Denim Fabric: Why Everyone's Wearing the Same Material

 

Denim Fabric: That One Thing We All Wear But Never Really Think About

So I'm sitting here looking at my jeans – the ones I've worn like three times this week already – and I'm wondering why the hell I keep reaching for the same pair. They're not even that special. Just regular Levi's I grabbed on sale last year. But damn if they don't feel right, you know?

That got me thinking about denim in general. We all wear it constantly but nobody really stops to ask what makes it so addictive. It's just... there. In your closet, on your body, probably on the person sitting next to you right now.

What Even Is Denim Anyway?

Honestly? It's just cotton that's been twisted and woven in a specific way. The blue threads go one direction, white threads cross over them the other way. That's literally it. Nothing fancy, nothing complicated.

Some French people in a town called Nîmes were making this stuff centuries ago. Called it "serge de Nîmes" which got butchered into "denim" when it hit America. Typical American move – can't pronounce it, just shorten it.

But here's what makes it different from regular cotton – that weaving pattern creates these diagonal ridges. Makes it tougher. Way tougher. Your cotton t-shirt falls apart after a year. Your jeans? Still going strong five years later with holes in all the right places.

Why We're All Obsessed With It

I've ruined so many clothes. Shrunk sweaters, stained shirts, ripped dress pants just sitting down too fast. But jeans? Man, those things take a beating and keep going.

Dropped pizza on them last week. Threw them in the wash. Good as new. Well, not new – they look better than new actually. That's the weird thing about denim. It's the only fabric where "beat to shit" is actually a compliment.

And nobody cares who you are or what you do – everyone wears jeans. I've seen billionaires in jeans. Seen homeless people in jeans. Seen kids, grandmas, punks, preps, literally everyone. It's the great equalizer or whatever.

You can throw on jeans with basically anything and walk out the door. Hoodie? Sure. Button-up? Works. Blazer? Yeah, why not. Try doing that with sweatpants. Doesn't quite land the same way.

The Different Kinds (Because Apparently There Are Different Kinds)

Okay so most of us just think jeans are jeans, right? Wrong. There's like a whole subculture of denim nerds out there and they care deeply about this stuff.

Raw denim is the hardcore version. It's stiff as a board when you buy it because they literally haven't washed it after dyeing. And these denim fanatics? They won't wash it for MONTHS. I'm talking six months, sometimes a year. They want these "sick fades" that supposedly show how they move and live or whatever.

Is that disgusting? I mean... yeah, kinda. But they swear it's fine. They spot clean, they air them out, they freeze them (which doesn't actually do anything but they believe it does). To each their own. I'm not gonna sit here and judge someone's jean hygiene too hard.

Selvedge denim – this is the expensive shit. Made on these old looms that create a finished edge instead of that regular frayed look. Costs way more but supposedly lasts forever.

The denim snobs LOVE showing off their selvedge. They'll cuff their jeans just so you can see that little line of colored thread on the inside seam. It's like their version of flexing a Rolex. "Oh this? Yeah it's selvedge. Japanese mill. You probably haven't heard of it."

Look, I'm sure it's great quality and all. But I'm not spending $400 on pants I'm gonna spill coffee on.

Stretch denim is what changed everything for regular people. They finally started mixing in some elastane so your jeans don't feel like you're wearing armor. Revolutionary idea – pants that let you bend your knees.

The purists hate stretch denim. They say it's not "real denim." But those same people are walking around in raw selvedge so stiff they can barely sit down, so I'm not taking fashion advice from them.

There's also lightweight stuff for summer and heavyweight stuff that's basically like wearing denim armor. Some people care about the ounce weight. I just care if they fit and don't make me sweat.

How They Actually Make This Stuff

They grow cotton, spin it into yarn, dye it blue. Then they throw it on these big looms that weave it all together in that diagonal pattern.

After that they do all this stuff to make it look worn-in – washing it, tumbling it with rocks, hitting it with sandpaper, bleaching spots. Basically beating the crap out of it so it looks like you already beat the crap out of it. Because brand new dark blue stiff jeans look terrible and nobody wants to wait two years for them to look good naturally.

These days some places use lasers instead of chemicals. Sounds cool. Probably better for the environment. I'm into it.

The History Part (I'll Keep It Short)

1873 – Levi Strauss and some tailor named Jacob Davis made work pants with metal rivets for miners. Miners kept destroying regular pants so they needed something tougher. Boom, blue jeans invented.

For like 80 years after that, jeans were just work clothes. Farmers wore them. Railroad workers wore them. Nobody thought they were cool.

Then James Dean and Marlon Brando wore jeans in movies and suddenly every teenager wanted them because their parents hated them. Best marketing strategy ever – make parents mad.

Jeans became this whole rebellion thing in the '60s. Then a fashion thing in the '80s. Then everybody just started wearing them for everything and now here we are. Jeans are boring in the best way possible. They're just normal now.

The Washing Thing (People Get Weird About This)

This is where denim people become absolutely insufferable.

Some of them say you should never – and I mean NEVER – wash your jeans. Just spot clean and freeze them. The freezer thing is bullshit by the way. Doesn't kill bacteria, just makes them cold for a bit. You need heat or soap for that.

Other people wash their jeans every time they wear them which seems excessive but whatever.

Here's what I do: wash them when they're actually dirty or start smelling funky. Inside out, cold water, hang dry. Takes like five seconds of extra thought and they last way longer.

If you spent a ton of money on fancy raw selvedge and you're trying to get those perfect fades, then yeah, wash them less. But if they're just regular jeans? Wash your damn pants. Life's too short to have a complicated relationship with laundry.

The Part Nobody Wants to Hear

Making denim destroys the environment. Uses thousands of gallons of water per pair. The dye ruins rivers. Some factories are basically sweatshops paying people pennies.

It sucks to think about because we all love jeans but the reality is pretty grim. Every pair you buy probably has some shady stuff in its history.

Some companies are trying to do better. Using less water, organic cotton, fair wages, cleaner dyes. Is it perfect? No. Is it better than the alternative? Yeah.

Or you could just buy vintage. Thrift stores are full of perfectly good jeans that already exist. Can't be bad for the environment if they're already made, right?

I'm not gonna sit here and preach because I still buy new jeans sometimes. But it's worth thinking about.

Why This Isn't Going Away

Trends die fast. Remember skinny jeans? Jeggings? Boot cut? Wide leg? Low rise? High rise? It all comes and goes and comes back and goes again.

But denim itself? That's forever.

My dad wore jeans. I wear jeans. Kids today wear jeans. This isn't changing anytime soon because nothing else does what denim does. It's tough, comfortable once broken in, looks decent on almost everyone, and you can wear it basically anywhere that's not a funeral or a wedding.

Plus your jeans become yours in a way other clothes don't. They fade where you put your phone and wallet. They wear out where you move. That rip in the knee? From when you ate shit on your skateboard sophomore year. That paint stain? From when you helped your buddy move and said you'd be careful but weren't.

Your jeans tell your story without you saying anything. Can't get that from khakis.

That's Pretty Much It

Denim's just fabric. Cotton woven a certain way, dyed blue, beat up a little. Nothing magical about it.

But somehow it works better than almost everything else in your closet. It lasts, it looks fine, it goes with everything, and it gets better the more you wear it.

Whether you're dropping $30 at Target or $300 on Japanese selvedge, you're buying basically the same thing. Just depends how much you care and how much money you've got to blow.

Wear your jeans till they fall apart. That's the whole point of them anyway.