In the late 1800s, farms, ranches, railroads and gold mines were popping up all over the American West. Men needed tough clothing like they needed a hot bath. Unfortunately, their work pants often split at the seams. Jacob Davis—a tailor in Reno, Nevada—had the idea of placing rivets at these points of strain. He reached out to his fabric supplier Levi Strauss in San Francisco, suggesting a patent partnership.