Emily Brown
Whether Mom, Boyfriend, Skinny or Wide, most people are familiar with jeans. Some even wear them every day, but do you know what the metal studs on them are for?
The studs can usually be found around jeans pockets, and resemble one half of a button. The only thing is, there's no other half in which to insert them.
You might have pondered the reason for their existence at one point or another, but over the years just got used to seeing them on each pair you pull on.
Advert
While the studs are a common feature of jeans nowadays, they were first introduced by American tailor Jacob Davis, who invented the riveting of trousers by hammering disks on to metal studs which pierced the fabric.
The look was adopted by Levi jeans in 1873, when Levi Strauss & Co. patented the design. Customers quickly got used to seeing the metal rivets poking through the jeans - so much so that now we barely even question it.
I say barely, because there is one Reddit user who did question it, taking to the platform to share a picture of the rivets and ask: "These are on all jeans. Do they serve a purpose, practical or otherwise? If not... Why are they there?"
Well, I'm here to tell you that they do serve a purpose. At least, they used to.
In the 1870s, workmen would wear jeans on the job but found that the corners of pockets would soon wear and tear.
In an effort to make the trousers last longer, Davis decided to make these vulnerable sections more robust by hammering the rivets into the spots where people found their jeans tearing most - namely, the corners of the pockets and the base of the zipper.
The stud on the zipper is less common nowadays, but the studs on pockets remain.
They're largely just used for decoration now as the wear and tear that came with the hard labour of the 1870s is less common, but it would probably be strange to see a pair without them now that we're so accustomed.
Though preventing rips is the reason the rivets were introduced, other people on Reddit have offered up a few purposes of their own, including "To punish you for taking your laundry out of the dryer too soon".
It might not be quite right, but to be fair, they're not wrong.