blue jeans

Background

Blue jeans are casual pants made from denim, noted for their strength and comfort. They have been worn by sailors and California gold miners as sturdy work pants, by the young as a statement of their generation, and by the fashionable, who are conscious of the prestige conveyed by designer names.

Denim cloth itself has an unusual history. The name comes from serge de Nimes, or the serge of Nimes, France. Originally, it was strong material made from wool. By the 1700s, it was made from wool and cotton. Only later was it made solely from cotton. Originally, it was used to make sails, but eventually, some innovative Genovese sailors thought it fit that such fine, strong material would make great pants, or "genes."

The name for blue jeans was derived from the color of the fabric used to make them. Denim was treated with a blue dye obtained from the indigo plant. Indigo had been used as a dye since 2500 B.C. in such diverse places as Asia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Britain, and Peru. Blue jean manufacturers imported indigo from India until the twentieth century, when synthetic indigo was developed to replace the natural dye.

Blue jeans in the form we know them today didn't come about until the middle of the nineteenth century. Levi Strauss, an enterprising immigrant who happened to have a few bolts of blue denim cloth on hand, recognized a need for strong work pants in the mining communities of California. He first designed and marketed "Levi's" in 1850, and they have stayed essentially the same ever since; there have been only minor alterations to the original design.

Original Levi's did not contain rivets. A tailor by the name of Jacob Davis invented riveted pants at the request of a miner who complained that regular pants were not rugged enough to hold his mining tools. Davis subsequently granted Strauss the use of his rivet idea, which was patented on May 20, 1873. Few other changes were made over the next century. Zippers replaced button flies in 1920 (although later button flies had a resurgence of popularity) and in 1937 the rivets on the back pockets were moved inside in response to complaints from school boards that the jeans students wore were damaging chairs and from cowboys that their jeans were damaging their saddles. In the 1960s, they were removed entirely from the back pockets.

Blue jeans started becoming popular among young people in the 1950s. In the year 1957, 150 million pairs were sold worldwide. This growing trend continued until 1981 and jeans manufacturers were virtually guaranteed annual sales increases. In the United States, 200 million pairs of jeans were sold in 1967, 500 million in 1977, with a peak of 520 million in 1981. When jeans first caught on, apologists reasoned that their low price determined their huge success. During the 1970s, however, the price of blue jeans doubled, yet demand always exceeded supply. Sometimes manufacturers met the demand by providing stores with irregulars; that is, slightly defective merchandise that would not normally be sold.

Although the demand for jeans actually decreased in the 1980s, a brief surge occurred with the introduction of designer jeans to the market. Despite the apparent success of designer jeans, however, they did not capture the majority of the market; jeans have not returned to the height of popularity they achieved in the seventies. Manufacturers must therefore constantly seek ways to keep the demand for blue jeans high. Believing that the decrease in demand reflects the changing needs of an aging population, jeans manufacturers have begun to cater to the mature customer by providing roomier, more comfortable jeans. Sally Fox, an entomologist, has developed cottons that naturally come in beige, brown, and green. The Levi Strauss Company now markets multicolored jeans as well. The company hopes to ride the popular wave of environmentalism, even advertising their new product on recycled denim.

Although blue jeans have remained basically the same since they were first designed, they have always been versatile enough to meet market demands. Since futuristic, yet familiar, "Levi's" appeared in the movie Star Trek V, it can be surmised that manufacturers as well as the public, expect blue jeans to be around indefinitely.

Raw Materials

True blue jeans are made out of 100 percent cotton, including the threads. Polyester blends are available, however, the over-whelming majority of jeans sold are 100 percent cotton. The most common dye used is synthetic indigo. The belt loops, waistband, back panel, pockets, and leggings of a pair of blue jeans are all made of indigo-dyed denim. Other features of blue jeans include the zipper, buttons, rivets, and label. Rivets have been traditionally made of copper, but the zippers, snaps and buttons are usually steel. Designers' labels are often tags made out of cloth, leather, or plastic, while others are embroidered on with cotton thread.

The Manufacturing
Process

Denim, unlike many types of cloth (which are woven in one place and sent to another for dying), is woven and dyed at one location.

