The American Tale of The History of Blue Jeans

Have you ever wondered where blue jeans came from? Or why they are blue?

This is a series about American western wear. I will be covering the history of American blue jeans, cowboy hats, and bandanas.

Let’s take a look at the true American experience of the working class through a pair of pants, metal rivets and the birth of the iconic Levi Strauss & Co.

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In the United States, western wear has been around since the 1800s. Cowboys wore cotton jeans when wrangling up cattle and wore cowboy hats on the range.

Fast forward 200 years and western wear is still going strong.  Most American’s have at least one pair of Levi jeans in their closet or know someone who does.

There is something endearing about high waisted wrangler jeans or Levi’s classic look that draws us to the past.

Let’s dive in and learn about the roots of western wear and the history of how miner pants evolved into the iconic American blue jean. It is quite a surprising story of the American garment we know and love today.

The Birth of Denim 

There are several different countries that claim to have created the iconic fabric, but I’m going to focus in on the American tale of the birth of denim through Jacob Davis and Levi Strauss.

The American blue jean has an unexpected starting point. In the 1800’s the mining industry was the foundation of the American west and the gold rush was drawing thousands of hard working men to that area. At the time, the mining workers wore cotton clothing that wore down in the harsh environment of the mines.

In 1871 there was a Latvian tailor named Jacob Davis. He had a problem on his hands and it was re-enforced when a wife of one of the miners in the area came to him for help. Jacob had been trying to solve the problem of repairing pants for the workers in the mines. The cotton fabric was not withstanding the harsh environment of the mines. Being tired of her husbands pants not holding up, the miners wife went to Jacob to find a solution. 

Jacob decided to try using copper rivets to hold up the pants and use another canvas like material called “duck cloth” to make the pants. Duck cloth was a tighter woven fabric that was very durable and was often used for wagon coverings. Jacob used the rivets and duck cloth to make what we know today as overalls. The minors really liked the overalls and the fabric held up beautifully in the mines making it the ideal men’s work pants of the time.

Introduction to Levi Strauss

Jacob knew he was onto something, but he did not have the money to fund his overall production costs. He had purchased bolts of fabric from a man named Levi Strauss. Levi was a young man who ran a dry goods business in San Fransisco. Levi was a Bavarian immigrant and moved to New York to join his brothers in their wholesale dry goods business in 1846.

At the height of the California Gold Rush in 1853, Levi moved to San Fransisco to sell dry goods to the mining trade. He also worked as his brothers agent on the west coast selling to small businesses in the area.

Jacob decided to write and present his overall invention to Levi. In his letter, Jacob asked Levi to be his business partner and help fund the endeavor. Levi agreed and in 1873 US patent No. 139, 121 for,” Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings,” was birthed. Later that year the original mass produced prototype was made. It had two pockets in the front and one in the back with copper rivets.

The fabric and rivets could be made in American factories, so the men were saving a lot of money having their product produced in America and not sent overseas. Since production costs were low, Jacob and Levi could keep the pants affordable for the American people. The pants became widely popular with miners, famers, ranchers, and cowboys of the American West. 

Why Is Denim Blue?

Duck cloth was originally used when Jacob and Levi were making their first pair of pants for the miners. This was such a durable fabric and they needed something similar that would hold up in the mines. Indigo dyed blue jeans fit the bill.

Denim fabric was imported from Nimes in France and received its iconic name from “serge de Nimes” meaning, sturdy fabric.

The blue color was chosen because of the chemical properties of blue dye in indigo. Most dyes permeate in hot tempatures thus making the color bleed or stick. Indigo dye would only stick on the outside of jeans. Over time as the jeans are washed, small amounts of the dye would wash out and small amounts of the thread would detach with them. This makes denim softer the longer the denim is worn and washed. The weave is also an important part of the process. The weft threads intertwine and weave in a diagonal ribbing pattern which is what makes denim so tough and durable.

The Danish company, Denimhunters, founder Thomas Steve Bojer said, “while most other colours become dull with wash and wear’ it is in fact with this that ‘indigo truly comes to life.'”

Why Denim?

Ranchers and cattle drivers needed a fabric that was very durable to protect them and their horse. Denim filled that need. It can get dirty, it does not snag easily and it is thick and tough. It really was the perfect fabric for the hard working American man of the early 1900’s. 

Levi Strauss patent expired in 1890, but jeans were so popular that it didn’t seem to matter. Levi Strauss had created a household name in the denim industry. The iconic Levi 501 jeans with copper rivets made its debut in 1890. It is desired and still popular to this day. 

As the years passed, denim came to be a staple in the American wardrobe. It became popular with the younger generation when movie stars and actors in Wild West cowboy films started wearing blue jeans. American teens started wearing denim jeans as a sign of rebelion in the 1950’s when the movie Rebel Without a Cause came out. By the 1960’s, denim was a staple in everyone’s closet. As the years went on, the denim jeans became a fashion statement when hip-hop artists started sporting them in the 1980’s and 90’s. Fashion designers also came out with their own designer jeans and introduced their denim into the high fashion industry.

From gold miners of the 1800’s in San Francisco to the founding of the iconic Levi Strauss & Co. that is still going strong today, the history of the American blue jeans is truly amazing.

Shop for a curated list of Levi denim products through my links. This is an affiliate link and I may earn a small commission if purchased.

Sources:

Stage West Boots and Apparel

Biography.com

Hawthorn International

Readers Digest

Blue and White Company

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