Today we are all used to having a few pairs of jeans in our wardrobes and they come in an array of different styles, like these ETO denim jeans from EJ Menswear. But jeans have got a fascinating history – it all started with the invention of denim, in a village in France…
Denim was created in a place called Serge de Nimes in France. This is where the name denim comes from – a short version of de Nimes. It was created by accident originally as weavers were trying to recreate corduroy that had become popular in Genoa. But whilst they were not able to reproduce that, they accidentally produced another hard-wearing fabric which was to become known as denim.
Levi Strauss noticed this new fabric and moved from Germany over to San Francisco in time for the California gold rush – he had a shop selling heard wearing items made from denim for the people who were working outside all day in the area.
Jacob Davis, a local tailor commissioned a pair of trousers to be made from this material. He then added some suggestions such as pockets and then asked Levi Strauss if he would like to patent the design and go into business with him. Levi accepted and the rest is history!
The new trousers known as jeans became popular all over America and later the world – initially for working men but later as a fashion item. Since denim was invented a wide range of different washes and colours are now available.
