Where would we be without jeans, I mean what would we be wearing? Would we still be wearing styles of clothes last seen in the late 1800’s just before the invention of jeans? Levi Strauss was the first producer of blue jeans and he went into business with Jacob Davis in 1853 to produce jeans with rivet reinforcements after they received a patent for “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings.”

In the early years there were not many denim brands around with only a handful of brands around until the late 1970’s, these included; Lee and Wrangler, however now there are masses of different denim brands out there for both men and women, and of course children. In fact many brands who focus on other clothing also take time out to perfect, the right denim range such as Gio-Goi, Firetrap, Police, Diesel and Voi.

Also for the early years the style of jeans never really changed either, men’s featured a zip down the front and women’s one down the right hand side and for both sexes the jeans were very lose fitting.  Styles only really changed in the 1970’s when they became fashion in America and all around the world. The different women’s styles outweigh the women’s with designs such as; skinny, tapered, straight, boot cut, Mommy-cut, maternity, and flare. For guys you get straight, boot cut, and flared and over the past couple of years now you can enjoy tapered and skinny if you so wish!

Originally jeans were designed for manual labourers, as a long lasting item of work wear that was comfortable and durable. For a long time that is all they were consigned to, well until the 1950’s when James Dean popularized them in the movie Rebel without a Cause, teenagers from all over the US flocked to wear them and they became a symbol of youth rebellion. Jeans were actually banned in many theatres and other venues and events however as popularity began to grow in the 1960’s they became more accepted.

Jeans were always dyed with indigo coloured dye to give them their traditional blue colour however with many modern techniques now jeans can be dyed any colour, different techniques can also be used to give jeans a popular distressed and worn look. In the 1970’s the now famous stone washing technique was introduced which gave jeans a more worn look.

This brings us right up to now where jeans play an integral part of most people’s wardrobes whether it’s for casual daywear, for work wear or for evening smart wear.