Decades

of

Denim

1800’s

• 1873 Levi Stauss and Jacob Davis obtain a patent for making durable jeans for workwear with quality denim and rivet reinforcements.

• The first blue jean was created, Levi's® 501® Originals.

1910’s

• The San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed the Levi HQ

• Men's trousers were worn cuffed to ankle-length and creased

• Skirts rose from floor length to well above the ankle

• Blue Bell (later Wrangler) established 1904

• Lee Mercantile established 1911

• 1918 Levi released the women’s “Freedom-All”. It was a one-piece garment for work or recreation

1920’s

• Jeans were worn as workwear among cowboys, laborers, railroad workers, lumberjacks, and coal miners

1930’s

• Wild, Wild, West

• Hollywood romanticizes blue jeans

• Levi's® became the first item of clothing to have a designer label (its signature red tab) on the outside

• Vogue gives their seal of approval by featuring their first model in denim on their cover. They called it “Western Chic”

• 1934 Lady Levi’s® jeans are introduced, the first jean for women.

• Levi’s jeans were being introduced to the East during the ‘dude ranch’ craze of the 30s, when vacationing Easterners returned home with tales of the badass pants.

1940’s

• Jumpsuits and pinafore style pants were in

• Jeans become stylish, not sure practical

• Women’s pants design become more feminine, more tapered leg, darts in the waist

• Long trousers with a rolled up the hem and vertical crease at the front put some shape into the leg

• Blue jeans were worn with button-down shirts, peasant tops, or sweater tops

• 1948 Blue Bell becomes Wrangler

1950’s

• Jeans become cool

• Insert Marlon Brando and James Dean sex appeal

• Insert rock n’ roll participation

• 1952 Marilyn Monroe wore jeans in “River of No Return” making them a staple for women

• Cuffed, boxy styles

• A symbol of rebellion associated with the anti-establishment youth. some school boards that banned students from wearing jeans

1960’s

• Baby boomers adopted the name “jeans”, replacing “waist overalls” and “overalls”

• Jeans symbolized counter-culture. Some high schools banned the garment, which only served to further enhance its status

• a Denim Council sprang up to persuade adults that jeans were “right for school”

1970’s

• Insert high fashion. 

• 1976 Calvin Klein showed blue jeans on the runway — the first designer to do so. 

• Fiorucci’s Buffalo 70 jeans were skin-tight, dark, expensive and hard to purchase – the exact opposite of the faded bell-bottoms preferred by the younger crowd. Big hit with the Studio 54 jet set.

• 1979 Gloria Vanderbilt introduced her hit jeans.

• General fashion in the United States for casual wear.

1980’s

1990’s

2000’s

2010’s

Yea, say it out loud one more time.

2020’s

• The 90’s are back.

• In: denim skirts, denim on denim, denim accessories, hip huggers, mom jeans.

• Increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of denim and the fashion industry.

HISTORY

Denim from Nîmes

The word denim derives from the sturdy fabric serge de Nîmes. Some say it’s an English colloquialism of the French term “de nim.”

Attempts to reproduce a fabric previously manufactured in Genoa, Italy led to Serge de Nîmes. Serge was a blend of wool and cotton. Shipbuilders and merchants used it for sails and to protect their goods in the 1500’s. Big hit with the Navy.

At the end of the 17th century, Nîmes, France was economically booming thanks to its textile industry, which specialized in silk. Denim began as a twill weave fabric, originally a mixture of wool and silk, which were both plentiful in the Cévennes Mountains, just north of Genoa.

Jean from Genoa

Genoa, Italy manufactured cotton corduroy, called either jean or jeane. The fabric jean shows up as early as the 15th century. In the 1800’s, the word “jean” referenced the fabric used for trousers. Serge was popular among sailors and the working class and was used to make trousers, over coats, long dresses, etc.

In the 16th century, denim and jean were being exported from France and Italy, respectively, at roughly the same time.

Blue from INDIA

Jean was dyed blue for the first time in 1538 by the Italian artist Teramo Piaggio. He used indigo traded with India.

Indigo dye is a color used for coloring the denim. It is an organic dye with a distinctive blue color. It’s been manufactured and used in India since the ancient times.

jeans from america

These materials were exported under the name ’blue de Gênes’ to the San Francisco Bay in the 1800’s. Levi Strauss had owned a local wholesale dry goods business for 20 years and got his hands on the materials.

A local tailor and customer of Strauss’s, Jacob Davis, used the denim he purchased from Strauss and came up with the idea to put metal rivets at each point of strain. He wanted to patent the process and needed financial assistance to do so. He wrote Levi and suggested they hold the patent together. They obtained patent number 139,121 on May 20, 1873. That year they made the first pair of riveted ‘waist overalls’ – what people used to call jeans. Their jeans became staple workwear and had one back pocket with the Arcuate stitching design, a watch pocket, a cinch, suspender buttons and a rivet in the crotch.

They made design improvements over the decade but once their patent expired in 1890 other manufacturers were free to reproduce any styles. (OshKosh B’Gosh 1895, Blue Bell (later Wrangler in 1948) 1904, Lee Mercantile 1911)

By the 19th century, the fabric evolved to 100% cotton. The strength and durability after several washes made blue jeans revolutionary.

By the 20th century, “jean” was the term for a wide range of cotton or denim informal trousers.

Social, political, and pop culture have all played a role in denim's evolution, and the trends that have come and gone.