Jeans: A History

Introduction

The desire for durable trousers that would uphold under the hot California sun produced the need of Jeans. Levi Strauss, who will be discussed more in the following, became the first wholesaler with regard to the pants, and since then jeans have been a cultural icon that have evolved over decades.

Levi Strauss

Levi Strauss moved to North America from Germany in 1847. His family had set up a dry goods business in New York. During the Gold Rush Levi moved out west to San Francisco and opened up an extension of the business. He would sell goods such as canvas for tents and wagon covers. The business was very successful and in 1863 Levi changed the name of his business to Levi Strauss and Co. Years later in 1872 a tailor from Nevada, Jacob Davis, sent a letter to Strauss looking for a business partner. Davis wrote about how he had been selling out of his reinforced pants, which had metal rivets strategically placed at stress points. Strauss liked the idea and the two men obtained a patent for the “waist overalls” on May 20, 1873. No one knows the exact origin of the waste overalls, however, it is clear that the conception of overalls was known during the 18th century, as they were mentioned in the "Journals of Continental Congress in 1776: 'A suit of cloaths [sic] shall be annually given each of said officers and soldiers, to consist...of two linen hunting shirts, two pair of overalls..." . With the populatrity of their products increasing the partners soon had a factory in San Francisco and the best selling pants were the XX jeans. Years later the XX jeans changed names to Levis 501, which is still used today. Levi was involved in several other business ventures, as well he was very involved with the Jewish community and many charities. Sometime in the late 19th century Levi brought his four nephews into the company and they became very involved with the business operations. In 1902 the company lost its founder Levi Strauss who left behind an estate of around six million dollars. The devastating earthquake of 1906 destroyed many buildings in San Francisco including the Strauss and Co. factory along with the business records up to this time, as such most of the business record up until this time were destroyed. Soon after Levi’s nephews rebuilt the facilities and continued running the company.

Denim-A Starting Point

To first understand Levi Strauss and his company it is important to recognize how and why the fabric denim was used. Before denim was being produced in America, the British in the 17th century were producing Denim and Jean on a large scale. Denim in the 17th century was referred to ‘Serge de Nimes’, after the town of Nimes, France where it was produced. Serge de Nimes was a cotton and wool blend (denim later was produced in all cotton for comfort) and was very desirable and more expensive than other existing fabrics. Though there is much deliberation amongst historian’s whether the British were importing the precious fabric from France or recreating it themselves and using the name to give it a fancy spin. To complicate things even more there was another material Serge de Nim which also could have been used or influenced the creation of denim we know as today. These questions and many more we will never know.

As the popularity of the material began to grow in Britain because of its strength and durability, it was a matter of time before it was being manufactured in North America independently. It was here were Levi Strauss took his business knowledge and this great opportunity to use denim as a fabric for work wear to create his business.

So why do we call denim pants, jeans? This point is discussed by Levi historian Lynn Downey and can be described in two contrasting arguments. The first argument is that the word jean derives loosely from “Genoese” loosely meaning the sailor pants of Genoa, Italy. The other and more plausible reason is that because jean and denim were both closely related and used as work wear for many generations. Moreover, denim came slightly after and replicated the look of jeans. And finally in the 1960’s Levi Strauss & Co. realized that all people, adult and teenager referred to denim pants as jeans. And so it was time to “adopt the name, since these new, young consumers had adopted our products”

An original pair of the Levi 501 line the gold miners in 1949 used.

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The Culutral History of Jeans

Levi's Growth From West to East

The biggest resource for the denim industry was the western frontier . During the 1920s, the dude ranch concept exploded. Women and men from the east travelled westward via railway, and in order to fit in with the people in the “west [they] must dress in the westernly fashion to be ‘in style’” . Due to the increasing demand to dress in the westernly fashion more jeans companies emerged to help fill the supply gap, these companies now included Lee, Levi, Wrangler and Bluebell. Bluebell, the newest jeans company during this time period, made efforts to improve their products by using different processes to set them apart from the competition. Preshrunk fabric was created by “mechanically stretching the cotton fibres before washing and drying, thus creating a preshrunk fabric”. Eventually, Bluebell became so large that they took over Wrangler, and once again improved their product line by reintroducing a Wrangler jean as their signature product. The new Wranglers were a “Cowboy Cut” which was geared towards rodeo riders. These jeans featured higher hip pockets which were better for holding wallets on horsebacks, and wider belt loops for larger western belts. The new marketing campaign sloganed “Since 1947 cowboys have been putting on our jeans. Since 1947, bulls have been trying to get them off”.

