I learned a cool story about the history of jeans today on
Dinner Party Download (which is an entertaining public radio show and podcast).
Apparently, jeans were first invented 500 years ago in
Italy. They came from Genoa, which is
where they got the name (“Gene”). Kind
of like parmesan cheese from Parma. At
about the same time, they were also invested in France, in Nimes (de Nimes –
hence the name “denim”). Both were
popular among working people. Denim for manual laborers because they were
tough. Genes for office workers because
they were cotton.
But in 1873, Jacob Denis figured out that by using metal
rivets to attach the pieces, they wouldn’t fall apart under rigorous manual
labor. So he and his friend and fabric
entrepreneur Levi Strauss patented the idea and Levi’s waist overalls were
invented. They became really popular.
But as we see happening just as much today, the word “jeans”
was much more popular than “overalls”. So
the two of them gave in to popular demand and changed the name to Levi’s jeans.
But not until 1960, almost 100 years
later. That is stubborn!!! So the name jeans, from the Italian, is a
total misnomer because there is nothing in jeans that came from the Italian
product. But hey, that’s marketing.
A tradition at Dinner Party Download is that they ask a
bartender to make up a cocktail to match the story. Here is the “California Bleu Gene” (mixing
US, French, and Italian):
- 2oz of Cyrus Noble Bourbon (from Kentucky but with roots in California)
- .50oz of Pierre Ferrand Dry Curaçao (French and to make it blue)
- .25 of Santa Maria Amaro (Italian)
- on the rocks with an orange twist (for the rivets)
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