Wearing jeans is so common and popular today, and it is no wonder. Jeans are so durable and trendy. and they don’t cost very much. Everyone enjoys the simplicity and comfort for work, for everyday wear and even for formal events. People are wearing jeans for times at home relaxing, as work clothes, for social occasions and even a night out on the town. Jeans withstand the test of time so you can really wear them just about anywhere.

Who originally created 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 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.

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 more convenient than that?