From Patent US139121A (May 20, 1873) to Bar-Tack (1966): The Full History of the Jeans Rivet

The copper rivet at the corner of a jeans pocket is easy to overlook. Its history, however, runs to over 150 years and includes a shared patent, a world war, and a persistent furniture-scratching problem that took three decades to resolve.

 

Jacob W. Davis: The Tailor Who Invented the Rivet Pocket

The riveted work trouser was invented by Jacob W. Davis (1831–1908), a Latvian immigrant who operated a tailor shop in Reno, Nevada. Davis sourced his fabric from Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco.

The immediate problem was a customer complaint: a carpenter’s wife asked for trousers durable enough that the pockets would not tear out. Davis’s solution was to reinforce the pocket corners with the copper rivets he used for harness repair. The first pair sold for three dollars in the early 1870s.

The approach worked, demand grew, and Davis needed to protect the idea. Unable to fund a patent application alone, he wrote to his fabric supplier — Levi Strauss & Co. — proposing a joint application. The company agreed.

 

May 20, 1873: Patent US139121A

On May 20, 1873, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted patent US139121A, titled “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings,” to Jacob W. Davis of Reno, Nevada, and Levi Strauss & Co. of San Francisco, California. The patent covered the use of metal rivets or eyelets at pocket corners to prevent seam failure under stress.

This date is commonly cited as the founding date of blue jeans as a product category. The patent term at the time was 17 years; when it expired in 1890, riveted pocket reinforcement became available to any manufacturer, and similar products proliferated across the market.

 

1937: The Hidden Rivet

By the 1930s, a new problem had emerged. The back pocket rivets — exposed on the outside of the garment — were scratching furniture and saddles. Consumer complaints accumulated, and Levi Strauss & Co. made a structural change in 1937: back pocket rivets were countersunk into the fabric from the inside, making them invisible from the exterior.

This “hidden rivet” (also called a concealed rivet) was protected under patent US1999927A, “Riveted Garment.” The first swing tag on the redesigned garment carried the line: “The Rivet’s Still There” — an acknowledgment that the change needed explanation to customers who expected to see the rivets.

 

Wartime Simplification: The S501XX Period

During World War II, US material rationing affected metal, thread, and fabric. The wartime Levi’s 501 variant (designated S501XX) eliminated certain rivets, including the crotch rivet and the watch pocket rivet. The arcuate decorative stitching on back pockets was replaced with paint to conserve thread. Buttons shifted to the “donut” (laurel wreath) style to minimize metal use.

These wartime specification changes are now identification markers for collectors. The S501XX is a distinct and well-documented variant of the 501 line.

 

1966: Bar-Tack Replaces the Back Pocket Rivet

The hidden rivet introduced in 1937 solved the furniture-scratching problem — temporarily. Under sustained use, the concealed rivets eventually worked their way through the denim from the inside and re-emerged on the exterior, recreating the original problem. The solution had not held.

Around 1966, Levi Strauss & Co. eliminated back pocket rivets entirely, replacing them with bar-tacking (Japanese: kan-nuki) — a dense, parallel-stitch reinforcement applied at stress points without any metal hardware. Bar-tacking provides equivalent or greater reinforcement strength and eliminates the surface damage issue.

The back pocket of a current Levi’s 501 has no rivet. Bar-tacking has been the standard since 1966.

 

The Front Pocket Rivet: Still There

While back pocket rivets were eliminated, front pocket rivets remained — and continue on current production. The structural case for a rivet at the front pocket corner (particularly at the coin pocket opening) remains valid: it is the original application Davis designed for, and the geometry of the front pocket makes bar-tacking a less straightforward substitute.

The current specification — bar-tack on back pockets, copper rivet on front pockets — represents the settled outcome of a 90-year engineering process applied to a single garment detail.

 

What the Rivet’s History Demonstrates

The rivet sequence — invention, patent, expiry, complaint, redesign, wartime simplification, persistent problem, final elimination — is a clean illustration of iterative product development. Each change addressed a specific failure mode, and each solution introduced a new constraint that required its own resolution. The bar-tack that replaced the rivet in 1966 is itself a well-developed solution, not a stopgap. The front-pocket rivet that survived is there because the case for it still holds.

For anyone specifying rivet details on a denim product today, the design space has 150 years of documented decisions behind it.

 

Denim Fabric and Detail Inquiries

ALLBLUE handles wholesale and OEM fabric inquiries for denim products, including specification consultation on hardware details such as rivets and bar-tacking. ALLBLUE is a B2B wholesaler. We do not sell to individuals. Swatches can be shipped on your own DHL or FedEx account.

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