Blue Jeans were invented back in 1873 by Jacob Davis and Levi Straus. These were first designed to be ‘waist overalls’ and marketed as ‘work pants’. The term ‘Jeans’ didn’t become commonly used until the 1960s.

During my youth there were actually only three major brands to choose from. Levis, Wranglers and Lee. These were available in dark indigo blue which would wash out and stain anything else that they were washed with. Levis were famous for introducing their ’shrink to fit’ jeans which you would wear in the bath in order to shrink them to your size.

It was back in the 1970s that it became fashionable to wear worn and faded jeans and this led to the development of a whole new industry selling second hand jeans. This trend really took off in the 1980s with a very popular Levis 501 advertising campaign.

People who loved the worn look no longer had to resort to a scrubbiing brush to get the worn and faded look. Fashionable shoppers could now purchase pre-worn and faded Levis 501 jeans that had the faded and sometimes torn look that they were after. Many shoppers were completely oblivious to the fact that all these old 501s had come from American prisons where they were the standard clothing.

Today there must be hardly a single person below the age of 55 who doesn’t own at least one pair of jeans. The average American teenager is thought to have about six pairs of jeans.

And they are no longer restricted to only a few brands. Most major clothing brands today have their own range of Jeans and denim. My personal favourites are Fat Face Jeans from the popular Fat Face range of outdoor, surf and ski clothing. The outfit that I like to wear for any occasion is a pair of Fat Face Jeans teamed with a comfortable Fat Face Hoodie. Not really appropriate for serious business meetings but immensely comfortable, practical and very affordable.