Preparing the cotton yarn

• There are several steps between ginned cotton (cotton after it has been picked from fields and processed) and cotton yarn. The incoming cotton is removed from tightly packed bales and inspected before undergoing a process known as carding. In this process, the cotton is put through machines that contain brushes with bent wire teeth. These brushes—called cards—clean, disentangle, straighten, and gather together the cotton fibers. At this point, the fibers are called slivers.
• Other machines join several slivers together, and these slivers are then pulled and twisted, which serves to make the threads stronger. Next, these ropes are put on spinning machines that further twist and stretch the fibers to form yarn.

Dyeing the yarn

• Some cloths are woven (see step 5 below) and then dyed, but denim is usually dyed with chemically synthesized indigo before being woven. Large balls of yarn, called ball warps, are dipped in the indigo mixture several times so that the dye covers the yarn in layers. (These many layers of indigo dye explain why blue jeans fade slightly with each washing.) Although the exact chemicals used in such dyeing procedures remain trade secrets, it is known that a small amount of sulfur is often used to stabilize the top or bottom layers of indigo dye.
• The dyed yarn is then slashed; that is, it is coated with sizing (any one of a variety of starchy substances) to make the threads stronger and stiffer. Once this operation is complete, the yarn threads are ready to woven with undyed filling yarn threads.

Weaving the yarn

• The yarn is then woven on large mechanical looms. Denim is not 100 percent blue, as the blue dyed threads forming the warp(long, vertical threads) are combined with white threads forming the weft (shorter, horizontal threads). Because denim is woven with the blue threads packed closer together than the white threads and with the blue threads covering three out of four white threads, the blue threads dominate. (By examining a piece of denim closely one can detect the steep diagonal pattern that results from this process, which is known as a three-by-one right-hand twill weave.) Although mechanized looms make use of the same basic weaving procedure as a simple hand loom, they are much larger and faster. A modern "shuttle-less" loom (which uses a very small carrier instead of the traditional shuttle to weave the weft threads between the warp threads) may produce as much as 3,279 yards (3,000 meters) of cloth 3.28 or 4.37 yards (three or four meters) wide in a single week. As much as 1,093 yards (1,000 meters) of cloth may be rolled into a single huge bolt.
• At this point the denim is ready for finishing, a term referring to a variety of treatments applied to cloth after it is woven. With denim, finishing is usually fairly simple. The cloth is brushed to remove loose threads and lint, and the denim is usually skewed in a way that will prevent it from twisting when it is made into clothing. The denim may then be sanforized, or preshrunk. Preshrunk denim should shrink no more than three percent after three washings.

Making the blue jeans

• Once the desired design is selected, patterns from the design are cut from heavy paper or cardboard. Up to 80 different sizes are possible from one pattern. The pieces of denim are then cut with high speed cutting machines from stacks 100 layers thick. Excluding rivets, buttons, and zippers, a pair of blue jeans contains about ten different pieces, from the pockets to the leg panels to the waistband and belt loops.
• The pieces of denim are ready to be sewn at this point. Sewing is done in an assembly line fashion, with rows of industrial human-operated sewing machines. Each sewer is assigned a specific function, such as making only back pockets. First, the various pockets and belt loops are assembled. Next, one sewer attaches the pockets to the leg seams, another then sews the leg seams together, and still another attaches the waist-band. Once the waist band is secure, the belt loops may be stitched on and the buttons attached. If the jeans include a zipper, it is then sewn into place, and the pants are hemmed. Finally, the rivets are placed in the appropriate places and the maker's label is sewn on last.
• Some jeans are prewashed and/or stone-washed to alter the appearance or texture of the finished jeans. Prewashing involves washing the jeans in industrial detergent for a short time to soften the denim. Stone-washing also means washing the jeans, but pumice is added to the load, resulting in a faded appearance. Small stones (less than one inch [one centimeter] in diameter) produce an even abrasion, while large stones (about four inches [10 centimeters] in diameter) highlight the seams and pockets and produce a more uneven appearance.
• The completed pair of blue jeans is I0 then pressed. They are placed into a large pressing machine that steam irons the entire garment at once in about a minute. A size tag is punched into the material and the jeans are folded, stacked, and placed in boxes according to style, color, and size before being sent to the warehouse for storage. When the jeans are selected to be sent to a store, they are put in large shipping cartons and sent on freight trains or trucks.

