Since its invention in the early 20th Century, denim has proven to be a staple fabric. Over the years, its styles have changed to suit the political and social climates of each era. One can’t help but wonder what will happen to the old denim as fashions continue to change. Denim is a classic. Functional and fashionable
Since its invention in the early 20th Century, denim has proven to be a staple fabric. Over the years, its styles have changed to suit the political and social climates of each era. One can’t help but wonder what happens to old denim when trends change.
Denim is a classic. Its ability to adapt to popular culture and its functional nature has made it a staple garment. Denim has been a standout in each decade of the 20th Century and 21st Century.
It is interesting to know the history of denim and jeans. They have become interchangeable over time. Fashion Encyclopaedia says that jeans have been around since the 1600s. It was used to describe the rough textile worn by men in the 1800s. The word derives from Genoa, the Italian region where the fabric genes were made. The textile weavers of the Names region in France wanted to copy their Italian neighbors. The fabric they created is now synonymous with blue jeans. The name Serge de Nimes was eventually changed to denim by American manufacturers.
Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis collaborated to create the indigo-dyed blue jeans that we wear today. Levi Strauss was a merchant with the money to invest, and Jacob Davis had a historical idea. The two men saw an opportunity during the California Gold Rush when everyone was racing to the mines in search of precious stones. They realized that denim would be the ideal pants for all those who wanted to dig in the dirt.
Strauss and Davis’s denim was unique for two reasons. Davis’ copper rivets were placed strategically alongside pockets and loops of belts in order to keep them in place. The clips proved popular among Californians who wear denim regularly and need it to last. Indigo was used to darken the denim, a clever way to cover stains.
They initially offered two types of pants: the classic denim and “duck-cotton” (similar to rough canvas used in tents). Dark blue denim was preferred for a variety of reasons. The pair began selling denim only with copper rivets. Over time, these pants became known as Levies or jeans.
The sexy, stiff, and sometimes sultry cotton, which was originally used for its function, has evolved into a fashionable item. Denim would not have gained popularity if it weren’t for Hollywood influencers in the 1950s who wore denim as a way to mimic the Western films from the 1940s. Denim was popularized by actors such as Marilyn Monroe and Marlon Brando, who wore the look. It became an American staple. In the 1970s, The New York Times reported on denim’s “renaissance,” stating that Levi Strauss saw a 38 percent increase in production at the beginning of the decade compared to one year earlier.
Denim’s appeal may be rooted in its versatility. It is casual but still gives off a cool, put-together aura. Fabrics that are built to last tend to age gracefully. This made them sustainable even before sustainability became a thing. The older and more worn-in, the better. In a 1971 article, the New York Times stated that denim had a psychological attraction in an age when youth were searching for fundamental truths while rejecting the establishment. Denim could be used as a way to make a point.
The 1970s were all about counterculture. In the 1980s, it became about sex. Calvin Klein launched an advertising campaign in 1981. Three years earlier, Calvin Klein had become the first designer of high-end denim to launch a diffusion line. This campaign is still referred to today. The ad featured a young Brooke Shields and a slogan that led to its being banned from ABC and CBS in New York because of its alleged raunchiness. It presented denim jeans as form-fitting, sexy, and attractive. Klein said, “Jeans are sex…The more tight they are, they sell better.”
He was not wrong. Sales of tight jeans increased despite criticism (and perhaps even because of it). Klein had succeeded in establishing the style of the decade. Versace and Dior launched their denim lines soon after. Klein’s “My Calvin’s” ad was a good example of this: tall, thin models wearing tight jeans. Denim had suddenly become an iconic fabric.
This is my opinion. Once sales started to increase exponentially, denim moved to a new stage. It became more focused on sales and glamour, and its function was largely ignored. Denim was transformed into a wardrobe essential by its entry into luxury markets. It seemed to adapt to the current mood. Fast forward from the baggy, dripping denim style of the 1990s to the tight, semi-flared, low-rise denim of the early 2000s. Then, we move on to the skinny, stretch denim trend of the 2010s. Finally, we arrive at the cropped, straight-leg, and boot-cut denim styles that are the most popular of this decade. When I think about the types from decades past, I wonder where all the outdated jeans go.
Did you know the U.S. dollar is printed on a special cotton-blend blend paper? Crane has supplied the report for over a Century. Crane purchased denim scraps in bulk from the clothing industry, and this made the blend special. Crane’s cotton blend contains 30% denim scraps. The remaining 70% was a mixture of textile wastes.
Denim of the past decade was distorted by stretchy spandex. Spandex degrades the strength of fibers and is difficult to extract from cotton. According to an article in the Washington Post published in 2013, by the early 2000s, nearly all pairs of jeans had at least a slight tint of stretch, rendering them useless to Crane. The company was forced to find alternative resources and adapt. This has been a huge loss for denim’s sustainable potential.
The Museum at FIT held an exhibition titled Denim: Fashion’s Frontier from December 2015 – May 2016. The opening piece for the show was the oldest denim piece, a fall-front style pant dating back to the 1840s. The pants, with their “painstakingly applied” patches of denim and uneven dye jobs, told a story when inspected.
The most important thing to take away is that each stitch, patch, and sleeve is designed to serve a purpose. This is primarily to prolong the life of the garment. Emma McClendon is an assistant curator at MIT and helped curate this exhibit. She says that the pants were a good starting point to show the difference in how denim (and clothing in general) are treated today compared to 200 years ago. She says that denim today is disposable. The pants in the display survived like cats with a long life. They’ve been patched meticulously by hand and re-worn.
I hope for an appropriate future. The history of denim has revealed that what is being discussed can have a big impact on trends. Sustainability will remain the top topic in the textile industry for a long time to come. Beyond that, there is re-generativity.
Denim jeans are making a comeback, thanks to their chic and comfortable blend. Denim is experiencing a renaissance, thanks to the desire to buy locally, invest in vintage pieces, and purchase durable items that last for years. Maybe the discussion will lead to the solution of other problems plaguing denim, such as the over-reliance on water in dyeing techniques or the use of bleach. That’s another topic. We’ll start with spring cleaning and recycle any old denim that we can.
