Monday, May 11, 2015

America Loves Denim Clothing And Accessories

By Toni Vang


Millions around the globe love wearing denim. North Americans buy almost half of the world's supply, and many citizens of the USA consider this tough cotton material a red, white, and blue trademark. It's true that a couple of clothing manufacturers became famous from supplying sturdy trousers for miners back in the Gold Rush days, but they didn't invent the material itself. American teenagers coming into their own after World War II adopted blue jeans as their uniform, and the popularity of the close-fitting trousers spread gradually to every country. Today, denim clothing and accessories are big business.

Denim is a durable fabric, originally made of 100% cotton woven on the diagonal. It fades fastest in areas that are stretched or rubbed; the look of wear is part of the appeal. Hard-riding cowboys of the Old West helped romanticize the image, and the well-worn look is now high fashion. In fact, people now buy jeans pre-worn and pre-faded, with carefully-designed holes.

Once all jeans were blue, since the original fabric invented in Italy was died with natural indigo. Now, of course, they come in every color and can be made with synthetic fibers or cotton combined with spandex for stretchy fit and comfort. Although the word itself still means the original faded blue, fashion has brought infinite variety to clothes and other fashion details.

Trousers were the first garments made of this sturdy fabric. Manufacturers in Genoa, Italy, made garb for soldiers and factory workers in the 1700's. Using this tough fabric, California storekeeper Levi Strauss and his partner Jacob Davis introduced riveted trousers in America in the late 1870's. Using rivets to secure pocket and zipper seams made the garments exceptionally durable, standing up to rough wear in mines or on ranches. Originally 'levis' were overalls with a bib front, but the waist-high pants preferred by cowboys became the favored style.

Today North America still buys most of the jeans made in the world, but the style is worn virtually everywhere. Once considered informal wear, blue jeans are now paired with blazers at fancy restaurants or worn with tweed coats to trendy outdoor activities (hunt races, polo games, soccer matches). Ladies wear jean skirts, and everyone likes jackets made of this material.

Pants, skirts, and jackets are made for people of all ages, even infants and toddlers. Other garments and accessories may look like the real thing but be fashioned from synthetic materials for lighter weight or from plastic, (watch bands, for instance). Hats, scarves, belts, shoes, boots, and handkerchiefs look like they're made from well-worn jean scraps. The look is popular for den furniture, picture frames, and lamp shades.

Actually, the word has come to mean a color, the faded blue of frequently-washed and well-worn jeans. Although garments and fashion accents now come in all colors of the rainbow, the basic term brings the distinctive faded blue to mind every time. 'Stone-washed' is a term used for the artificially faded material designed to give new garments an already-washed look and feel.

From Laurel, MD to Los Angeles, CA, and from New York City to Japan and Africa, people are wearing jean jackets, pants, skirts, scarves, and footwear and carrying jean purses and wallets. They sit on denim beanbags and tie faded-blue bandannas around the necks of their dogs. Although 50's and 60's music has declined in popularity and the original hippies are now grey-haired and bearded, the universal appeal of these pants patented by Levi Strauss almost 150 years ago is still going strong.




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