Jeans

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A pair of jeans

Microscopic image of faded fabric

Jeans are a type of trousers made from denim or dungaree cloth. Often the term "jeans" refers to a particular style of trousers, called "blue jeans", with the addition of copper pocket rivets added by Jacob W. Davis in 1871<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and patented by Davis and Levi Strauss on May 20, 1873. Prior to the patent, the term "blue jeans" had been long in use for various garments (including trousers, overalls, and coats), constructed from blue-colored denim.<ref>See, e.g., The Richmond Enquirer (Richmond, VA) March 25, 1823, wherein a paid notice described the ready-made apparel stolen by a thief : FIFTY DOLLARS REWARD, FOR JEREMIAH, or as he is commonly called Jerry Hatcher, lately a convict of the Penitentiary, who on the night of February 17 last did break through my store and carry off a variety of goods, together with about $20 in change and some ready made clothing, and has made his escape. He is about 4 1/2 or 5 feet high, stout and very well made, with light hair, and I expect has on blue Jeans coatee and brown pantaloons, as he took such from me and has been seen with them on. I expect he is either in Richmond, Petersburg or Lynchburg. Any person who will apprehend said Hatcher and deliver him to me, will meet with my thanks, and the above reward. BRIGHTBERRY BROWN [,] Red Mills, Buckingham [County, Virginia], March 14.</ref>

Originally designed for miners, modern jeans were popularized as casual wear by Marlon Brando and James Dean in their 1950s films, particularly The Wild One and Rebel Without a Cause,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> leading to the fabric becoming a symbol of rebellion among teenagers, especially members of the greaser subculture. From the 1960s onwards, jeans became common among various youth subcultures and subsequently young members of the general population. Nowadays, they are one of the most popular types of trousers in Western culture. Historic brands include Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler.

History

Fabric

File:Manifattura genovese, abito da festa in tela di genova (jeans), 1850-1900 ca..JPG

A traditional women's Genoese dress in "blue jeans" (1890s). Palazzo Spinola di Pellicceria, Genoa, Italy.

Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, and Nîmes, France. Gênes, the French word for Genoa, might be the origin of the word "jeans". In Nîmes, weavers tried to reproduce jean fabric but instead developed a similar twill fabric that became known as denim, "de Nîmes", meaning "from Nîmes". Genoa's jeans fabric was a fustian textile of "medium quality and of reasonable cost", very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, and was "used for work clothes in general". The Genoese navy equipped its sailors with jeans, as they needed a fabric that could be worn wet or dry.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Nîmes's "denim" was coarser, considered higher quality, and was used "for over garments such as smocks or overalls".<ref name="Gruber_2010"/>Template:Rp In 1576, a quantity of "jean fustians" arrived into the port of Barnstaple on a vessel from Bristol.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Nearly all indigo, needed for dyeing, came from indigo bush plantations in India until the late 19th century. It was replaced by indigo synthesis methods developed in Germany.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

File:Closeup of copper rivet on jeans.jpg

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

By the 17th century, jean was a crucial textile for working-class people in Northern Italy. This is seen in a series of genre paintings from around the 17th century attributed to an artist now referred to as the Master of the Blue Jeans.<ref name="Gruber_2010"/>Template:Rp The ten paintings depict impoverished scenes with lower-class figures wearing a fabric that looks like denim. The fabric would have been Genoese jean, which was cheaper. Genre painting came to prominence in the late 16th century, and the non-nobility subject matter in all ten paintings places them among others that portray similar scenes.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Dungaree was mentioned for the first time in the 17th century, when it was referred to as cheap, coarse thick cotton cloth, often colored blue but sometimes white, worn by impoverished people in what was then a region of Bombay, India a dockside village called Dongri. This cloth was "dungri" in Hindi. Dungri was exported to England and used for manufacturing of cheap, robust working clothes. In English, the word "dungri" became pronounced as "dungaree".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Relevance inline

Rivets

Template:Multiple image The term jeans appears first in 1795, when a Swiss banker by the name Jean-Gabriel Eynard and his brother Jacques went to Genoa and both were soon heading a flourishing commercial concern. In 1800 Massena's troops entered the town and Jean-Gabriel was entrusted with their supply. In particular he furnished them with uniforms cut from blue cloth called "bleu de Genes" whence later derives the famous garment known worldwide as "blue jeans".<ref name="Sullivan_2006"/>

