Denim

The History of Denim

http://historybuff.com/history-denim-1-v7grDY59DyZp

The true origins of denim are often debated but can be traced back to the late 1700s in Genoa, Italy, and Nimes, France. It’s thought that the name denim is derived from de Nimes, meaning from ‘from Nimes’, after weavers in Nime attempted to replicate a fabric originally developed in Gênes (the French word of jeans), but ended up with a different cotton twill. A twill we now know as denim. An accidental development in the French town of Nimes, so you can see where they got their names from! 

Jean then went on to become the working-man’s textile in Northern Italy, as depicted in many early 17th century works of art, as it was cheap and durable. Heavy cotton fabrics have always had a close relationship with, the other fabric of this type. Dungaree, yes dungaree, is another variation of this type of fabric and was born in a small dockside village called Dungri in Bombay, India, for the workers there. It was soon after exported to the UK for the working men in the factories. The British working men pronounced it Dungaree and they’ve been known as that ever since. 

Fast forward almost a century and we find ourselves in the brutal conditions of the early American West in the mid 1850s. The frenzy of the Great Californian Gold Rush was sweeping the states and one German immigrant, Levis Strauss, had arrived in New York to join his brother on a business venture who was selling dry goods. When Levis heard of the gold rush, he travelled across America to California where he set up his own branch of the brothers’ business and made good friends with a local tailor named Jacob Davis. 

Jacob Davis would buy this durable textile from Levi and turn them into overalls and working pants, inserting copper rivets at common rippage spots on the workers’ clothing, namely the pockets. 

Edwin Jeans are credited with pioneering the stone wash in the 1950s, an effect that made the denim appear already worn and dis-coloured. It has since gone up and down in popularity, but, in 2016, it’s on the rise again. Ten years later and the world of denim was introduced to pre-shrinking by the original innovators - Levi’s. It meant the jeans did not shrink after you had bought them, something we take for granted today.

Since then, the material has enjoyed an almost stratospheric rise in popularity. Iconic figures like John Wayne, James Dean and Marlon Brando all wore jeans, the latter two breathing a new life into jeans as the symbol of the youthful rebellion. Denim is now a staple in all of our wardrobes and some are even brave enough to rock the double denim look - one that should be tackled with caution.

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