Levi Strauss

File:Buttenheim Levi Strauss Haus.jpg

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.{{cite book|title=Towers of Gold: How One Jewish Immigrant Named Isaias Hellman Created California |first=Frances |last=Dinkelspiel |author-link=Frances Dinkelspiel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yc_xK2K_PeMC&q=Levi+Strauss+birthplace&pg=PA145 |page=145 |year=2010 |publisher=St. Johns Martin's Press |isbn= 978-0-312-35527-2 |access-date=May 1, 2012 }}{{cite book |last1=Kellogg |first1=Ann T. |last2=Peterson |first2=Amy T. |last3=Bay |first3=Stefani |last4=Swindell |first4=Natalie |title=In an Influential Fashion: An Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-and Twentieth-century Fashion Designers and Retailers who Transformed Dress |year=2002 |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=978-0-313-31220-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PIgUAQAAIAAJ&q=levi+strauss+February+26,+1829, |language=en}} He was the son of Hirsch Strauss and Hirsch’s second wife, Rebecca Strauss (née Haas).Dietze, Joachim. "[http://www.joachim-dietze.de/pdf/levis_aa.pdf Levi Strauss]" (family tree). joachim-dietze.de. Rebecca Haas, July 6, 1799–1869 San Francisco. Source: Levi-Strauss-Museum, Buttenheim. Retrieved March 20, 2019."[http://cdnc.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/cdnc?a=d&d=DAC18690108.2.38.1 Died]". Daily Alta California (San Francisco). January 8, 1869. Via California Digital Newspaper Collection. cdnc.ucr.edu. Retrieved March 20, 2019. "In this city, Jan. 6th, Mrs. Rebecca Strauss, mother of Levi Strauss, of this city, aged 69 years, a native of Bavaria."

In 1847, aged 18, Strauss travelled with his mother and two sisters to the United States to join his brothers Jonas and Louis, who had begun a wholesale dry goods business in New York City called J. Strauss Brother & Co., at 108 Liberty Street in Manhattan.{{cite book|title=American inventors, entrepreneurs and business visionaries |first=Charles W. |last=Carey |pages=331–332 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XKiGgl36bkgC&q=Levi+Strauss+birthplace++Buttenheim&pg=PA331 |year=2002 |publisher=Facts on File|isbn= 978-0-8160-4559-4 |access-date=May 1, 2012 }}{{cite web |title=Who Made America? {{!}} Innovators {{!}} Levi Strauss |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/theymadeamerica/whomade/strauss_hi.html |website=www.pbs.org}}{{cite web |title=Levi Strauss, From Immigrant Peddler to International Icon |url=https://www.villagepreservation.org/2021/02/26/levi-strauss-from-immigrant-peddler-to-international-icon/ |website=Village Preservation |date=February 26, 2021}} After arriving in New York, Strauss worked as an itinerant peddler of goods from his brother's store: kettles, blankets and sewing goods.

Levi's sister Fanny and her husband David Stern moved to St. Louis, Missouri, while Levi went to live in Louisville, Kentucky, and sold his brothers' supplies there.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fDyckjF2IWgC&q=Levi's+sister+Fanny&pg=PT122 |title=They made America |first=Harold|last=Evans |year=2004 |publisher=Little Brown |isbn= 978-0-316-27766-2 |access-date=November 12, 2012 }} Levi became an American citizen in January 1853.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=XOPZ2nA6OcEC&q=Levi's+sister+Fanny&pg=PA172 |page=172 |title=Blessings of freedom: chapters in American Jewish history |first=Michael |last=Feldberg |publisher=KTAV Publishing |year=2002 |isbn= 978-0-88125-755-7 |access-date=November 12, 2012 }}

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.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-22 |title=150th anniversary: How Levi's could have been called Jacob's |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2023/05/22/150th-anniversary-how-levis-could-have-been-called-jacobs/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} Levi was chosen to represent them, and he took steamships for San Francisco via Panama,{{Cite web |date=2023-05-22 |title=150th anniversary: How Levi's could have been called Jacob's |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2023/05/22/150th-anniversary-how-levis-could-have-been-called-jacobs/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} where he arrived in early March 1854 and joined his sister's family.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=18OdlLqqdykC&q=Levi's+sister+Fanny&pg=PT68 |page=59 |title=America: the Jewish experience |first=Sondra |last=Leiman |year=1994 |publisher=UAHC Press |isbn=978-0-8074-0500-0 |access-date=November 12, 2012 }}

