Why do jeans have copper rivets and a tiny pocket?

Copper rivets were added to work pants to reinforce the points that tore first, especially pocket corners. The tiny pocket is a watch pocket, included in the earliest designs for carrying a pocket watch. Despite the common name, it is not the fifth pocket. That title belongs to the second back pocket, which arrived in 1901. [1] [2]

According to Denim Hunters, miners' and workers' pants tended to tear at the pocket corners and other points of strain before the rest of the garment wore out. In January 1871, Jacob Davis, a tailor of Latvian descent in Reno, Nevada, began hammering copper rivets onto those spots, including the pocket corners and the base of the fly. The rivets kept seams and pockets from bursting during heavy work, and they also set his pants apart from competitors'. [2]

Davis and Levi Strauss & Co. filed a patent application in August 1872. The patent, for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings," was granted on May 20, 1873, a date often treated as the birthday of blue jeans. Denim work pants already existed; the novelty was the copper rivet. Competitors tried other methods of reinforcement during the 19 years of the patent, and rivets became standard on all brands once it expired. [2] [3]

Levi Strauss & Co. says the small pocket was created for a pocket watch, a common accessory in the late 1800s. Its historian, Tracey Panek, told Business Insider that the watch pocket was part of the first waist overalls and appears on the oldest pair in the company archives, from 1879. It is why the pocket is usually absent from suit trousers, since a suit's pocket watch traditionally went in the vest or jacket. [4] [1]

Not everyone agrees on its purpose. Denim expert Mohsin Sajid, quoted by Denim Hunters, argues it is really a match pocket, which would suit miners working by candlelight. Many people call it a coin pocket. The company's own account favors the watch explanation. [2]

The original pants had four pockets: two front pockets, the small watch pocket, and a single back pocket. A second back pocket was added in 1901, creating the five-pocket layout. Levi Strauss & Co. and Denim Hunters both say this second back pocket is the real fifth pocket, and that the watch pocket has been there from the start. Some articles still repeat the idea that the watch pocket is the fifth pocket. [1] [3] [2] [5]

Levi's removed the rivets on the watch pocket during World War II to save metal. In 1937 it began covering the back-pocket rivets after customers complained that they scratched furniture and saddles, and by 1966 they were dropped altogether because they wore through the denim. Today rivets on most jeans are largely ornamental, as few wearers do the heavy work they were designed for. [3] [2]