Byproducts/Waste

The process of cloth making involves treating the fabric with a number of chemicals in order to produce clothing with such desirable characteristics such as durability, colorfastness, and comfort. Each step of finishing the cotton fabric (dyeing, sanforizing, etc.) produces byproducts, most of which are biodegradable.

Byproducts of denim manufacture include organic pollutants, such as starch and dye, which can be treated through biological methods. These organic wastes may not be dumped into streams or lakes because of their high biochemical oxygen demand. To decompose, such waste materials utilize so much oxygen that the lifeforms in the body of water would be denied the oxygen necessary for survival.

Denim manufacturers process their own wastes in compliance with all relevant government regulations.

Quality Control

Cotton is a desirable natural fiber for several reasons. Cloth made from cotton is wear resistant, strong, flexible, and impermeable. Blue jeans are only as good as the cotton that goes into them, however, and several tests exist for cotton fiber. All bales of cotton are inspected by the denim manufacturer for the desired color, fiber length, and strength. Strength is the most important factor in blue jeans. It is measured by using a weight to pull it. When the fiber breaks, the force used to break it is measured. The cotton's strength index (weight of weight divided by weight of sample) is then calculated.

The finished denim cloth is carefully inspected for defects. Each defect is rated on a government-defined scale ranging from one point for very small flaws to four points for major defects. Although government regulations allow cloth with a high defect rating to be sold, in reality customers will not accept denim with more than seven to ten defect points per square meter. Poor cloth is sold as damaged. Denim is also tested for durability and its tendency to shrink. Samples of cloth are washed and dried several times to see how they wear.

Blue jeans are also inspected after they are completed. If a problem can be corrected, the jeans are sent back for re-sewing. The pair is then inspected again and passed. The buttons are inspected to ensure that they and the buttonholes are of the proper size; the snaps, metal buttons, and rivets are checked for durability and their ability to withstand rust. The zippers must be strong enough to with-stand the greater pressures of heavy cloth, and their teeth durability must be checked as well. This is done by subjecting a sample zipper to a lifetime of openings and closings.

Where To Learn More

Books

Cray, Ed. Levi's. Houghton Mifflin, 1978.

Fehr, Barbara. Yankee Denim Dandies. Piper Publishing, 1974.

Finlayson, lain. Denim. Simon and Schuster, 1990.

Henry, Sondra and Emily Taitz. Everyone Wears His Name: A Biography of Levi Strauss. Dillon Press, 1990.

Periodicals

Adkins, Jan. "The Evolution of Jeans: American History 501," Mother Earth News. July/August, 1990, pp. 60-63.

Brooks, John. "Annals of Business: A Friendly Product," The New Yorker. November 12, 1979, pp. 58-94.

[Article by: Rose Secrest]

The life of an ordinary citizen at the time of the American Revolution could involve extraordinary events--hunting and farming in the wilderness, whaling, fighting in the war, and in one case, being captured by the British and held in England for forty-eight years, then returning a forgotten hero. This last was the case for one Israel Potter, whose partly imagined biography was written in 1855 by Herman Melville, who makes this remark towards the end of the book: "For a time back, across the otherwise blue-jean career of Israel, Paul Jones flits and re-flits like a crimson thread. One more brief intermingling of it, and to the plain old homespun we return."

Melville's statement is evidence that bluejeans were recognized in those days as the everyday wear of everyday Americans. More evidence comes from the career of James Douglass Williams, governor of Indiana (1876-80). He was known as "Blue Jeans" Williams because he wore bluejeans to cultivate the rural vote.

More Americans now wear jeans (not always blue) on more occasions; women and men, rich and poor, in college classrooms and at parties, and to night clubs as well as to work. Designer jeans (1966) were a successful twentieth-century attempt to make jeans fashionable as well as down to earth, thus raising their humble prices.

Jeans themselves are not an American invention. The word jean dates at least from the 1560s, referring to cloth of Genoa, Italy, and by the 1840s in England we read of workers in stables wearing jeans. But the association of bluejeans with cowboys and miners, and the success of the San Francisco manufacturer Levi Straus & Co., has given bluejeans and jeans an American accent known around the world.

For other uses, see Jeans (disambiguation).

Denim jeans

Jeans are trousers made from denim. Mainly designed for work, they became popular among teenagers starting in the 1950s. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee and Wrangler.

