1849: San Francisco Levi's Pants
The flashes of violence and miracles do not blind Levi Strauss, who arrives from far-off Bavaria and realises at one blink that here the beggar becomes a millionaire and the millionaire a beggar or corpse in a click of cards or triggers. In another blink he discovers that pants become tatters in these mines of California, and decides to provide a better fate for the strong cloths he has brought along. He won't sell awnings or tents. He will sell pants, tough pants for tough men in the tough work of digging up rivers and mines. So the seams won't burst, he reinforces them with copper riveting. Behind, under the waist, Levi stamps his name on a leather label. Soon the cowboys of the whole West will claim as their own these pants of blue Nimes twill which neither sun nor years wear out. Eduardo Galeano Faces and Masks.
