The Story of Blue Jeans – Part 1

Everyone loves blue jeans. They are comfortable, durable, inexpensive, and seem to never go out of fashion. One of the great things about jeans is that they can be worn in almost any situation. They can be worn when performing household chores, for lounging around the home, for working at the office, for evenings out, and especially for informal gatherings of all kinds. Many celebrities even wear jeans when appearing on talk shows. There’s good reason for the expression “you can live in your jeans”.

Who Invented Jeans?

There is no one “inventor” of jeans. Believe it or not, they evolved over a long period of more than 400 years. They started out as versatile and rugged pants worn by sailors and turned into the everyday uniform now worn by millions of people around the world.

When we think of jeans, we think of the everyday jeans made of denim. Denim is very tough and versatile because it is made with a strong cotton twill material with a unique diagonal weave. Before it made its way to Europe this fabric was being made in India where it was known as dungaree.

The name “dungaree” comes from Dongarii Fort, an area on the outskirts of the Indian city of Bombay, where the material was produced and sold. It was usually dyed with blue indigo dye creating the distinctive blue colour that exists to this day. This distinctive dungaree cloth was first used by sailors on Portuguese sailing ships. They wore it in their travels around the world and introduced it to Europe.

Not too many years later the fabric was being manufactured in Europe, more or less as the thick cotton material we know well today as “denim”. In France in the 1600s denim was woven near the city known as Nimes where the cloth was called serge. It became known as “serge de Nimes” which was eventually shortened to “de Nimes” and anglicized to “denim”.

The term “jeans” came about because denim trousers were manufactured in the Italian port of Genoa, which is pronounced “Genes” in French. The durable pants were first used by sailors in the Genoese navy. Like teenagers of today, these sailors practically lived in their clothes, which made the denim fabric ideal. The sailors could wear the denim either wet or dry, and it is easy to roll the legs up for swabbing the deck. They could also wash the ‘jeans’ by putting them in a large net, and dragging them behind the ship.

You can’t get any better than that!

See the video of this article at Where Did Those Jeans Come From. Visit IceCanadaInc.com for a great selection of wholesale jeans and wholesale clothing. Link building through articles and online videos.

- Howard Brule