Jeans are now a very popular form of casual dress around the world, and have been so for decades. They come in many styles and colors; however, "blue jeans" are particularly identified with American culture, especially the American Old West. The American population spent more than $14 billion on jeans in 2004.^[1]

Trousers made from corduroy or canvas are sometimes incorrectly called jeans. However, traditionally the word "jeans" referred exclusively to trousers made out of denim.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 History 1.1 Dyeing 1.2 Riveted jeans 2 In popular culture 3 Blue jean insulation 4 Fits 5 Quotes about jeans 6 See also 7 References 8 External links

History

The word "jeans" comes from the French phrase bleu de Gênes, literally the blue of Genoa. Jeans fabric, or denim, originated independently in two places: the French town of Nîmes, to which 'denim' owes its name; and in India, where trousers made of denim material were worn by the sailors of Dhunga, which came to be known as dungarees.^[2]

At the same time, denim trousers were made in Chieri, a town near Turin (Italy), during the Renaissance, and were popularised in the 19th century. These trousers were sold through the harbour of Genoa, which was the capital of the independent Republic of Genoa which was a naval power.

Early examples of trousers were made for the Genoese Navy, which required all-purpose pants for its sailors. They required pants that could be wet or dry, the legs of which could be worn while swabbing the deck. These were laundered by dragging them in nets behind the ship, and the sea water and sun would gradually bleach them to white. They were worn by Genoan sailors and stevedores in France.

Dyeing

Traditionally, jeans are dyed to a blue color using indigo dye. Approximately 20 million tons of indigo are produced annually for this purpose, though only a few grams of the dye are required for each pair of trousers.^[3]

Riveted jeans

A German-Jewish dry goods merchant Levi Strauss was selling blue jeans under the "Levi's" name to the mining communities of California in the 1850s. One of Strauss's customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co. wholesale house. After one of Davis's customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn pants, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the top of the button fly. Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they both go into business together. After Strauss accepted Davis's offer, the two men received U.S. Patent 139,121, for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings," on May 20, 1873.

In 1885 jeans could be purchased in the US for $1.50 (approximately $34 in 2007). Today, an equivalent pair of jeans can be purchased for around $50–80, but more stylish pairs can cost much more.^[4] Many brands of jeans are currently available for much less.

In popular culture

Copper rivets for reinforcing pockets are a characteristic feature of blue jeans.

The blue denim fabric of jeans

Initially, blue jeans were simply sturdy trousers worn by workers, especially in the factories during World War II. During this period, men's jeans had the zipper down the front, whereas women's jeans had the zipper down the right side. By the 1960s, both men's and women's jeans had the zipper down the front.

Jeans (known as dungarees by then), along with light-blue stenciled cambric shirts, became part of the official working uniform of the United States Navy in the 20th century prior to being replaced by the coveralls, utilities and, more recently, the blue and gray digital-camouflaged navy working uniform. The reason being was to prevent other more traditional uniforms from becoming soiled or torn in the ship's rugged working environment and thus leaving them for wear during ceremonial occasions. They were first issued in 1901, and were originally straight-legged but by the mid-20th century the trousers became Boot-cut style to permit ventilation in the ship's hotter working environments and also, supposedly, to serve as an improvised life-preserver by removing the jeans and tying the legs together.

The same type of uniform consisting of jeans and chambray tops was (and still is) issued as prison uniforms in some correctional facilities mainly because of the durability and low-maintenance of denim which was deemed suitable for the rugged manual labor carried-out by inmates. A popular example of the use of denim as prison wear can be seen in the film Cool Hand Luke.

After James Dean popularized them in the movie, Rebel Without a Cause, wearing blue jeans by teenagers and young adults became a symbol of youth rebellion during the 1950s. Because of this, they were sometimes banned in theaters, restaurants and schools.^[5]

During the 1960s the wearing of blue jeans became more acceptable. By the 1970s had become a general fashion in the United States, at least for informal wear.

During the 20th century, many men and women have started wearing jeans in the summer. However, many female teenagers usually wear jeans with tank tops and flip flops during the summer. It became a fad at the same time.