The famous Levi Strauss & Co. Logo featuring two horse drawn carts pulling on a pair of Levi Jeans

During the 1920s jeans continued to be associated with work and hard labour, which often discourage women from wearing them. However, during the war when women began to work in factories to take the place of men who had left to join the battle, women began to wear denim due to its practicality in the workforce. Because the war factory work was looked at as positive, the clothing worn by workers, jeans, were also looked at as positive as well. War-like clothing began to find its way into the mainstream fashion, and accordingly so did jeans.

The Paradigm Shift

In the 1930s jeans became a staple in the casual wardrobe of young people. Undergraduates at the University of California Berkley and the University of Oregon, for instance wore jeans to classes, however, the jeans could not be worn by all students only sophomores could wear them, not freshman. Further, jeans began to find their way into popular fashion magazines such as Harpers Bazaar. Harpers Bazaar not only featured the jeans in many aspects of their magazines but the editor had challenged designers to make jeans more wearable for women. The result of this challenge was the “popover”, which was oversized and features rolled up sleeves, sewn in potholder, quilted oven mitt and a large pocket big enough for “matches, cigarettes, the morning mail, and the duster” . Due to the popularity of the popover, different outfits were made out of the denim material such as suits and coats.

A 1942 Denim Dress from Clair McCardell, showing the expansion in denim styles.

Though there were many innovations with regard to the design of jeans during the 20s and 30s, they were still seen as unfashionable by many during the 1940s. Jeans were associated with an "antifashion" movement, as they represented a connection with the, homeless, criminals and the "heroic loners of the mythic West" . In many cities such as Buffalo and New York school systems had banned their students from wearing jeans as administrators considered that students were portraying bad taste in school attire and behaviour .

In the 1950s many of the jean companies tried to reverse this image of the "antifashion". Levi's for instance ran an ad campaign that stated, "Denim: Right for School", however, this campaign was short lived as during the 60s and 70s jeans were the most visible symbol of disenfranchised youths. Jeans were also the clothing of choice to the new emerging age group, "teen-agers". However, jeans were not only attributed to the "teen-ager" generation, "jeans (were) worn by young and old, radical and conservative. The real point is their classlessness".

The Expansion of Jeans throughout the World

Levi jeans first starting making an appearance around the world (mostly England, Japan, and Germany) during world war 2. G.I. Soldiers wore their Levi's in off-duty periods. Letters in Levi's archive report soldiers from Thailand to Africa asking where they can get another pair of jeans because they had traded them away. Later in the war, it was reported that when the American merchant ships landed in port in Britain they were flooded with teens trying to buy the jeans before they had hit dry land. It seems that everyone wanted a bit of the independence and rugged individualism that was symbolic to Levi Jeans.

As the baby-boomers, who grew up with jeans began to age, their outlook at jeans changed however their demand did not. Jeans became more commercialized and now designer labels began to symbolize status within a class. Designer jeans molded practicality and fashion together, as jeans were made more to flatter the body and last longer, especially with the development of polyester denim blends that were manufactured in an attempt to evolve jeans and still keep their shape .

In the present jeans are marketed towards the individual purchasing the jeans. Jean material can now come, pre-faded, tattered, stone washed, pre-washed, bleached, and customized. Along with this personalization comes a large price tag, designer jeans can sell for upwards of $720.00 .

Throughout the decades a mass transformation of jeans has occurred. Whether being worn for practicality or fashion the evolution of jeans from the workers during the gold rush to the runway is obvious. Many different cuts, styles, and finishes have been explored. Many different labels exist creating their own unique brand. Today they can be seen both in the work place similar to the vision of Levi Strauss, as well as in casual business meetings and celebrity gatherings. Jeans have evolved over time and are now extremely prevalent worldwide.