The Riga City Council's Monuments Board has approved the installation of a monument to Jacob Davis (born Yakob Yoshua Yofis), a tailor who was born in Riga and became one of the creators of modern jeans.
The bronze sculpture is planned to be placed on the Daugava embankment in the Spikeri creative quarter, near the Central Market.
The monument will be created by the sculptor Gleb Panteleyev. According to his concept, the composition will be two-coloured: the upper part of the sculpture will reflect the Riga period of Davis's life, while the lower part will represent his American years and will be executed in the style of dyed denim.
The project will be funded by patrons.
Davis was born in Riga in 1831 into a Jewish family and took up the tailoring trade in his youth. In 1854 he emigrated to the USA, where he changed his name from Yakob Yoshua Yofis to Jacob Davis.
In 1870, while working as a tailor in the city of Reno, Nevada, Davis began reinforcing the most vulnerable points of work trousers with copper rivets. To make the clothing, he bought heavy fabric from the company Levi Strauss & Co.
In 1872, Davis proposed to Levi Strauss that he become his partner and that they jointly patent his invention. On 20 May 1873, they received US patent No. 139 121 for the use of metal rivets to strengthen pockets. It is this date that is regarded as the starting point in the history of modern jeans.
Davis later moved to San Francisco and managed clothing production at Strauss's company. He died in 1908. In 2006, a commemorative plaque was installed in Reno on the site of his former workshop.
