Jeans are now a very popular form of casual dress around the world, and have been so for decades. They come in many styles and colors; however, "blue jeans" are particularly identified with American culture, especially the American Old West.
History
[edit] Etymology
Jeans, a.k.a. denim, was a fabric that originated in the italian town of Genoa, and was used for sails because it was very sturdy. Because of its durability and resistance to wear, jeans started to be used to make clothing for peasants. The word "jeans" comes from the Italian word "genuense", literally "of Genoa" and from "jean": the local word used to denote corduroy.[citation needed]The story of jeans begins in the city of Genoa, in Italy, famous for its cotton corduroy, called either jean or jeane; the jeans fabric from Genoa (at that time) was in fact very similar to corduroy.[citation needed]
During the Middle Ages, the jeans were exported by sailors of Genoa throughout Europe. In the French city of Nimes, weavers tried to reproduce the fabric exactly, but without success. However, with experimentation, and through trial and error, they developed another twill fabric that became known as denim, literally "de Nimes". Only at the end of the eighteenth century did jeans arrive in the United States.[citation needed]
[edit] Riveted jeans
[edit] Cost of jeans
In 1885, jeans could be bought in the US for $1.50 (approximately $36 in 2010). Today, a pair of durable jeans can be purchased in the United States for about 40 dollars.[2] On the other hand, many brands of jeans are currently available for much less. In the United States, there is a robust market for used jeans, and the prices obtained for these pre-owned jeans vary tremendously. As the price of cotton rises, the cost of blue jeans is expected to rise as well.Americans spent more than $14 billion on jeans in 2004 and $15 billion in 2005.[2]
[edit] Evolution of the garment
After James Dean popularized them in the movie Rebel Without a Cause, wearing jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion during the 1950s. Because of this, they were sometimes banned in theaters, restaurants and schools.[3] During the 1960s the wearing of jeans became more acceptable, and by the 1970s it had become general fashion in the United States for casual wear.[4]
Michael Belluomo, editor of Sportswear International Magazine, Oct/Nov 1987, P. 45, wrote that in 1965, Limbo, a boutique in the New York East Village, was "the first retailer to wash a new pair of jeans to get a used, worn effect, and the idea became a hit." He continued, "[Limbo] hired East Village artists to embellish the jeans with patches, decals and other touches, and sold them for $200." In the early 1980s the denim industry introduced the Stone-Washing technique developed by GWG also known as "Great Western Garment Co.". Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta pioneered the method,[5] which helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Acceptance of jeans continued through the 1980s and 1990s to the point where jeans are now a wardrobe staple, with the average North American owning seven pairs.[6] Currently, jeans may be seen worn by people of all genders and ages.
A typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its life cycle (this includes the water to irrigate the cotton crop, manufacture the jeans, and the numerous washes by the consumer).[7] Because cotton is the world's biggest nonfood crop, and water shortages are a growing global trend, some jean companies are looking into ways to reduce the amount of water needed in their production of jeans-from field to factory.
[edit] Manufacturing processes
[edit] Dyeing
Traditionally, jeans are dyed to a blue color using an indigo dye. Some other colors that can be achieved are pink, yellow, black, and white. These colors are achieved by coloring other fabrics to resemble jeans. Approximately 20 million tons of indigo are produced annually for this purpose, though only a few grams of the dye are required for each pair of these trousers.[8]
[edit] Pre-shrinking of jeans
In the 1970s Hal Burgess first marketed "pre-washed" jeans. He was a salesman for his father, who owned a large jeans manufacturing company in Cartersville, Georgia. While on a sales trip, there was a flood in the hotel room where Burgess was storing jeans. He asked the hotel owner if he could rent out the pool to wash the flooded jeans. The jeans shrank but Hal decided to market them as 'pre-washed' jeans and sold them two sizes smaller than they were initially labeled. This was the first time 'pre-shrunk' jeans were marketed.[citation needed]On a national scale, Levi Strauss & CO. was the first to market pre-washed jeans on a nationwide basis, beginning in Oklahoma City & the C.R. Anthony CO. The CR Anthony Department stores were among the largest retailers of Levi Strauss. In 1980, young assistant manager at a store in Oklahoma City noticed a large number of men and, especially young women, asking to try on the returned jeans that had been returned for shrinkage problems. The assistant manager of the men's department, George Crosby, asked his manager and the upper management to place a double order for Levi 501 jeans for a marketing experiment. Getting the approval needed, Mr. Crosby & his fiance took the 100 or so unwashed 501 jeans to a local help-your-self "washateria" to shrink the jeans, re size & re label the jeans, and place an ad for a special offering of pre-washed 501's. The response was overwhelming. Within months pre-washed 501's directly from Levi Strauss were available regionally, then nationwide.[citation needed]
[edit] Used look created by sandblasting
Many consumers in Western societies are willing to pay extra for jeans that have the appearance of being used. To give the fabrics the worn look, sandblasting is used. Sandblasting has the risk of causing silicosis to the workers, and in Turkey, more than 5,000 workers in the textile industry have been stricken with this disease, and 46 people are known to have died.[9][edit] Other languages
- In Arabic they are pronounced as English but in Arabic letters جينز
- In Bulgarian jeans are known as дънки (Bulgarian transliteration of donkey, but perhaps from English "dungarees").
- In Chinese niuzaiku (SC: 牛仔裤, TC: 牛仔褲), literally, "cowboy pants" (trousers), indicating their association with the American West, cowboy culture, and outdoors work.
- In Croatian jeans are known as traperice meaning "trapper pants".
- In Czech džíny or even more commonly as "rifle".
- In Danish cowboybukser meaning "cowboy pants".
- In Dutch, jeans are often known as 'spijkerbroek' meaning "nail trousers", referring to the copper studs on riveted jeans.
- In Finnish, jeans are usually known as "farkut", short for "farmarihousut" ("farmer's trousers" in English.)
- In Greek jeans are known as τζίν.
- In Hebrew as "ג'ינס" pronounced the same as English
- In Hungarian name for jeans is "farmer" (short for "farmernadrág", meaning "farmer's trousers").
- In Khmer/Cambodian is pronounced "Khao"
- In Korean, jeans are known as "cheong baji" (청바지), meaning "blue trousers".
- In Macedonian, jeans are known as "farmerki" (фармерки), meaning "farmer's trousers".
- In Norwegian "dongeribukse" or "olabukse". "Dongeri" is adapted from English "dungaree," and "bukse" is Norwegian for "pants". The prefix Ola is used to describe the average Norwegian person. According to the Norwegian Language Council, the term "olabukse" was coined by Tor Wessel Kildal, when introducing jeans to Norwegian consumers, targeting young males (10–12 years).[10]
- In Polish as "dżinsy"
- In Puerto Rican Spanish as mahones.
- In Romanian as "blugi".
- In Russian as "джинсы"
- In Serbian jeans are known as "фармерке" or "farmerke" (Serbian transliteration of farmer's trousers).
- In Spanish they are mostly known as jeans, but are also called vaqueros ("cowboys") or tejanos ("Texans").
- In Slovak as džínsy or even more commonly as "rifle"
- In Slovenian jeans are known as "kavbojke", a word derived from the word "cowboy".
- In Tagalog as "ma-ong"
- In Thai as "ยีนส์" pronounced "Yean"
- In Turkish as "Kot" where "Kot" is the surname of Muhteşem Kot and his denim brand who introduced denim into Turkey.
- In Ukrainian as "джинси"
- In Urdu as جینز, the same as in English
- In Welsh as "jîns" pronounced the same as English
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