Why We Love Our Blue Jeans - Part 1

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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 Originally Created Jeans?

There is no one "inventor" of jeans. Believe it or not, they evolved over a long period of more than 400 years. They started out as versatile and rugged pants worn by sailors and turned into the everyday uniform now worn by millions of people around the world.

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.

This distinctive fabric was popularized in Europe. But a similar thick cotton cloth had been made in India since before the 1600s. That older material was called dunagree - the origin of the term "dunagarees" - which was normally dyed in indigo blue and sold in the district near Dongarii Fort on the outskirts of the Indian city of Bombay. Bombay was a major port on the important spice route between Europe and China. Portuguese sailors on trading vessels were the first regular users of dungaree clothing, and they introduced it to other points along the trading routes.

By the 1600s a similar cloth was being woven in France near the city of Nimes where it was called "serge". The name "serge de Nimes" was soon shortened to "denim", and the rest is history.

The term "jeans" came about because denim trousers were manufactured in the Italian port of Genoa, which is pronounced "Genes" in French. The durable pants were first used by sailors in the Genoese navy. Like teenagers of today, these sailors practically lived in their clothes, which made the denim fabric ideal. The sailors could wear the denim either wet or dry, and it is easy to roll the legs up for swabbing the deck. They could also wash the 'jeans' by putting them in a large net, and dragging them behind the ship.

You can't get any better than that!

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