👖Denim: It’s in our jeans

Blue jeans are hands down the most universally beloved item of clothing ever created for gold miners. They began as rugged American workwear when tailor Jacob Davis added strength to the already tough fabric by securing it with rivets. Davis and his fabric supplier, Levi Strauss, obtained US patent [#139,121]( for the idea in 1873 and indeed found gold in them-thar mills. Denim style proved to be as adaptable and persistent as the fabric: Popularized by American Western films and dude-ranch vacations in the 1930s, it evolved from workwear to cowboy chic to the 1955 uniform of the “rebel without a cause.” In the 1960s, it was seen as revolutionary and became [quintessentially, globally fashionable](. Lest you fear that today’s [athleisure trend]( is ripping the seams out of denim—well, don’t. While [US imports of elastic knit pants]( now exceed those of blue jeans, [high fashion is driving a denim rebound.]( Denim is famously durable. 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Denim July 25, 2018 Singing the blues --------------------------------------------------------------- Blue jeans are hands down the most universally beloved item of clothing ever created for gold miners. They began as rugged American workwear when tailor Jacob Davis added strength to the already tough fabric by securing it with rivets. Davis and his fabric supplier, Levi Strauss, obtained US patent [#139,121]( for the idea in 1873 and indeed found gold in them-thar mills. Denim style proved to be as adaptable and persistent as the fabric: Popularized by American Western films and dude-ranch vacations in the 1930s, it evolved from workwear to cowboy chic to the 1955 uniform of the “rebel without a cause.” In the 1960s, it was seen as revolutionary and became [quintessentially, globally fashionable](. Lest you fear that today’s [athleisure trend]( is ripping the seams out of denim—well, don’t. While [US imports of elastic knit pants]( now exceed those of blue jeans, [high fashion is driving a denim rebound.]( Denim is famously durable. 🌐 [View this email on the web]( AP Photo/Sam Morris Quotable “If we were to use a human term to describe a textile we might say that denim is an honest fabric—substantial, forthright, and unpretentious.” — [American Fabrics magazine in 1962]( By the digits [$93 billion:]( Worldwide denim sales as of 2016, according to market research company NPD [$4.9 billion:]( Levi’s sales in 2017 [$7.1 billion:]( Levi’s annual sales at the height of its influence in 1996 [$35:]( Cost of a pair of Fashion Nova jeans, promoted by Kylie Jenner [$2,000:]( Cost of a pair of Momotaro jeans, the “hottest” cult Japanese selvedge jeans [$10,000:]( Cost of a pair of 1930s jeans at Berberjin in the Harajuku neighborhood of Tokyo, “the most important place for vintage jeans in the entire world.” [3,500:]( Liters of water consumed to produce a pair of jeans and wash them weekly for two years [200:]( Cost of a pair of jeans, in roubles, in 1970s Russia—more than one month’s salary [2.7 billion:]( Meters of denim fabric produced globally each year [3:]( Pairs of jeans you actually need, according to experts [7:]( Pairs of jeans the average American owns [0:]( What gets between model Brooke Shields and her Calvin Klein jeans, per the iconic 1980 ad Giphy Department of jargon How "waist overalls" became uniformly adored --------------------------------------------------------------- Fashion historians fiercely debate the origins of denim. The name appears to be derived from a serge fabric created in the city of Nîmes in southern France—hence “de Nîmes.” Serge de Nîmes, a combination of silk and wool, was sold in England in the 17th and 18th centuries; it was used for everything from furniture upholstery to clothing, and factories in the new United States produced the rugged material before Levi’s got into the clothing business. The word “jeans” is derived from a Genoese fabric that’s also not cotton and was more often used for tailored suits than rough workwear. But somehow, jeans and denim became conflated. The difference between denim and jean fabrics is in the production. Denim is made of one colored thread and a white thread interweaved, while jeans were woven of two threads of a single color. In the early days of the United States, both denim and jean fabrics were manufactured by local factories and soon came to be made of locally-grown cotton. Original Levi’s were made of rugged cotton denim and called “waist overalls.” The denim for the first waist overalls came from the Amoskeag Manufacturing Company in Manchester, New Hampshire. Although buyers inexplicably started calling Levi’s “jeans” in the 1950s, [it wasn’t until 1960]( that the company adopted the term “jeans” officially to describe what were once known as waist overalls made of denim. Charted 🐦 [Tweet this chart]( For all the love that America has for denim, the nation isn’t too great at stocking jeans that fit real women. [According to a Quartz analysis]( half of American women struggle to find jeans that fit at the mall. More specifically, only 13% of women’s jeans in brick and mortar stores are available for women of average size or larger. 👇 [Screen Shot 2018-07-25 at 10.31.33 AM] 🐦 [Tweet this chart]( Quotables I want to die with my bluejeans on. — [Andy Warhol]( I wish I had invented blue jeans. