On February 26, 1829, Levi Strauss was born in Bavaria. At the age of 18, he moved to the United States to run a dry goods store with his brothers in New York. During the California Gold Rush, Strauss traveled to San Francisco in 1854 to open a west coast branch to sell goods to gold miners. His business sold a variety of clothing items, including trousers made from canvas. Jacob W. Davis, one of Strauss’ customers and one of the inventors of riveted denim pants, went into business with Strauss in the early 1870s. In 1873, Strauss and Davis patented riveted denim work pants under the name Levi Strauss & Co., a popular blue jean company that is still in business today. In honor of Levi Strauss Day, Howard letterpress printed a small 125-135 year old electrotype (copy of a woodcut) from the Lewis Winter Collection. This print depicts a man holding up a pair of trousers and was most likely used to advertise the pants in a local Sacramento newspaper or magazine in the 1890s. This was ...