Strauss opened his wholesale business as Levi Strauss & Co. and imported fine dry goods from his brothers in New York, including clothing, bedding, combs, purses, and handkerchiefs.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-22 |title=150th anniversary: How Levi's could have been called Jacob's |url=https://www.ocregister.com/2023/05/22/150th-anniversary-how-levis-could-have-been-called-jacobs/ |access-date=2024-02-14 |website=The Mercury News |language=en-US}} He made tents and later jeans while he lived with Fanny's growing family.{{cite book|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=8iAjxdfLDgsC&q=Levi+lived+with+his+sister+&pg=PA9 |page=9 |title=Levi Strauss & Co.|first= Lynn |last=Downe |publisher=Arcadia Publishers |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7385-5553-9 |access-date=November 12, 2012 }} 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.{{Citation | last = Loverin | first = Jan | title = A Nevada Stylist: Your Denim Jeans Are a Nevada Invention | journal = Nevada State Museum Newsletter | volume = 36 | issue = 3 | pages = 4 | year = 2006 | url = http://museums.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/mus-let37.pdf |access-date= March 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130429105158/http://museums.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/mus-let37.pdf|archive-date=April 29, 2013 }} The next year, Davis asked Strauss to help him apply for a patent, and the patent (one-half assigned to Levi Strauss & Co.) was issued in 1873.{{US patent|139121}}

Levi Strauss was never married, and died on September 26, 1902 in San Francisco.{{cite news |title=The Death of Levi Strauss |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-sacramento-bee-levi-strauss-1829-19/172432355/ |work=The Sacramento Bee |date=September 27, 1902|location=Sacramento, CA |page=1 |access-date=May 15, 2025 |via=Newspapers.com}} {{Open access}} His estate was worth about $30 million (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{inflation|US-GDP|30000000|1902}}}} in {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}}). Levi's nephew Sigmund Stern's only child, Elise Fanny Stern,{{Cite web |title=Family tree of Sigmund Stern |url=https://gw.geneanet.org/heleneps50?lang=en&n=stern&p=sigmund |access-date=2024-02-10 |website=Geneanet |language=en}} married Walter A. Haas, the son of Abraham Haas, whose descendants are the current owners of Levi Strauss & Co.{{Cite web|title=The Philanthropists |publisher=American Jerusalem - Jews and the Making of the American West|url=http://www.americanjerusalem.com/characters/the-philanthropists/33 |access-date=April 17, 2018}}

Levi Strauss, a member of the Reform branch of Judaism, helped establish Congregation Emanu-El, the first Jewish synagogue in the city of San Francisco.{{Cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-nearly-forgotten-jews-who-helped-make-the-american-west/|title=The nearly forgotten Jews who helped make the American West|last=Eshman|first=Adi|website=www.timesofisrael.com|language=en-US|access-date=December 22, 2019}} He also gave money to several charities, including special funds for orphans. The Levi Strauss Foundation started with an 1897 donation to the University of California, Berkeley, that provided the funds for 28 scholarships.{{cite web|url=http://www.levistrauss.com/about/foundations/ |title=Foundations – Levi Strauss & Co |publisher=Levistrauss.com |access-date=November 7, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105040252/http://www.levistrauss.com/about/foundations |archive-date=November 5, 2012 }}{{cite book |title=Where to educate, 1898–1899. A guide to the best private schools, higher institutions of learning, etc., in the United States |last=Thomas |first=Grace Powers |year=1898 |publisher=Brown and Company |location=Boston |page=10 |access-date=August 17, 2012 |url=https://archive.org/stream/wheretoeducate1800thomrich#page/10/mode/1up}}

The Levi Strauss museum in Buttenheim, Germany is located in the 1687 house where Strauss was born.{{Cite web |last=Heinz |first=Joachim |date=2023-05-23 |title=Levi Strauss: Ein Buxenmacher aus Buttenheim |url=https://www.juedische-allgemeine.de/kultur/levi-strauss-ein-buxenmacher-aus-buttenheim/ |access-date=2023-08-09 |website=Jüdische Allgemeine |language=de}} There is also a visitors center at Levi Strauss & Co. headquarters in San Francisco, which features historical exhibits.

In 1994, he was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 22, 2019}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160817174207/http://lsco.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Levi-Strauss-Full-Biography.pdf Biography of Levi Strauss] from the Official Levi Strauss Site.
• [http://www.levi-strauss-museum.de/ Levi Strauss Museum in Buttenheim, Germany] {{in lang|de}}
• {{fashiondesigner|id=levi-strauss}}

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Category:1829 births

Category:1902 deaths

Category:19th-century American businesspeople

Category:19th-century American inventors

Category:American people of German-Jewish descent

Category:American manufacturing businesspeople

Category:American retail company founders

Category:Businesspeople from San Francisco

Category:Businesspeople from New York City

Category:German Jews

Category:Bavarian emigrants to the United States

Category:People from Bamberg (district)

Category:People of the California Gold Rush

Category:Brand founders

Category:Jeans

Category:Manufacturing company founders

Category:Burials at Home of Peace Cemetery (Colma, California)

Category:Jews from California

Category:Jews from New York (state)

Category:19th-century American Jews