Levi Strauss, as a young man in 1851, went from Germany to New York to join his older brothers who ran a goods store. In 1853, he moved to San Francisco to open his own dry goods business. Jacob Davis was a tailor who often bought bolts of cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co. wholesale house. In 1872, Davis wrote to Strauss asking to partner with him to patent and sell clothing reinforced with rivets.<ref name="Downey_2007">Template:Cite web</ref> The copper rivets were to reinforce the points of stress, such as pocket corners and at the bottom of the button fly. Strauss accepted Davis's offer,<ref>Wagman-Gellar, Marlene (2010). Eureka!: The Surprising Stories Behind the Ideas That Shaped the World, Eureka #3 (1871) (unpaginated). Penguin Group (USA), Inc. Retrieved October 2, 2011.</ref> and the two men received US patent No. 139,121 for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings" on May 20, 1873.<ref>Template:US patent</ref>

File:Photo étiquette Levi's 501.jpg

The classic label for Levi 501 jeans

Davis and Strauss experimented with different fabrics. An early attempt was brown cotton duck, a bottom-weight fabric.Template:Efn Finding denim a more suitable material for work-pants, they began using it to manufacture their riveted pants. The denim used was produced by an American manufacturer. Popular legend incorrectly states that it was imported from Nîmes. A popular myth is that Strauss initially sold brown canvas pants to miners, later dyed them blue, turned to using denim, and only after Davis wrote to him, added rivets.<ref name="Downey_2007"/>

Initially, Strauss's jeans were simply sturdy trousers worn by factory workers, miners, farmers, and cattlemen throughout the North American West.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> During this period, men's jeans had the fly down the front, whereas women's jeans had the fly down the left side.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> When Levi Strauss & Co. patented the modern, mass-produced prototype in 1873, there were two pockets in the front and a patch pocket on the back right reinforced with copper rivets.<ref name="Sullivan_2006"/> The small riveted watch pocket was first added by Levi Strauss to their jeans in the late 1870s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

20th century evolution

In 1901, Levi Strauss added the back left pocket to their 501 model.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> This created the now familiar and industry-standard five-pocket configuration with two large pockets and small watch pocket in front with two pockets on the rear.

The popularity of "waist overalls", as jeans were sometimes called, expanded during World War II.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> By the 1960s, both men's and women's jeans had the zipper down the front. 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 called its flagship product "waist overalls" rather than "jeans".

After James Dean popularized them in the movie Rebel Without a Cause, wearing jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion during the 1950s.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Schober, Anna (2001). Blue Jeans. Vom Leben in Stoffen und Bildern. Frankfurt/ New York: Campus.</ref> During the 1960s, the wearing of jeans became more acceptable, and by the 1970s it had become general fashion in the United States for casual wear.<ref name="Smith_2003">Template:Cite book</ref> In Japan in 1977, a professor of Osaka University Philip Karl Pehda chastised a female student wearing jeans in the classroom. Then he was protested by the students, and a controversy arose in the country.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Examples of intentional denim distressing strictly to make them more fashionable can be seen as early as 1935 in Vogue's June issue.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Michael Belluomo, editor of Sportswear International Magazine, Oct/Nov 1987, p. 45, wrote that in 1965, Limbo, a boutique in the New York East Village, was "the first retailer to wash a new pair of jeans to get a used, worn effect, and the idea became a hit." He continued, "[Limbo] hired East Village artists to embellish the jeans with patches, decals, and other touches, and sold them for $200." In the early 1980s the denim industry introduced the stone-washing technique developed by GWG also known as "Great Western Garment Co." Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta, pioneered the method,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Acceptance of jeans continued through the 1980s and 1990s. Originally a utilitarian garment, jeans became a common fashion choice in the second half of the 20th century.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In the early 21st century, Details Men's Style Manual devoted a chapter to jeans, saying, "Now that jeans have become more acceptable cocktail-hour attire, you should probably own more than one pair." Calling Levi's 501s "an icon from the moment they were introduced," and "the quintessential pair of jeans," the guidebook calls the standard straight leg design, "a classic clean-cut American Graffiti look."<ref>Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref>

Manufacturing processes

Dyeing

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File:Indigo skeletal.svg

Chemical structure of indigo dye, the blue of blue jeans

Traditionally,Template:Vague jeans were dyed to a blue color using natural indigo dye. Most denim is now dyed using synthetic indigo. Approximately 20 thousand tons of indigo are produced annually for this purpose, though only a few grams of the dye are required for each pair.<ref name="Steingruber_2004">Template:Cite book</ref> For other colors of denim other dyes must be used. Currently, jeans are produced in any color that can be achieved with cotton.