Notably, in the mid-1970s the denim and textiles industry was revolutionized by the introduction of the stone-washing technique by GWG (Great Western Garment Co.). Entrepreneur, importer, and noted eccentric Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta pioneered the method, which helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Denim suddenly became an attractive product for all age groups and Freeland became one of the most important innovators in the history of denim and denim products. Acceptance of jeans continued through the 1980s and 1990s to the point where jeans are now a wardrobe staple, with the average North American owning seven pairs^[6].

As imported American products, jeans were somewhat expensive, especially in the case of the Soviet Union which restricted hard currency imports. In Spain they are known as vaqueros ("cowboys") or tejanos ("Texans"), in Danish cowboybukser meaning "cowboy pants" and in Chinese niuzaiku (SC: 牛仔裤, TC: 牛仔褲), literally, "cowboy pants" (trousers), indicating their association with the American West, cowboy culture, and outdoors work. Similarly, the Hungarian name for jeans is "farmernadrág", meaning "farmer-trousers".

Jeans can be worn loosely or snugly. Historic photographs indicate that in the decades before they became a staple of fashion, jeans generally fit quite loosely, much like a pair of bib overalls without the bib. Indeed, until 1960, Levi Strauss denominated its flagship product "waist overalls" rather than "jeans".

Blue jean insulation

Recycled blue jean is becoming a popular insulation material (sometimes called Cotton Batt insulation) used in the construction of houses.^[where?] Due to its low relative synthetic chemical composition and because it is made of recycled materials, it is gaining prominence in green building circles. Like conventional insulation, it moderates heat transfer and reduces sound transfer between floors or rooms. Blue Jean insulation has an R-Value of 13 to 19 (for 3.5 and 5.5 inch batts, respectively) making it a preferable insulator to typical fiberglass batts even without taking into account the environmental considerations.^[7]

Fits

Fits of jeans are determined by current styles, sex, and by the manufacturer. Here are some of the fits produced for jeans:

• Ankle Jeans
• Baggy jeans
• Bell-bottoms/Flares/Boot-cut
• Boy cut
• Capris
• Carpenter jeans
• High waist cut
• Jorts (Jean shorts)
• Loose
• Low-rise jeans/Hip-huggers
• Overalls
• Phat pants
• Relaxed
• Sagging
• Shortalls
• Skinny
• Slim
• Straight

Jeans come in many styles and fits based on the manufacturer. The styles popular of young adults include yellow and white fades to look as if they have been worn down and been worked in and skinny jeans worn with flats or Sperry Top-Siders in in a wide range of colors from red and purple to more traditional black and various shades of blue. Some brands even sell vintage looks where the legs are pre-scratched and torn before use.

Rises in jeans (the distance from the crotch to the waistband) range from high-waisted to superlow-rise (Low rise can be called Low Riders). Jeans for men usually have a longer rise and zipper, whereas women have a shorter rise and zipper, although exceptions do exist and this is largely a function of current trends. In decades past, when high-waisted jeans were popular, it was often the women's that featured a longer rise. The sardonic term "Mom Jeans" has been applied to this now outdated high-waisted style, due to its frequently among middle aged women.

Quotes about jeans

"I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity - all I hope for in my clothes." – Yves Saint-Laurent

"I'm like every other woman: a closet full of clothes, but nothing to wear: So I wear jeans." - Cameron Diaz

See also

• Denim
• Designer jeans
• Jean skirt
• Jeans fetishism
• Mom jeans

References

1. ^ Sullivan, James. Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon. London: Gotham Books. pp. 238–239. ISBN 978-1592402144. OCLC 62697070. 
2. ^ "Chemistry of Blue Jeans: Indigo Synthesis and Dyeing". University of Sydney. http://firstyear.chem.usyd.edu.au/LabManual/E36.pdf. Retrieved 2009-02-25. 
3. ^ Elmar Steingruber “Indigo and Indigo Colorants” Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry 2004, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim. doi: 10.1002/14356007.a14_149.pub2
4. ^ Sullivan, James. Jeans: A Cultural History of an American Icon. London: Gotham Books. p. 3. ISBN 978-1592402144. OCLC 62697070. 
5. ^ Twenty-Something Yak.com
6. ^ Lifestyle Monitor 2007 Denim Issue
7. ^ Insulation Alternatives: Non-Fiberglass Batts

External links

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jeans

• How Jeans Are Made
• Collection of designer Jeans back pockets

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