Do you know someone who doesn’t own a pair of jeans? Probably not, right? More than 90% of people around the world now possess a pair of jeans. A wardrobe is incomplete without a pair of jeans. Nearly every other article of clothing can be worn with jeans, and the most well-known fashion designers have great influence in the evolution of jeans. Wearing jeans became to most normal clothing to wear, but it has not always been like that. More then 150 years ago, jeans didn’t even exist. It wasn’t until 1873 when jeans were invented and only around 1990 when jeans became general fashion.
Jeans were invented by Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss in San Francisco (1873). Levi Strauss, a German-boy, came to San Francisco in 1853 after he moved to the USA in 1851, where he lived for two years with his brother in New York. He wanted to start a West Coast branch of his brothers’ New York wholesale in San Francisco after he heard about the Gold Rush in the West. Strauss succeeded in creating a very successful business, where he sold, among other things, cotton cloth. One of his regular costumers was a tailor named Jacob Davis. Davis had a costumer who wanted a pair of pants for her husband, who was a gold miner, that could withstand hard work. He thought about a way to strengthen a pair of pants and came up with the idea to put metal rivets at the weakest points of pants, for example the base of the button fly and the corners of pockets. The metal rivets were made out of copper. Davis made the pair of pants from denim that he bought from Levi Strauss & Co.
Immediately after the riveted pants became a hit, Davis made the decision to file for a patent on the pants. However, he needed a business partner to assist in starting the project and he instantly thought of Levi Strauss. A brilliant businessman, as Levi Strauss was, saw the potential for Davis’ project. On the 20th of May in 1873 the two men obtained a U.S. patent for the process of applying rivets to men’s work pants and the blue jeans were born.
Now, that you know more about where jeans come from, you can find some more interesting facts about jeans in the next paragraphs.
1. There is a reason behind the recognisable orange stitch from the well-known brand ‘Levi’s’.
You can recognize a lot of Levi’s jeans by its orange stitch. However, did you know that the original purpose of this colour was to match with the copper rivets that they first used on jeans?
2. The first pair of jeans had the colour ‘Indigo’, because it concealed dirt the best.
As you could read in the paragraph about the history of jeans, jeans were originally produced for working people. At the time, people were looking for a pair of pants that could resist some damage. In addition to the metal rivets that Davis added, the ‘Indigo’ colour was also responsible for this.
3. The inventor of Jeans, Levi Strauss, never wore a pair of his own jeans.
Originally, jeans were made for people in the working class and not for people with a higher state. Levi Strauss was a successful and wealthy businessman, who belonged to anything but the working class.
4. American Soldiers, from the second world war were responsible for the popularity of jeans.
Even though the invention of jeans took place in 1873, it wasn’t until the end of the second world war that they became popular outside of the United States. This was because the American Soldiers wore jeans when they were off-duty.
Jeans have gone through a long evolution to become the jeans as we know them nowadays. From seeking gold in the West, to traveling with the American Soldiers to Europe and becoming the most well-known and widely used clothing all around the world. Next time, you put on a pair of jeans, you will be reminded of the adventurous journey of your jeans
08-02-23
Sources:
- http://www.historyofjeans.com/, History of jeans, 01-02-23
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeans, wikipedia, 01-02-23
- https://www.levistrauss.com/2019/07/04/the-history-of-denim/,Levis Strauss & Co, 02-02-23
- https://www.thefactshop.com/fashion-facts/denim-jeans-facts/, The Fact Shop, 08-02-23
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