We define "pant" as any garment that covers the lower portion of the body. However, blue jeans are almost never referred to as pants. They are referred to as blue jeans, jeans or blues.

Have you ever wondered who invented blue jeans? Where did they come from and how have they evolved? Jeans are not new. In fact, the cloth known as denim has been around for hundreds of years. The history of denim and jeans is quite intriguing.

The word "jeans" goes back to 17th century Europe. The sailors of Genoa, Italy wore clothes made of the heavy material because it was so durable. The word "denim" came from France and was made in the small town of Nimes.

Jean material was made of a conglomeration of things until the 18th century when slave labor and plantations in the southern US turned cotton into a booming business. Industrial workers and farmers wore for fortitude and longevity. It stood up, where other fabrics failed. Money was scarce and the strong cotton denim material lasted longer than any other.

When gold was discovered in California in 1848, gold fever ran rampant. People arrived in droves to seek their fortune. Miners needed clothing that was made to last. Their choice, of course, was denim.

Leob Strauss left New York in 1853, destined for San Francisco. Upon his arrival, he established a wholesale business to supply clothes to the miners. At some point in time Leob changed his first name to Levi.

Miners had a lot of problems with the pockets of their jean tearing. It seemed they always separated from the jeans that were called waist overalls at that time. Jacob Davis came up with the idea of riveting pockets to jeans to alleviate this problem. He desperately wanted to patent his idea, but it was out of the question. He was flat broke.

Jacob wasn't about to give up. He knew his idea would revolutionize waist overalls forever. He decided to write Levi Strauss and offer him a deal if he would pay for the rivet patent. In 1872, Levi agreed and began manufacturing waist overalls with copper rivets to hold pockets securely.

Levi continued to improve on miner's clothing. In 1886, Strauss attached a leather label to his waist overalls that depicted a pair of jeans being pulled between two horses. This became the Levi Strauss logo.

In the 1930's, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and other cowboys became heroes of radio and the silver screen. Most of them wore jeans. Hundreds of people began wearing the waist overalls and the jean trend of today was born.

Though fewer jeans were manufactured during WWII, American soldiers who wore them when they were off-duty introduced them to the world. Levi Strauss began to export jeans and competitors such as Lee and Wrangler sprang up, wanting their share of the world market.

During the 1950's, teenagers began to rebel. James Dean wore blue jeans with his black leather jacket in the 1955 movie, Rebel Without a Cause. Teenagers went crazy over the denim waist overalls, but branded them as "blue jeans." Because of the craze and its connection to rebellion, denim was banned from many schools in the US and Canada.

The cold war and the hippies of the 1960's had a huge impact on the evolution of blue jeans. Flower children wore painted jeans, psychedelic jeans and embroidered jeans. No longer were jeans a plain, dark blue.

The 60's decade made jeans a symbol of Western rebellion. Levi's, Lee and Wrangler began receiving letters from people all over the world, asking them to send a pair of blue jeans to the author.

The 1970's brought a mood of complacency to world trade. Sweatshops sprang up in southern countries and blue jeans flooded the market, which caused a drop in price. The people who labored in these shops for a few cents a day were now able to afford them - and wear them they did.

Jeans became vogue in the early 1980's, with the development of designer jeans. Top fashion designers began to recreate jeans, making them classier. They put their names on the labels and blue jean sales increased dramatically. Everyone just "had to have" a pair of designer blue jeans.

During the 1990's a recession hit countries all over the world. Jean sales decreased. It just wasn't feasible to buy an expensive pair of jeans when it was a chore to keep food on the table.

The New Millennium has brought with more economical freedom and once again blue jean trends are changing. Stretch denim jeans are being snatched off the shelves as quickly as they can be stocked, because they're comfortable and flatter figures from the slimmest to the most mature. Today, stretch denim jeans are "in."

How will blue jeans evolve in the future? It's anyone's guess. However, the comfort and durability of jeans will continue to make them popular for many years to come. For more Fashion Tipsand trends, please visit us at Helpful Home Ideas.

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