How the California Gold Rush created Jeans

It’s the kind of thing that Jeans were actually made for! The California Gold rush from 1843 to 1863 is one of those pivotal moments. In the history of the USA that defines it. The discovery of gold saw a surge in people and prospectors rushing to get to the Union’s most Western State (it didn’t own Alaska until 1867 and Hawaii came in 1959) that had profound ramigfaciatoins for the country and its native populace. Promised to be left alone in private reservations this soon went out the window when this valuable commodity was discovered. You do imagine the prospectors, clad in jeans panning for gold and trying to find the nugget that will change their lives forever. Sadly this isn’t true as jeans weren’t sold until 1873. They did have a rather coarse fabric trouser like denim but not the brass riveted type we know today. If they could they would have definitely gone and got some mens levi jeans from EJ Menswear.

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However the tale of Jeans is still linked to the Gold Rush. Strauss creates the famous work and leisure wear in the City of San Francisco. It’s unlikely that he would have gone there if it weren’t for the fact it had become a boom town to support the people coming into the state. It’s likely he would have remained in New York working with his brothers.

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The prospectors would have needed the services of Strauss’s shop which sold all manner of useful items to help them on their quest. The terrain was unexplored and dangerous and those that entered did so at great risk.

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