Denim: Difference between revisions

Denim has been used in the USA since the mid 19th century.<ref name="BBC">{{cite news|url= http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17101768 |work=BBC News |title=How jeans conquered the world |date=28 February 2012 |first=Stephanie |last=Hegarty |accessdate=25 August 2015}}</ref> Denim initially gained popularity in 1873 when [[Jacob W. Davis]], a tailor from Nevada, manufactured the first pair of “rivet-reinforced” denim pants.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|title = Fashioning the historical body: the political economy of denim|url = http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10350331003722851|journal = Social Semiotics|date = 1 June 2010|issn = 1035-0330|pages = 293–308|volume = 20|issue = 3|doi = 10.1080/10350331003722851|first = James B.|last = Salazar}}</ref> At this time, clothes for Western labourers, such as teamsters, surveyors, and miners, were not very durable.<ref name=":0" /> His concept for making reinforced jeans was inspired when a female customer requested a pair of durable and strong pants for her husband to chop wood. When Davis was about to finish making the denim jeans, he saw some copper rivets lying on a table and used the rivets to fasten the pockets. At this time, clothes for Western labourers, such as teamsters, surveyors, and miners, were not very durable.<ref name=":0" /> Soon, the popularity of denim jeans began to spread rapidly and Davis was overwhelmed with requests. He soon sold 200 pairs to workers in need of heavy work clothing.<ref name=":0" /> Nevertheless, because of the production capacity in his small shop, Davis was struggling to keep up with the demand . He then wrote a proposal to the dry goods wholesaler [[Levi Strauss & Co.]] that had been supplying Davis with bolts of denim fabric.<ref name=":0" /> Davis’s proposal was “to patent the design of the rivet-reinforced denim pant, with Davis listed as inventor, in exchange for certain rights of manufacture”.<ref name=":0" /> Levi Strauss & Co. was so impressed by the possibilities for profit in the manufacture of the garment that they then hired Davis to be in charge of the mass-production in San Francisco.<ref name=":0" />