Do you know that Levi Strauss, the creator of the famous brand Levi’s, never wore a pair of his own jeans. Denim and jeans words have become popular for him. He was a wealthy businessman and jeans were made for the poorer people! Among textile, denim is one of the widely used fabrics all over the world. How? Well! We all wear jeans pant right? That product is made from denim fabric. So, denim is one kind of fabric. Jeans is an end product. There are various uses of denim fabric but manufacturing jeans pant is the most important sector. Hopefully that now we can easily say that all jeans are denim but not all denims are jeans.
Nowadays this denim pant is most popular among all aged man and women all over the world. Because of it’s fashionable outlooks with cheap price.
There is a cinematic historical background of denim. In this article you will have a clear idea about the background of your own jeans pant!
Cinematic history of denim pants:
- There is a debate about the true origin of denim.
- It is believed that denim was first invented in Genoa, Italy as far back as the 1500s. First denim trousers were made by them. It was made for the Italian navy to wear while on duty.
- Someone said it’s came from China in 17th century. In China denim fabric is used by the coal mine workers.
- Denim has a controversy about its name too!
- Most of the authors they said in their books that the word Denim took from French term “Serge de Nimes” and then it converted to English!
- Before the end of the 17th century the term “Serge de Nimes” also used in England.
- As “Serge de Nimes” was made by silk and wool there was a conflict between “Serge de Nimes” and denim because Denim has always made by cotton.
- A cloth named hickory cloth was manufactured by traditional American cotton textile in 18th century. That cloth was used by railway staffs
- In the year of 1853s when the Gold rush was going on that time Denim became popular in the united states.
- Before 1950s jeans were known by the name of “overall”.
- The word jeans come from the word Genes, which is the French word for the city of Genoa.
- The first ‘jeans’ were worn by cowboys of the infamous westerns of the 1930s.
Some amazing facts of Denim and Jeans:
- Denim jeans become popular all over the world by US soldiers who wore them when they were off duty during world war ii
- 29th April is celebrated as Denim day. It was started in the 1990 in Italy because to raise awareness of rape and sexual assault.
- Making of one pair of Levi’s requires 37 separate sewing operations.
- First jeans was known by “overall”
- Coal miners worn denim because prevention of regular washing of clothes.
- Gold Rush workers used it for extra pockets.
- Each person in America owns an average of 7 pairs of jeans.
- Around 7.5 billion feet of denim fabric is produced every single year.
- Thousands of denim items are manufactured in sweatshops in third-world countries, even though most denim garments are worn by people in the Western world!
- Over 50% of denim produced in Asia, specifically China, India, and Bangladesh.
- The small pocket in the larger pocket of your jeans was originally designed for a pocket watch. Nowadays you can put your coins there safely!
- A good pair of denim doesn’t really need to be washed regularly! Researchers tested several pairs of jeans and found that they had as much bacteria on them after two weeks without washing as they did 15 months after washing! What a great way to save money on laundry detergent.
In 1969 a writer for American Fabrics magazine declared, “Denim is one of the world’s oldest fabrics, yet it remains eternally young.”
In sense of popularity denim is the unbeatable one from his origin time to recent days! Denim makes our lives easier by making us comfortable. Day by day its popularity growing with unbroken history! It’s amazing thing that we only not wear a denim pant but also we wear a historical background of our Clothing sense!
I hope, you will never ever look at your jeans the same way again like you did before reading this article!
References:
- https://textilelearner.net
- www.thefactshop.com/
- www.historyofjeans.com/
- HISSYFIT Youtube channel
- www.masterclass.com
- www.levistrauss.com
- www.cleverly.me
- https://en.wikipedia.org/
Author of this Article:
Asif Hasan Mim
Daffodil International University
Department of Textile Engineering
E-mail: asifhasanmim16@gmail.com