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity—all I hope for in my clothes. — [Yves Saint Laurent]( Giphy brief history [1655:]( An unknown artist, “the master of the blue jeans,” uses what [appears]( to be the eponymous Genoese fabric in multiple paintings. [1871:]( Jacob Davis (born Jacob Youphes in Riga, Latvia) sells his first pair of riveted pants for $3, about $62 today. [1879:]( The oldest jeans in the Levi’s archive are produced. [1885:]( Levi Strauss begins supplying San Quentin State Prison with clothing; denim becomes standard prison-wear over the next 70 years. [1901:]( US Navy regulations permit the “dungaree” denim work uniform. [1934:]( Lady Levi’s are introduced as the company pursues the dude-ranch craze. [1939:]( John Wayne wears Levi’s 501s in Stagecoach. [1944:]( Life causes a stir with a photograph of two Wellesley students in baggy jeans. “We will fight to the death for our right to wear dungarees on the proper occasions,” they respond. [1955:]( James Dean wears Lee jeans in Rebel Without a Cause—dip-dyed an even more vibrant shade of blue for Technicolor. [1975:]( Mohan Murjani teams with designer and socialite Gloria Vanderbilt to produce jeans for women, igniting the designer jeans trend. [1980:]( Big John makes selvedge denim in Japan for the first time. [1988:]( Anna Wintour’s first cover as editor of Vogue features blue jeans (because the model’s skirt didn’t fit). [2005:]( The Belarusian opposition adopts denim as its symbol. Million-dollar question Do you really have to wash your jeans? --------------------------------------------------------------- In 2014, Levi’s president and CEO Chip Bergh rocked the denim-wearing world—which is pretty much the whole world—with the admission that he [rarely washes his jeans](. Wearing denim that hadn’t seen the inside of a washing machine in a year, he advised Levi’s lovers to be conscious of water consumption by washing their jeans less often. But isn’t that dirty? Not really. In 2011, a microbiology student at the University of Alberta informally researched this—by wearing his jeans without washing them for 15 months. He found that the bacterial level of these jeans was not much different than a pair that had been worn for [just two weeks.]( Reuters/Mike Segar Pop quiz Which is not actual vocabulary of the denim obsessed? Stacking: The art of getting the extra fabric around your ankle to fade just soHoneycombs: What happens when you bend your knees in tight jeansDoor-knocker: Jeans that can stand upright and knock on doors themselvesWhiskers: The lines that form around the fly when you squat Correct. This is vintage lingo for the type of beard that looks like… well, a door-knocker. Incorrect. This is a real term. If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. [Click here for a denim-obsessed playlist]( Frickin' laser beams! Aging gracefully --------------------------------------------------------------- One of the physical and aesthetic appeals of denim clothing is how it ages. The fabric softens over time, and the indigo wears off of it, giving the owner’s jeans or jacket a unique pattern. And because there’s an appeal to it, manufacturers have long sought shortcuts. 👖Stone-washing [literally uses pumice]( to wear the denim down. 👖Acid-washed jeans are made [using chlorine](. 👖Sandblasting, which is [disappearing]( for worker-safety reasons, uses, well, sand that’s blasted through a hose. 👖Now, Levi’s is adopting a new technology: [Burning the denim with lasers]( which promises to reduce environmental effects while automating the process of applying over a thousand different finishes—many of which are sourced from real wear patterns. 👇 take me down this 🐰 hole! The best jeans are made in Japan --------------------------------------------------------------- Americans made blue jeans a worldwide phenomenon, but the Japanese have perfected denim. High-quality, naturally dyed, selvedge jeans are a specialty that’s been developed in Japan [since the 1960s](. Selvedge comes from “self-edge” and refers to the natural end of a roll of fabric that [prevents the material from unraveling](. It’s more expensive to produce and is woven on narrow, old shuttle looms that are increasingly rare and require special skills to use. These selvedge looms create a tighter, denser weave and charming imperfections now worth a pretty penny. Each pair of selvedge jeans has its own unique characteristics. In 2017, Cone Mills’ White Oak denim mill in Greensboro, North Carolina folded due to a lack of orders, after 112 years in business—and that was [the end of selvedge made in the US](. Items made from the plant’s last rolls of denim were snatched up for collectibles by high-end designers. But the once-American tradition persists in Japan, which is now known as home to the world’s highest-quality jeans. “Japanese denim labels are in a league of their own, managing to be simultaneously under the radar and cutting edge—with a cult following to match,” [according to Vogue](. In June, the Wall Street Journal declared Momotaro jeans the hottest of these cult favorites. The company was started in 2006, and [its slogan]( is “Made by hand without compromise.” The price is indeed uncompromising—a pair of selvedge jeans from Momotaro [costs $2,000](. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma Poll Can you ever have too much denim? [Click here to vote]( Impossible—there’s a right pair of jeans for every occasion.Maybe—once I find the perfect pair.Of course—if they never need a wash why take jeans off? The fine print In yesterday’s poll on how much you like [tiki bars]( 36% of you said “Don’t skimp on the umbrellas.” Today’s email was written by [Ephrat Livni]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Luiz Romero](