Jeans
From The Fashion Dictionary
Jeans are pants/trousers that are made out of denim fabric. Traditionally, jeans were invented for blue-collar workers due to their strength and durability. The jean became a fashion staple in the 50’s when teenagers started wearing them. Jeans are now worn as a fashion and style statement and come in hundreds of different colors and styles.
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History
The jean fabric was invented in Cheri, which is a town near Turin, Italy. It was originally made for the Genoese Navy since they required all-purpose pants which could be worn either dry or damp and for the purpose of rolling the pants when water came on board. The jean was then first sold through the harbor of Genoa, which was the capital of an independent republic and a naval society.
The Origin of the Word Jean
Although the exact origin of the word jean is not clear, many believe that the word jeans came from bleu de Gênes, i.e., blue of Genoa. The raw material itself, the denim, came from the city of Nimes, France.
Riveted Jeans
It all started in 1850 when a German-Jewish dry goods merchant named Levis Strauss was selling blue jeans under the name "Levi's" to the mining communities of California. One of Strauss' best customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor who frequented the Levis Strauss & Co Wholesale house to purchase bolts of cloth. After a frequent customer of Davis' kept purchasing cloth to reinforce pants, he got the idea of using copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain like on the pocket corners as well as at the top of the button fly. Unfortunately, Davis did not have the financial means to pursue his idea so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they team up together on this idea. Strauss then accepted the offer and the two men received U.S. patent 139,121 for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings", on May 20, 1873. Levis and Davis quickly started on their business of selling the new and improved jean.
In 1885, the jean sold at $1.50 a pair. Today, a pair of jeans is around $50, with some jeans (especially designer brands) going all the way up to the thousands.
Jeans in Popular Culture
Traditionally, blue jeans were worn in the workplace, especially in factories during World War II. During that time, men's jeans had the zipper down the front and women's jeans had the zipper on the right side. By the 1960's both men's and women's jeans had the zipper down the front. In the 1950's, when jeans became socially popular, young adults and teenagers were wearing them as a sign of protest against the otherwise stern, conservative clothing of the 50s. Adults in that time were simply outraged and some public places, such as movie theaters and restaurants were restricting anyone who was wearing jeans to enter the building. In the 1960's, jeans became even more popular and by the 1970's, almost everyone owned a pair and thus the jean became a popular fashion staple. In the mid-1950's, the denim and textiles industry was revolutionized by the introduction of stone-washing technique by Great Western Garment Co. Entrepreneur Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta pioneered this method which in turn helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Thanks to Freeland, the jean became very popular, especially in Western culture, and he was one of the most important innovators in the history of denim. The average American owns about 7 pairs of jeans now.
Since jeans were imported from America, they were somewhat expensive over-seas, especially in the Soviet Union which restricted hard currency imports. In Spain, jeans are known as vaqueros or "cowboys" as well as in many other countries. This is due to the American influence cowboy culture, and outdoors work. For example, the Hungarians call the jeans "farmernadrág", meaning "farmer-trousers".
Jeans can be worn a number of ways, including loose-fitting or tight-fitting. In the beginning, the jean was worn more loosely and in the 1960's Levi Strauss denominated its flagship product "waist overalls" rather than "jeans".
Fits of Jeans
Jeans come in a big variety of styles and fits, including short-shorts jeans, skirt jeans and ankle jeans. Some of the more popular brands include Lee's, Levis, Urban Pipeline, Unionbay, NoBoundaries, and Wranglers. Young adults and teenagers usually prefer the "already-worn" look of the jean, which is to make the jeans look as if they have been worn down and been worked in. Some brands even sell vintage looks where the legs are pre-scrathed and torn before use. Also, some brands use the "painted look" method which is basically the dispersion of white paint on a faded pair of jeans, made to look like "you just painted".
The rise in jeans (the distance from the crotch to the waistband) range from high-waisted to superlow-rise. Men's jeans have a higher-rise and a higher zipper, whereas women's jeans have a shorter rise and zipper.
Here are the different types of jeans that can be found in today's society:
• Boot cut
• Boy cut
• Capris
• Levi’s
• Overalls
• Jorts (jean shorts)