salesman in San Francisco, California, where he sold apparel, bedding, bags, and handkerchiefs to immigrants, many of whom had come to California to participate in the gold rush. 

Needless to say, the intense physical labor demanded of miners and those building new railways at the time made it impossible for them to obtain clothing that would survive more than a few months without coming apart at the seams. One of Strauss' clients, a tailor called Jacob W. Davis, was contacted one day in 1870 by a woman in need of a pair of unusually tough working pants for her husband, a woodcutter.

Davis was inspired by her desire to build a pair of trousers out of the denim he'd purchased from Strauss' shop, which he then reinforced with copper rivets to reinforce the stitching. Davis was unable to keep up with the demand for his creation, nor did he have the finances to create a larger tailor business or get a patent, since word of the new piece of clothing and its endurance traveled quickly. 

Davis, who was falling more behind and worried that someone else might steal his concept, decided to seek Strauss' financial support in completing a patent application. Strauss consented, the patent was granted, the two men joined together, and Levi Strauss & Co was established.