Levi Strauss Founder of Levis Company
Levi Strauss Founder of Levis Company

Biography of Levi Strauss

Early Life

Levi Strauss founder of Levis Company was born in the Franconian region of Bavaria, Germany on 26th February, 1829. He was born in a Jewish family. His father was Hirsch Strauss and his mother was Rebecca Strauss. His mother was the second wife of his father. When he was 18 years old, he, with his mother and two sisters, moved from Germany to the United States of America. There in New York City his two brothers, Jonas and Louis, were doing a wholesale business of dry goods with the name of “J. Strauss Brother and Co”. He also joined that business.

Early Business Career

He moved to reside in Louisville and helped his brother in selling dry goods in Kentucky’s areas. After so much hard work and dedication to his work, in 1853, he was able to gain American citizenship and became an American citizen.

He was engaged in his family business and his family introduced a branch of dry goods in West Coast of San Francisco, which was supposed to be a junction of commercial activities of California Gold Rush. He was chosen by his family to be a representative of business over there. He accepted this job and in first days of March in 1853, he went there and joined the business.

Founder of Levi Strauss and Co. (Levis)

After doing work with his sister, he opened his own wholesale business of dry goods with the name “Levi Strauss and Co.” He incorporated his business with his brothers business. He used to import good quality clothes, beds, combs, handkerchiefs, and purses from his brothers business in New York City.

One of his customers was Jacob Davis, who later on worked with him and these two introduced company’s best product “jeans”. In 1873, both of these got the patents for introducing this new type of wearing pants.

Levi Strauss and Co.

Levi Strauss and Co. is an American privately held multinational company in the field of clothing. Its products are commonly known world widely with the brand name “Levis”. The most valuable product of this company is denim jeans. This company’s main headquarter is located in San Francisco and famous with the name Levi’s Plaza.

It is divided into three divisions on geographic basis. First one is Levi Strauss Europe, Middle East and Africa which is headquartered in Brussels. Second one is Asia Pacific division, centered in Singapore. And third one is Levi Strauss America, which is parent company and headquartered in San Francisco. Almost 10,500 persons are employed in this company from all over the world.

Death

He died in San Francisco on 26th September, 1902 at the age of 73 years. He died without any marriage, so he has no children. He left all his property and business for the offspring of his sister. He also left a number of charity organizations, like Pacific Orphan Asylum and the Roman Catholic Asylum. He left estimated 6 million dollars. He is buried in Colma, California.