The Story of Blue Jeans - Part 1

By Howard Brule

Why do we love our blue jeans so much? It's not so hard to understand. Jeans are comfortable, they last a long time, they're not terribly expensive, and they are fashionable. You can wear them for casual get togethers or dress up affairs, for lounging around watching TV, or for working at the office or in the garden. You can even wear them for your next guest appearance on the Jay Leno show. As the expression goes, you can live in your jeans.

Who Created Blue Jeans?

There is no one person who can be credited as the "inventor" of jeans. It may be hard to believe, but the distinctive pants we now know as "jeans" have evolved over a long period of time - over 400 years.

Traditional jeans are made of a woven cotton fabric called denim. Denim is a rugged cotton twill material with a distinctive diagonal weave that makes it very tough and very versatile.

The name "dungaree" comes from Dongarii Fort, an area on the outskirts of the Indian city of Bombay, where the material was produced and sold. It was usually dyed with blue indigo dye creating the distinctive blue colour that exists to this day. This distinctive dungaree cloth was first used by sailors on Portuguese sailing ships. They wore it in their travels around the world and introduced it to Europe.

By the mid 1600s a similar cloth was being woven in France near the city of Nimes. This popular fabric was called "serge de Nimes." The name was shortened to "de Nimes" which was eventually pronounced "denim." That is how we got the name we use today.

These distinctive denim pants becamed known as "jeans" because of their connection to the port of Genoa in Italy. In the 17th and 18th centuries Genoa was a major naval base and their navy was outfitted with blue denim uniforms. They became known as "jeans" because the French word for Genoa is "Genes" and the pants became identified with the Genovese Navy. The durable denim clothes were ideal for sailors who essentially had to live in their clothes 24 hours a day. The jeans were ideal for any environment and could be cleaned by dragging them behind the ship in a fishing net.

Hey! What could be better than that?

About the Author:
See the video of this article at Where Did Those Jeans Come From. Visit IceCanadaInc.com for a great selection of wholesale jeans and wholesale clothing. Online promotion with articles and online videos.