For more information on dyeing, refer to denim and the discussion there of using pigment dyes.

Pre-shrinking

File:Group at Piazza del Popolo, Rome.jpg

Crowd of people wearing a variety of jean styles, including carpenter jeans, bootcut jeans, drainpipe jeans and lowrise jeans (Rome, 2008)

In 1962, Levi Strauss introduced their own pre-shrunk jeans (Lee and Wrangler jeans had already long been pre-shrunk); these did not shrink further after purchase, allowing the consumer to purchase a correctly fitting size. Pre-shrink is common in jeans nowadays.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> These jeans were known as the 505 regular fit jeans. The 505s are almost identical to the 501s with the exception of the button-fly. The Levi's Corporation also introduced a slim boot-cut fit known as 517 and 527. The difference between the two is that the 517s sit at the waist line and the 527s sit below the waist line. Later, Levi's would develop other styles and fits such as the loose, slim, comfort, relaxed, skinny, and a regular fit with a tapered leg.

Used and distressed looks

File:Reagan with horse.jpg

Ronald Reagan wearing stonewash denim associated with Western clothing, 1970s

A significant amount of the aesthetic treatment of jeans may occur after the denim has been cut and sewn into the final garment. Many denim articles are washed to make them softer and to reduce or minimize shrinkage even beyond what sanforization prevents. Significantly washed denim can resemble dry denim which has faded naturally over extended use. Such distressing may be supplemented by chemical treatments or physical techniques such as stone washing.

The used or "acid wash" look is created by means of abrading the jeans or treating them with chemicals, such as acryl resin, phenol, a hypochlorite, potassium permanganate, caustic soda, acids etc.<ref>Der Preis der Bluejeans documentary by Studio Hamburg 2012</ref>

Ripping or distressing of jeans, though also arising naturally as a result of wear and tear, is sometimes deliberately performed by suppliers—with distressed clothing sometimes selling for more than a nondistressed pair. For example, Pucci sold "embellished mid-rise boyfriend jeans" for £600 (US$860).<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Changes in appearance due to use

Over time dry denim will fade, which is considered fashionable in some circumstances. During the process of wear, fading will usually occur on those parts of the article that receive the most stress. On a pair of jeans, this includes the upper thighs, the ankles, and the areas behind the knees. Patterns of fading in jeans caused by prolonged periods of wear include:

honeycombs – meshes of faded line-segments that form behind the knees
whiskers – faded streaks that form radially from the crotch area
stacks – irregular bands of fading above the ankle caused by accordioning of the fabric due to contact with the foot or shoe<ref name="Shapira2016"/>
train tracks – fading along the out-seams due to abrasion<ref name="Shapira2016">Template:Cite web</ref>

Denim fibers from an old pair of jeans through a microscope

Denim fibers from an old pair of jeans through a microscope
File:Full Count Denim Fade.jpg

Natural fading on a worn pair of selvedge jeans. Such patterns are sometimes referred to as 'whiskers' or 'honeycombs'.

Distressed jeans

File:Recording artist Leigh Jones entertained troops at Fort Belvoir 090501 (4920457551).jpg

Ripped jeans were worn by singer Leigh Jones in this promotional photo.

Distressed denim emerged from the cultural punk movement in the 1970s. Early punks tore apart consumer goods as an expression of their anger towards capitalism and corporate greed.

Punks used safety pins in garments to encourage the youth to not buy endless, meaningless fashion, and thus fund corporations. Clothes manufacturers gentrified the notion by selling clothes with safety pins already in them, so the original meaning of punk was lost. <ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Denim became a key target of this politically fueled deconstruction, with both men and women donning torn pants and jackets, accessorized with safety pins and slogans.

The trend became popular again in the 1990s with the emergence of grunge fashion. The grunge youth wore loose-fitting ripped jeans, flannel shirts or woolen Pendletons layered over T-shirts. Their anti-conformist approach to fashion led to the popularization of the casual chic look, a trend which continued into the 2000s.

