是來自美國西部最聞名的名字之一。它也是世界第一條牛仔褲的發明人Levi Strauss(利瓦伊.史特勞斯)的名字。

Levi Strauss於1847年十七歲時從德國移民至紐約。1853年加州淘金熱的消息使年輕的史特勞斯相當入迷,於是搭船航行到舊金山。他帶了數卷營帳及蓬車用的帆布準備賣給迅速增加的居民。但他發現帆布有更好的用途，因為有一名年老長的淘金人表示他應該賣的是能承受挖金工作的長褲。於是他把賣不完的帆布送到裁縫匠處訂製了第一件LEVIS牛仔褲。就在那一天，LEVIS的傳奇誕生了。

人們對這種強韌牛仔褲一傳十，十傳百。年輕的史特勞斯不久後便在舊金山開了第一間店。他生產許多齊腰的緊身褲。過後，他放棄帆布，改用斜紋粗棉布，那是一種在法國紡織以不變色靛藍染料織成的強韌棉布。

史特勞斯從1860至1940年期間為原創設計了不少改良、包括鉚釘、拱形的雙馬保證皮標以及後袋小旗標，如今這些都是世界著名的正宗LEVIS牛仔褲標誌。

Levi Strauss公司的確已成美國傳統，對全世界的人來說，它代表的是西部的拓荒力量和精神。

Mr. Blue jeans you could call him, but his real name is Lob Strauss. He was the founder of the great Levi jeans. Lob was born in 1829 in Butteheim, Germany. Lob's family was Jewish. Back in those days, if you were Jewish and you owned a house or a business in Germany, you had to pay special taxes. That was not happening in America.

After his father's death, Lob took up his father's trade selling dry goods and many different things to support the family. Also at this time, Lob's stepbrothers had sent him a letter telling him that in America Jews could vote . Now that was something. Lob convinced his mother to move the family to America. Lob and the family all moved over to America.

After Lob and his family had been sailing for forty eight days, the captain finally yelled, Land ahoy. As soon as the family got off the boat, the captain gave Lob his American name, Levi. After that, Levi's family went in different directions. Levi went to live with his brother, and the family went to live with relatives.

One day Levi was out selling dry goods, and he looked all around and saw that there were more dry goods sellers than just him. So Levi figured out that he had a better opportunity to make more money somewhere where there was less dry good salespeople. His sister and her husband had just opened a store in San Francisco. So they wrote back to Levi asking him if he wanted to come and work in the store and also live with them. Levi went to San Francisco.

In the store Levi and his brother-in-law sold many different things such as cloth, shirts, pants, and other dry goods. His sister's husband died at an age of fifty one. Levi took over the business. As the business grew, Levi became richer and richer.

One day Levi got a letter from Jacob Davis. Jacob told Levi that he had made pants using the denim that Levi sold. Jacob used copper rivets, so the pockets wouldn't rip. People wanted Jacob's pants. Jacob and Levi became a team. The pants became famous. The store people that were making the pants added a patch. The patch was a picture of two horses trying to pull Levi's sturdy pants apart. It is still on the pants today.

After a while, Levi became a multimillionaire. In Levi's spare time, he gave money to the deaf and to the poor. On September 26, 1902 Levi died in his sleep at an age of seventy three. Levi had many different challenges in his life. He moved from town to town and city to city before he was famous. People still wear his pants today.

參考資料：