Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish bavarian -born american clothing manufacturer”. Today it says “german-born american businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Alternative meaning: Claude Lévi-Strauss , the French anthropologist .1Levi Strauss Levi Strauss Levi Strauss ( February 26 , 1829 – September 26 , 1902 ) was a Jewish Bavarian -born American clothing manufacturer .2Levi Strauss was born as Loeb Strauss in Buttenheim , Bavaria. In 1847 , Strauss, his mother and two sisters moved to New York, New York to join his brothers, Jonas and Louis Loeb, in their dry goods business. By 1850 he adopted the name "Levi Strauss" and in 1853 , Strauss moved to San Francisco, California , and opened a dry goods wholesale business, Levi Strauss & Co. , selling to small stores in California . Strauss observed that work clothes worn by gold prospectors and miners were not able to endure their torturous ordeal of working inside mine shafts, digging in the dirt and grime. Strauss developed the concept of and sold durable canvas pants. Initially, they were not very comfortable to wear but were very durable. Later, Strauss discovered denim ("canvas dyed blue to better conceal stains") and produced "even more popular and comfortable apparel. Once the workwear of cowboys, miners, and ranchers, blue jeans are today worn by people of all walks of life, at work and play". [1] On May 20 , 1873 Strauss and Jacob Davis received a United States patent for using copper rivets to strengthen the pockets of denim work pants. Levi Strauss & Co. began manufacturing the first blue jeans in San Francisco.3
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16210659.
The opening as it stood in 2010 11 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Levi Strauss (February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German - Jewish immigrant to the United States who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans .His firm, Levi Strauss & Co. , began in 1853 in San Francisco , California .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 371278935.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Levi Strauss ( / ˌ l iː v aɪ ˈ s t r aʊ s / , born Löb Strauß , ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German - American businessman of German Jewish descent who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans . His firm, Levi Strauss & Co. , began in 1853 in San Francisco , California .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 669433251.
The opening as it stood in 2020
German-American businessman This article is about the American clothing manufacturer. Levi Strauss ( / ˈ l iː v aɪ ˈ s t r aʊ s / , born Löb Strauß , ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans . His firm of Levi Strauss & Co.(Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco , California .James Sullivan, Jeans: a cultural history of an American icon (Gotham, 2007).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 964077606.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
German-American businessman (1829–1902) This article is about the American clothing manufacturer. Levi Strauss ( / ˈ l iː v aɪ ˈ s t r aʊ s / LEE -vy STROWSS ; born Löb Strauß , ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans . His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco , California . James Sullivan, Jeans: a cultural history of an American icon (Gotham, 2007).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1177705237.
The opening as it stood in 2025
German-American businessman (1829–1902) This article is about the American clothing manufacturer. Levi Strauss ( / ˈ l iː v aɪ ˈ s t r aʊ s / LEE -vy STROWSS ; born Löb Strauß , German: [løːp ˈʃtʁaʊs] ; February 26, 1829 – September 26, 1902) was a German-born American businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans . His firm of Levi Strauss & Co. (Levi's) began in 1853 in San Francisco , California. James Sullivan, Jeans: a cultural history of an American icon (Gotham, 2007).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1297250543. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “jewish bavarian -born american clothing manufacturer”. Today it says “german-born american businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
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2015
2020
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2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
jewish bavarian -born american clothing manufacturer
Now
german-born american businessman who founded the first company to manufacture blue jeans
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