Environmental and humanitarian impact

A typical pair of blue jeans uses Template:Convert of water during its life cycle. This includes the water to irrigate the cotton crop, manufacture the jeans, and the numerous washes by the consumer.<ref name="Kaufman_2011">Template:Cite news</ref> Template:AnchorDuring production, the typical amount for washing with traditional Pullman machines reaches 90 litres per jeans, which can be reduced to about 27 litres using modern frontloaders.<ref name="Klink_2022">Template:Cite web</ref> Novel washing processes such as Droptima can reduce that to 6 litres fresh water plus 4 litres used water.<ref name="Klink_2022"/><ref name="IKU_2022">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ISI_2022">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Dontscheff_2022">Template:Cite web</ref>

The production of jeans with a "used look" can be more environmentally damaging than regular jeans, depending on how the waste compounds are processed. Sandblasting and treating with sandpaper has the risk of causing silicosis to the workers, and in Turkey, more than 5,000 textile workers have been stricken with this disease, and 46 people are known to have died. Some companies have announced they are banning the use of sandblasting.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Care and wear

Despite most jeans being "pre-shrunk", they are still sensitive to slight further shrinkage and loss of color from being washed. The Levi Strauss company recommends avoiding washing jeans as much as possible.<ref name="Wash My Jeans? Hardly">Template:Cite news</ref> These and other suggestions to avoid washing jeans where possible have encountered criticism. Cory Warren, editor of LS&Co. Unzipped, clarifies in a response to such a criticism:

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For those who prefer to refrain from washing their jeans there have been suggestions to freeze them in order to kill the germs that cause odor. However, this advice has been proven ineffective.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Legal cases

Italian rape trial

In Rome, Italy, in 1992, a 45-year-old driving instructor was accused of rape. When he picked up an 18-year-old girl for her first driving lesson, he allegedly raped her for an hour, then told her that if she was to tell anyone he would kill her. Later that night she told her parents and her parents agreed to help her press charges. While the alleged rapist was convicted and sentenced, the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation overturned the conviction in 1998 because the victim wore tight jeans. It was argued that she must have necessarily had to help her attacker remove her jeans, thus making the act consensual ("because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them... and by removing the jeans... it was no longer rape but consensual sex"). The court stated in its decision "it is a fact of common experience that it is nearly impossible to slip off tight jeans even partly without the active collaboration of the person who is wearing them."<ref name="Faedi_2009">Template:Cite journal Template:Cite journal</ref>

The ruling sparked widespread feminist protest. The day after the decision, women in the Italian Parliament protested by wearing jeans and holding placards that read "Jeans: An Alibi for Rape". As a sign of support, the California Senate and the California Assembly followed suit. Patricia Giggans, the executive director of the Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women (now Peace Over Violence) soon made Denim Day an annual event. Template:As of at least 20 U.S. states officially recognize Denim Day in April. Wearing jeans on that day has become an international symbol of protest against such attitudes about sexual assault. In 2008 the Supreme Court of Cassation overturned the ruling, so there is no longer a "denim" defense to the charge of rape.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Faedi_2009"/>

Rokotov-Faibishenko case

Template:Main In 1957, during the 6th World Festival of Youth and Students held in Moscow, Soviet Union (present-day Russia), Western-made jeans were first introduced to the communist state and sparked "jeans fever" at the time. People preferred to wear Western-made blue jeans rather than local-made black ones. In Soviet ideology, such an action challenged communist-made jeans and symbolized Western victory. In 1961, two ringleaders, Y. T. Rokotov and V. P. Faibishenko, were caught with their group for smuggling currencies from other countries along with blue jeans and other contraband. Under the leadership of Nikita Khrushchev, the duo were executed.

