HISTROY OF DENIM

HISTROY OF DENIM:

In fashion history, jeans and denim history continues to baffle. No one truly knows the perfect answer to where jeans began. As so often happens fashions often emerge together in various parts of the world and are the result of the sudden availability of a new fabric, cloth, dye or technique. But we do know that the phrase denim jeans are thought to derive from several sources. No one is totally certain where the words come from. A majority of source books suggest that denim derives from the English translation of the South of France French phrase 'serge de Nimes'. Denim fashion history is thus associated with Serge de Nimes. When talking about denim the name Levi´ s is one of the first to be mentioned. Levi´s which stands for Levi Strauss is normally called the forefather of jeans. When tracing back the history of these trousers to its origins it is true that Levi Strauss played an important role concerning their development and distribution but he had also other inventive business partners. Levi Strauss found out that the gold diggers´ hard work in the mines made their clothes get worn out very quickly and he produced stout working trousers out of the sail cloth he had taken with him which he called „half overalls“. When he continued producing these trousers he used cheap cotton fabrics coming from Genova. The name of the town of Genova was modified into „jeans” in the American slang. At the end of the sixties of the 19th century he replaced the brown sail cloth by an indigo-dyed, wear resistant cotton fabric coming from France. The name of this fabric was „Serge de Nimes“. Serge is the French. Expression for a combined twill and Nimes is the French town where the fabric comes from. The fabric´s name Serge de Nimes was quickly turned into ‘Denim’ in American colloquial language. By applying this indigo-dyed combined twill the first jeans out of Denim was almost born or better sewn. The application of metal rivets for jeans is due to the Polish emigrant Jacob W. Davis, also called AJacob Youphes. Although the working trousers out of Denim were stout they had a tendency to get worn out where the pockets were. Jacob Youphes mended the trousers with a needle and thread. One day a customer inspired him to repair the torn off pockets with the help ofrivets. Under the management of Levi Strauss the jeans were now produced in series. Since the trousers were so stout not only the gold diggers liked them but which is not surprising in America? The cowboys appreciated them very much, too. When the trousers were applied as working trousers for cowboys, however they got worn out at the crotch tip. This was no problem for Levi Strauss and Co. since they reinforced the trousers again with metal rivets at the crossing point of the four seams at the crotch tip. About 1947 denim made a break-away from work clothing image, chiefly in the area ofsports wear and rainwear and an occasional appearance in high fashion collections as a "different-looking" evening dress. In 1970 American youth adopted denim as their favorite fabric. Part of a "back to nature" movement that emphasized ecology and the natural denim being a fabric created from a natural fiber was a primary factor. Since 1960 the jeans business has undergone an explosive transformation, from a source of tough, cheap clothing for cowboys, blue-collar workers and penniless youth into a fashion conscious market for a widening mass of people of almost all ages.