Levi Strauss came to the United States from Bavaria in 1847. He invented the famous blue jeans in order to come up with a strong garment suitable for the miners who worked in San Francisco. The popularity of his invention skyrocketed over the years, earning the company $152 million by 1966 and over $700 million by 1995. The only fashion trend to adversely impact the success of Levi's was bell bottoms in the 1970s, when Levi's had a huge inventory of straight-leg jeans. Levi's 501 and 505 jeans were the originals.

When Levi Strauss invented the first blue jeans, they were double-stitched for strength but still not quite strong enough at the stress points for miners. The company came up with the idea to put rivets on all the stress points and patented the idea. The birthday of blue jeans is May 20, 1873, when the patent was awarded. These were named 501 jeans.

Levi Strauss & Company's wide array of 501 jeans for men and women all have one characteristic in common. They are all button-fly jeans, whether they be stone-washed, dark blue, acid-washed, shorts, vintage, bleach or shrink-to-fit. The five-pocket design is also a standard characteristic.

Levi Strauss & Company 505 jeans came along after the zipper was invented in 1893. The 505 line has all the varieties of the 501 line of jeans, including the five-pocket standard, except for the button-fly front. Instead they were designed with the zipper-fly front.

There are a few more lines offered by Levi Strauss & Company: Levi's 569 loose-fit jeans for men and boys, Levi's 517 denim boot-cut jeans for men and women, Levi's 518 super low boot cut denim jeans for women, Levi's 524 super low, skinny jeans for women. Levi's Type 1 jeans are iconic straight leg jeans for men and a tough boot cut for women. Levi's also offers denim shirts, denim jackets, denim purses and a line of leather belts.