Evolution of denim - A deep insight from history

Imagine, how hard it will be to find a person in this era, who do not have at least two to three pair of denim garments in their wardrobe. Denim garments considered an all-time fashion item. Denim is a woven fabric of twill construction with an indigo dyed warp and undyed weft.

The name originated from the rugged fabric name Serge, produced at the N?mes city in France.[1] Later, the American manufacturer made the name "Serge de N?mes" shorter to denim. Usually, the unwashed denim has the indigo blue color surface in front and almost white or off white color in the back. Nevertheless, with the innovation of laboratory-made dyes and the rise of fashion brought many variations in denim color. 

Why is denim so popular? The answer is its wide acceptance. Every country has its separate fashion culture and custom; what is common is "The denim". From the designer's catwalk to street fashion, denim made garments has its position everywhere. Besides this, the fabric is durable, tough to tear, excellent strength, and has a unique manufacturing process for better reinforcement. Moreover, the garments have unique aesthetic characteristics about their wash look, the older it will become, the more beauty will come.

Typically, denim garments made by 100% cotton, with either open-end coarser yarn or ring-spun finer yarn. However, cotton with Polyester and Tencel is also popular blend. To make the fabric more stretchable, presence of elastane is common nowadays. Most of the denim consist of 3/1 twill Weave, generally refer right-hand twill – where the warp yarn rises to the right. Right-hand twill is very common, also known as Z twill because the construction looks like Z. In contrary, left-hand twill, the diagonal line rises to the left, known as S twill. Left-hand twill has certain properties like softer than right-hand twill. In Z twill the Weave closes the yarn twist and make it compact, whereas in S twill tend to open it which make the twill softer.[2]

Right hand twill and Left hand twill construction ; Source: Online: Sarah Goslee (n.d)

Famous denim brand Levi's use right-hand twill for their traditional 501 model denim; on the other hand, another famous brand Lee tend to use left-hand denim for their collection.

The presence of denim made apparels in our life more than just a fashion statement. Denim is carrying history from different societies, and able to blur the boundaries of social class and gender line. These specific fabrics made garments started its journey as workwear because of its durability properties; however, after a certain period, the young generation, hip hop and punk society adopted it as a fashion statement. Presently denim is universally accepted even as official casual attire in the formal environment.

Denim had existed many years before Levi Strauss started the business. The garment was manufactured especially for the farmer, miner, and other physical workers who needed durable and reliable apparel. In the 19th century, during the gold rush period of America, gold miners needed a sturdy, strong, and long-lasting apparel. At that time, denim made apparel was functional cloths. The first breakthrough of denim came from Jacob Davis, a tailor who used to make denim cloths for the worker. One day a wife of a worker, asked

Davis to make a pair of pants that would be strong enough so that it cannot tear easily. Jacob Davis was thinking a solution to make durable and robust denim pants and invented metal rivet – a strong fastening way to reinforce the weakest point of the garment like pocket, button fly.[3]

This new type of denim became very popular among worker, and demand increased dramatically. At that time, Jacob Davis was thinking about to patent metal rivet application on denim, but it was costly for a tailor. Davis was looking for a partner and asked Levi Strauss, who used to provide fabric to Davis. Jacob Davis partnership with Levi Strauss was a remarkable event for denim history. In 1873, Levi Strauss & Co and Jacob Davis received a patent from US patent and trademark office for the process of riveting denim waist overalls; therefore, a new era of blue jeans started.[4] Levi Strauss was an intelligent businessman; he understood the target customer, the market of this garments, and accordingly he focused on product strength. He published several promotions aiming farmer, mechanic, and miners. Most of the denim customer was uneducated worker class, hence in 1886, Levi Strauss & Co publish their Two Horse? patch where the illustration showing that the garment is so durable, even stressing by two horses are not able to rip it.[5] The message was clear and widely accepted by the consumer group; even by the uneducated worker class who were unable to read. Till now, brand Levi’s using this logo in their collection.

Levis double horse logo at 1887; Source : Online Levi Staruss & Co (ed) (2011)

Consequently, Levi Strauss & Co started to offer a different variation in their collection. Their popular 501 series refers to the high quality 9 Oz denim, and later they brought 201 to compete with their other denim competitor. In 1922, the brand Levi Strauss & Co introduced belt loop in their 501 jean along with cinch back so that customer had both options.[6] Adding the belt loop with the jean was a time demand step by Levis.

On the other hand, in 1889, Henry David Lee founded “Lee,” another important workwear manufacturer contributed many ways in denim history. In 1925, Lee introduced “The lee Cowboy” jean, focused on cowboy culture, later renamed as “Lee rider.” [7]

The year 1934, for the first-time Levi Strauss & Co, introduced Ladies denim 701 in the market. The form mainly originated from men’s 501 series.[8] It was the time when women were started to wear pant; therefore, ladies denim pant got popularity.

In 1941, During world war two, denim goes through a significant transformation.[9] The government ordered to conserve textile raw materials due to the war. As a result, the denim manufacturer had to modify their manufacturing process to save textile and resource. During this period, denim started to travel globally, and many people outside of America got to know about these clothes.

After 1950, the finish of world war two, a new era of denim history started. The functional clothes became a part of fashion. It was mainly because of the influence of Hollywood movies.

Marlon Brando in his film the “Wild one” and James Dean in his motion pictures “Rebel without a cause” wore denim garments which boost the popularity of denim style.[10] In 1957, Elvis Presley wore black jeans in “Jailhouse rock,” brought black denim in trend.[11] The jeans become part of fashion with a special personality, gained new customer, especially the young generation. Because of its classless casual styling and originated from workwear, it was banned in many schools and formal occasions at that time. Denim was accepted as streetwear & symbol of rebellion.

From 1960, American denim culture started to adopt by the Japanese. Mainly post-war American blue jeans got popularity in Japan as a leisure garment.[12] That time Japan started to import denim from America, later they started manufacture denim. At present Japanese denim considered as premium denim all over the world.

In 1977, designer Calvin Klein brought blue jeans in the catwalk for the first time.[13] It was an instant commercial success. Fashion consumers grab those garments, as well as denim got an important place in the high fashion industry.

In the 1980s, Big John’s brought unique selvedge denim named “Rare” made by handloom with uneven surface characteristics.[14] It was a small production and three times higher cost than regular denim pant. The Rare collection got a small group of customers; however, the trend of selvedge denim still considered as a premium and desired by many fashion-conscious people. 

The evolution of denim keeps continuing until now. At present, modern technology and innovation brought variety in denim. Although the manufacturing process has significantly changed, denim made apparels is the only apparels carrying its heritage and history in modern time. 1980's punk style and 1990's grunge style are repeatedly keep coming in today's fashion trend. Only in these specific type of garments, the high demand is not for newness, rather old look is dominating the fashion.

Author : Mirza Mannan

[1] Cf. Phipps (2011) P.26

[2] Cf. Mogahzy (2008) P.362

[3] Cf. Online Levi Staruss & Co (ed) (2012)

[4] Cf. Beazley (2015a) P.09

[5] Cf. Online Levi Staruss & Co (ed) (2011a)

[6] Cf. Beazley (2015b) P.23

[7] Cf. Online Lee (Ed) (n.d)

[8] Cf. Online Levi Staruss & Co (ed) (2017)

[9] Cf. Ramirez / Hoffmann (2014) P.35

[10] Cf. Hiton (2016) P.50

[11] Cf. Ferguson (2012) P.241

[12] Cf. Brooks (2015) London (Chapter : Old cloths new look)

[13] Cf. Online : Bass-Krueger (2019)

[14] Cf. Marx (2015)