HISTORY OF DENIM

THE D E N I M   T I M E  L I N E

1490s Arming his ships with the most durable materials available, it's believed Christopher Columbus commissioned sails constructed from a rough denim fabric.

1600 The first jean fabric is created in Chieri, a town near Turin using the raw materials from the city of Nimes or 'Serge de Nimes' (France). They were then sold through the Italian port of Genoa and then made into all-purpose sailor pants for the Genoese Navy. Legend has it that Columbus used denim for his sails over a hundred years earlier.

1789 One of the first printed references the word 'denim' is used in the United states.

1848 Gold is found across California and the famous Gold Rush begins.

1853 Loeb Strauss, later known as Levi Strauss, starts wholesale business, supplying clothes to mine workers.

1864 Webster's Dictionary adds the word denim, referring to it as a coarse cotton drilling used for overalls.

1868 Durability of pockets on miner’s clothes is compromised; Levi Strauss (LS&Co) and Jacob Davis come up with an idea of using metal rivets to hold the pockets and the jeans together.

1873 20th May to be precise, LS&Co and Jacob Davis receive a patent for an 'improvement in fastening pocket openings' – putting rivets in jeans for strength. The U.S Patent Number was no.139,121 and this date is now considered the official birthday of blue jeans.

1889 Lee brand of denim jeans, first produced in 1889 in Salina, Kansas by Henry David Lee . The company is owned by VF Corporation, the largest apparel company in the world.

1901 Fifth pocket on the back is introduced to the standard four pocket version which remains unchanged up until this day.

1902 Levi Strauss dies aged 73 leaving the business to his four nephews.

1906 The great San Fransico earthquake and virtually all LS&Co’s records, patent papers and inventories are lost.

1920 Levi's? jeans become the leading product in men’s work pants in the Western States.

1924 Eloesser-Heynemann, the proprietor of 'Can't Bust'Em' brand, is the -first to the coin the term 'jeans' or 'frisko jeans' for waist overalls.

1930 Hollywood-produced Western films feature cowboys wearing jeans - many Americans follow the look.

1933 American chemist Sanford Cluett invented a technique to 'sanforise' cotton fabrics, including denim, completely and permanently. Despite this, pre-washing jeans didn't become popular until the 60s

1940's War rationing reduced production and inclusion of unnecessary metal hardware in jeans. Metal (heat conducting) crotch rivets are removed after Levi's? CEO Walter Hass suffers an embarrassing campfire burn ...

Competition begins.

Companies like Wrangler and Lee compete with Levi's waist overalls upon expiry of their patent.

1950's Levi’s? starts to sell waist overalls nationally. A large emphasis is put on targeting teenagers in advertising campaigns. Jeans are less associated with workwear and more with 'new ideas, rebellion and individuality'. American teenagers start calling waist overalls 'jean pants' on a regular basis and wear them everywhere except 'in bed and in church'.

1954 Zippers are used for the first time on waist overalls - providing the first alternative to the traditional button fly.

1955 James Dean stars in Hollywood film 'Rebel Without A Cause' wearing a uniform of blue jeans, black leather jacket and tight white t-shirt. The look of a generation – and beyond- is born.

1960s Different styles are introduced to complement 60s fashion and hippy style: embroidery, paint and psychedelic designs become popular.

1961 Japanese clothing brand Edwin was founded in 1961 by Edwin Company.

1970 (Autumn) Writer for 'American Fabrics' magazine says: “Denim is one of the world's oldest fabrics, yet it remains eternally young. Indigo blue denim has become a phenomenon without parallel in our times”

1970s Golden age for denim with dungarees, bib and brace, bell bottoms and flares all widely popular. Denim becomes truly ubiquitous. Wide range of jeans, hundreds of alternative shapes and finishes available.

As world trade softens jeans become more affordable and people in the rest of the world get their hands on them. A blank canvas to be altered, shredded, patched and fringed – denim becomes glamorous.

1971 Jeans are officially made respectable - Coty Fashion Critics Award awards Levi's? for the world fashion influence. Blue Jeans as a symbol of rebellion become extinct.

1977 The very first pair of 'designer jeans' by Calvin Klein are born.

1978 Denim leader DIESEL was founded by Renzo Rosso (Denim Guru) and his former boss Adriano Goldschmied of the AG Jeans company, in 1978.

