jeans

Denim trousers, traditionally blue, originally cut from jean cloth (‘jene fustian’), a heavy canvas made in Genoa, Italy. In the 1850s Levi Strauss, a Bavarian immigrant to the USA, made sturdy trousers for goldminers in San Francisco out of jean material intended for wagon covers. Later a French fabric, serge de Nîmes (corrupted to ‘denim’), was used. Denim jeans became fashionable casual wear in the 1950s in the USA and have since been produced in a wide variety of styles by many designers.