A little "curiosity browsing" – which as usual didn't find an answer to the original question – reveals that the original name, used by Levi Strauss, was "waist overalls."

From the "home" Levi Strauss page (http://www.levistrauss.com/), there's a link to the Levi Strauss Vision that may merit a look. Links to "brand pages" from the home page are all "adspeak" with no significant info. From this page, the links are more "conventional," even if still vague on the details.

This is the first place I've seen recognition of the "partner," Jacob Davis, who apparently is the one who actually "invented" Levis:

"Jacob was the tailor who in the 1870s first fashioned heavy cotton cloth, thread and metal rivets into sturdy "waist overalls" for miners seeking durable work pants. Levi in turn met Jacob's needs for patenting and mass production of the product, … "

A quick search of other "Levi Strauss" pages (hits from Google) showed no other mention of Davis.

Subsequent search for Jacob Davis turns up Inventor of the Week, which adds a little to the story, identifies Davis as the originator of the "Levis" design, but still calls Strauss the "inventor."

"In 1872, Levi received a letter from Jacob Davis, a Nevada tailor. Davis was one of Levi Strauss' regular customers; he purchased bolts of cloth from the company to use for his own business. In his letter, Davis told about the interesting way he made pants for his customers: he placed metal rivets at the points of strain-pocket corners and the base of the fly. He didn't have the money to patent his process so he suggested that Levi pay for the paperwork and that they take out the patent together. The patent was granted on May 20, 1873, and the first blue jeans were born."

(It doesn't say whether the name "Davis" appears on the patent.)

"Jeans," and more specifically "Levis" are frequently cited as the "quintessentially American product." However:

LEVI STRAUSS & CO. TO CLOSE ITS NORTH AMERICAN MANUFACTURING & FINISHING PLANTS September 25, 2003.

At the time when the above announcement appeared, local news reported that this was the "last remaining manufacturer of blue jeans on the North American continent." I'm not sure that claim is completely accurate, but the "possibly remaining" makers are not names one would recognize. It may be assumed with reasonable certainty that "American Blue Jeans" in your current market are not made in America.

And one might question how their impressive "Vision Statement" squares with the "typical" appeal from the Clean Clothes Campaign. In fairness here, I mean "typical of brands who've sought "cheap foreign labor." The problem cited is not directly with Levi Strauss, but with one of their independent contractors. Levi Strauss appears to have acknowledged this particular problem, and may (or not) have plans to deal with it.

Still, they said:

"In 1991, we were the first multinational company to develop a comprehensive code of conduct to ensure that individuals making our products anywhere in the world would do so in safe and healthy working conditions and be treated with dignity and respect."

And I still don't know whether it's official Levi Strauss policy that all ®Levis have a rivet. I suspect that it is, since the rivets appear to have been one of the "patented" features; but it's impossible to tell from "official company sites" that I found whether any ®Levis, other the "®Levi Signature Brand" ones have any rivets.

John