Trends

Worldwide market for jeans

North America accounts for 39% of global purchases for jeans, followed by Western Europe at 20%, Japan and Korea at 10% and the rest of the world at 31%.<ref name="worldwide denim market report">Template:Cite web</ref>

United States consumers spent more than US$14 billion on jeans in 2004 and US$15 billion in 2005.<ref name="Sullivan_2006">Template:Cite book</ref> US consumers bought US$13.8 billion of men's and women's jeans in the year that ended April 30, 2011 (~$Template:Format price in Template:Inflation/year), according to market-research firm NPD Group.<ref name="WSJ">Template:Cite news</ref>

Soviet Union

Template:Expand section In the Soviet Union, jeans were the symbol of the Western way of life.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The "jeans fever" in the USSR started in 1957 during the World Festival of Youth and Students.<ref name="rua"/> According to a 1961 Soviet textile dictionary, jeans were initially referred to as a "worker's uniform" (рабочий костюм, rabochii kostyum).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

The jeans brand Rokotov and Fainberg is named after the defendants in the Rokotov–Faibishenko case, Yan T. Rokotov and Vladislav P. Faibishenko, who were executed for, among other things, trafficking in jeans.<ref name="rua">Rudevich, Alexei. Worth going to prison for: Getting hold of jeans in the USSR Template:Webarchive. Russia Beyond the Headlines, September 16, 2014. Accessed on November 16, 2014.</ref>

Although not outright banned, jeans were hard to come by in the Soviet Union since they were seen as a symbol of rebellion by the Soviet youth, who wanted to emulate the style of film and rock stars of the West. The Soviet government resisted supplying the market with jeans as it would mean responding to the market, a capitalist principle.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> People went to great lengths, sometimes by resorting to violence and other illegal activities, to obtain real Western-made jeans. That led to the creation of black markets and to the bootlegging of jeans, which since has become an important cultural element of the history of the Soviet Union.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Market-share shift to activewear

In 2014, teens were buying more fashion and athleisure clothing from brands such as Nike and Lululemon over denim classics from brands like Abercrombie & Fitch.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Activewear in 2014 comprised 28% of teens' apparel purchases, up from 6% in 2008. In 2014, Nike, Lululemon, Under Armour, and Adidas were the most popular brands for athletic apparel among teen consumers. Fashion retailers have begun to adjust their offerings accordingly. Bloomberg reports that Levi's stuck to its core product (denim) instead of adapting to consumer trends. As a result, Levi's sales decreased from over US$7 billion to US$4.8 billion in 2015.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2021, it was found that sales for athleisure had risen by 84% since March 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 lockdowns.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Variations on the basic type

Cigarette: Designed to fit quite closely, but not tightly, to the thigh area, with a less close fit to the calf<ref name="Adhav_2020"/>
Cropped: Where the leg is cut to a lesser length, to somewhere above the ankle<ref name="Adhav_2020"/>
Relaxed<ref name="Adhav_2020"/>
Skinny: Worn to flatter the figure in the fashion of tight or close fitting<ref name="Adhav_2020"/>
Wide-leg; or with cropped variant: The waist line rides up past the wearer's actual waist, material below the knee is altogether away from the leg and descends as a straight line, standard type descends down to the ankle; cropped variant: the leg ceases at the lower leg mid-way down (or stops further down toward the ankle)<ref name="Adhav_2020"/>
Mom/Mum: Jeans which have a high waist (above the belly button), and are loose around the thighs, with a somewhat tapered fit.<ref name="published">Template:Cite web</ref>
Straight-leg: Jeans which are the same width at the leg opening as they are at the bottom of the leg, making for a slightly baggy fit.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Boyfriend: Often with a mid-low waist, boyfriend jeans have a baggy, "borrowed from the boys" fit.<ref name="published"/>
Flared, or bell-bottomed: Often fitted around the thigh area, then become wider from the knee down.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
High-waisted jeans were first popularized in the 1970s, but they have seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years. High-waisted jeans are characterized by a high rise that sits above the belly button. They can be fitted, relaxed, or loose-fitting, and they come in a variety of washes and colors.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Low-rise jeans

Media reported in 2017 that the trend of low-rise jeans, famous in the 1990s and 2000s, was coming back into fashion due to a sparked by an interest in Y2K style.

In the early 2000s, low-rise jeans were commonly seen on celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera, attributing to the Y2K style. In 2021, online searches for 'y2k fashion' had risen by 193%,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> showing that the fashion style was making a comeback, and low-rise jeans were becoming a common clothing item for teenagers and young adults.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Low-rise jeans usually come Template:Convert or more below the navel.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Manufactured low-rise jeans have a shorter rise (distance between the waistband and crotch seam). The low-rise look can also be accomplished by letting jeans with longer rises fall lower than they are meant to. This is a less extreme version of sagging, which was popularized by male hip-hop artists in the 1990s.