1980s Europe gets a taste of designer jeans. Denim screams high status, gloss and glamour. Designers began manufacturing jeans with their own labels in and create large scale ‘sexy’ ad campaigns to promote them.

1980 Calvin Klein controversially featured a 15 year old Brooke Shields in an ad campaign wearing a pair of his jeans with the strap line: “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins.

1981 Armani Jeans is a bridge-line collection of denim-related clothing created in 1981 by Giorgio Armani.

Guess brand also created in 1981.

1982 Dolce & Gabbana SpA founded by Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana open their own studio in Milan.

1987 JOE'S Jeans founded in 1987.

1989 G-star RAW, a dutch designer and fashionable clothing company founded in 1989.

1990s Jeans begin to go out of fashion.

The youth of the 90s didn’t want to be seen in the same styles as their parents who were still part of the denim revolution of the 80s so turned to more casual fabrics and cuts such as khakis, combats, chinos and branded sportswear pants.

Denim was still fairly popular but a complete contrast to the clean, classic styles of the 80s with a demand for new washes and finishes, or vintage pairs.

This lack of demand for what had been the height of their popularity a few years previous meant that jeans sales plummeted and Levi's?, the largest manufacturer, suffered the worst with 11 of their North American factories forced to close down.

Late 1990s The biggest change to jeans in the 90s is the silhouette; with hip hop ruling mainstream culture the oversized jean becomes popular among the youth. Nudie Jeans is a Swedish premium clothing brand originating in Gothenburg and a subsidiary of Svenska Jeans AB, founded in 1999 by Maria Erixsson.

Lucky Brand Jeans founded in 1990.

1991 MISS SIXTY was launched in 1991.

1995 Dsquared2 brand was launched in 1995. Now this brand became an icon for denim industry.

1999 Ksubi an Australian denim brand created in 1999.

2000 7 For All Mankind (often referred to simply as Seven, Seven Jeans or 7FAM) is a brand of designer jeans founded by Michael Glasser, Peter Koral, and Jerome Dahan in 2000. .Australian denim brand Ksubi founded by Dan Single and George Gorrow.

2001 The AG Adriano Goldschmied brand, founded in 2000, partnered long-time denim guru, Adriano Goldschmied.

2001 Levi's? manages to buy the oldest known pair of Levi's? jeans on Ebay for $46,532.

Vintage denim has a huge following and the resurfacing of this jean prompted Levi's? to return to their archive and produce the Levi's? Vintage Clothing collection.

2002 Prps is a New York-based luxury fresh denim brand that was established in 2002.

True Religion Brand Jeans created in 2002.

Citizen of Humanity was founded in 2002.

Rock&Republic was founded in 2002.

2003 Citizens of Humanity was founded in 2003.

2004 Swedish denim brand Cheap Monday started from March, 2004. In 2008 the brand joined forces with H&M and in November 2009 the very first Cheap Monday Store opened up in Copenhagen.

 2005 Silicosis was diagnosed in association with denim sandblasting for the first time in Turkey in 2005 and about 46 people died. World's most of fashion brands banned to use sand blasting.

J Brand founded also in 2005.

Paige Premium Denim was founded in 2005.

SIWY launched in 2005.

2008 Englishman Jason Denham established DENHAM in the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Having already established his reputation in the European market as a consummate “jeanmaker” known for mixing denim modernism with workwear tradition, he resolved that the jeans category needed an injection of something fresh, new and undeniably mouth-watering. Assembling a small like-minded team of international designers, Denham set-up operations in Amsterdam in 2008.

Current/Elliott was born in USA ,summer of 2008.

2006 William Rust founded in 2006.

2015 Pepe Jeans was brought by the Lebanese group M1 and L Capital Asia.

2016 7 For All Mankind was acquired by Delta Galil in 2016, joining the ever growing family of brands.

JACK & JONES JEANS INTELLIGENCE

JACK & JONES JEANS INTELLIGENCE was built on a vision to rethink jeanswear and make it more accessible and affordable. We believe in rethinking denim. Our products are designed with respect for denim traditions and made with industry leaders and state-of-the-art technology. We continuously explore the latest trends and developments in treatment technologies and fabric innovation. We make fashionable and affordable high-quality jeanswear.

2019 Cheap Monday closed.

Source: denim wikipedias, online and different journals.