All About Jeans
Jeans transcend age, economic and style barriers. Washes, embellishments, leg openings and labels fluctuate with fashion whims, but jeans themselves have reached iconic status.
After WWII, jeans evolved into rebel wear for teens and then for the hippies. The '70s saw an explosion of styles and fabric treatments; the '80s brought designer denim. Today, jeans are the stuff of high-end designer wear.
Know some more interesting fact about jeans –
- The oldest known pair of Levi's jeans were found in 1997 and were 100 years old.
- The first jeans came in two styles, indigo blue and brown cotton "duck".
- Denim is unique because it is woven with two yarn colors: the indigo yarn and the "filler" yarn, which is undyed (turn your jeans inside out and see the white inside for yourself!)
- Jeans were called "waist overalls" or just "overalls" until 1960 when Levi Strauss changed it to its popular name of "jeans."
- Rivets are used on jeans to make them stronger especially on pockets. In the beginning Levi Strauss & co. placed rivets on all pockets, front and back but people complained that rivets on the back pockets scratched saddles and chairs so at first they covered them and then removed them altogether from the back pockets.
- The first label ever to be attached to a piece of a garment was a red flag that was sewed next to the back pocket Levi Strauss’ jeans.
- Jeans were first colored with indigo because darker color better hides the dirt.
- In time when the jeans were worn by factory workers, jeans for men had zippers on the front but jeans for women had zippers on the side.
- A boutique in the New York East Village called “Limbo” was the first retailer to wash a new pair of jeans to get a used, worn effect. It became new fashion hit.
- 20 thousand tons of indigo are produced annually for purpose of dyeing of jeans.
- Name 'denim' comes from the name of a sturdy fabric called serge, originally made in Nîmes, France.
- From one bale of cotton 2-15 to 225 pairs of jeans can be made.
- Statistically, every American owns, on average, 7 pairs of blue jeans.
- For a birthday of blue jeans is considered May 20, 1873, a date when Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss and co. obtained patent for blue jeans.
- Blue jeans were banned at certain places like schools, theaters and restaurants in the ‘50s because they were seen as a form of rebellion against conformism.
- Over 50% of denim is produced in Asia, specifically China, India, and Bangladesh.
- To eliminate the shrinkage, most of the denim fabric is washed in water after coloring.
- Indigo that is used for coloring of denim for jeans is a very old color which was made from plants but now is synthetically made.
- Stretch denim is a type of denim that is used for skinny jeans. It is not made from the pure cotton but it has an elastic component such as elastane.
- Only a few grams of the indigo are required for coloring of each pair of blue jeans.
- Approximately 450 million pairs of jeans are sold in the United States every year.
- Blue jeans became popular for the first time outside of the United States, thanks to American Soldiers in World War II wore jeans when they were off-duty.