Denim: History and transition into tailoring

The history of denim jeans started in 1853 when Jacob W. Davis, a tailor in San Francisco, bought denim fabric from Levi Strauss to sew pants for a customer that had requested a pair of ‘sturdy pants that could withstand hard labor’. Davis added rivets to the areas where the pants ripped more often. When David wanted to patent the denim pants in 1873, he asked Levi Strauss to be his partner and the rest is history. Together they opened a factory and began producing denim jeans large scale. The famous 501 style was created in 1890 in an indigo blue that is still today, the most famous denim jean of all time.

A pair of jeans will perhaps always be considered a wardrobe staple and a part of the essentials. But, with a custom made approach, we can see jeans as far more than just a piece of casual clothing. In our eyes, they’re a canvas for self-expression, a love letter to sustainability, and a nod to quality craftsmanship. Making custom made denim, each pair will have the individuality and unique needs and preferences of each client in mind. When this blend with the ageing and unique patina that comes with wear, our view is that a pair of BLUGIALLO jeans can become the most important piece of clothing you own.

Custom made jeans is a rarity when it comes to denim. Blugiallo is one of very few brands that offer this exclusive service and option of creating your own, perfect denims, both according to your unique measurements as well as being able to choose the perfect denim fabric and design. A pair of custom made Blugiallo jeans will last you for years to come and it is one of our most appreciated products.

The Symphony of Measurements

The genesis of your personalized jeans begins with individual measurements. Forget the generic ready to wear sizing. In order to create a unique look and feel (just like the rest of your wardrobe), your jeans need to be custom crafted. For each client, we create a fit profile and adjust measurements like waist height and circumference, thigh, knee and hem widths, of course also the total length of the jeans. Whether you visit our showrooms or opt for our seamless 30-second Online Measurement, you can count on a unique fit. If you feel uncertain on the process, our style maestros are just a chat, call, or digital meeting away.

The Palette of Fabric & Design

To create a truly unique feeling, the choice of , fabric and design plays and important part. From raw selvedge with its authenticity and ruggedness to washed denim that offers comfort akin to your “dad jeans,” we offer a range of options to match your lifestyle and style preference. All of our denims are sourced from the world’s most renowned mills and range from the hallmark raw, selvedge denim to washed selvedge that wears extremely well with tailoring and ultimately the soft denim (with a touch of stretch).

The quality and construction of your jeans plays a very important part in creating a great product. When talking about a pair of high-quality jeans, there are mainly three categories or qualities of denim that you want to know about and that we offer. These are:

• Raw selvedge denim
• Washed denim
• Washed selvedge denim

Selvedge denim is the most premium and exclusive denim fabric available today. It’s produced on traditional shuttle looms with a weaving technique that creates tightly bound, finished self-edging. Selvedge denim jeans are usually produced from a white thread and carries a traditional ‘mark of excellence’ that can be seen with a red and white selvedge tab or styling detail, visible at the back pocket and when rolling up the trouser cuff. Raw denim, means that the fabric itself is unwashed and untreated, giving the wearer that traditional, rugged feeling that jeans had from the start. Raw denim is considered the most exclusive jeans option, especially amongst jeans connoisseurs. The raw denim will eventually fade with time and wash, giving the owner a truly unique patina on the jeans.

Washed denim gives you a very different feel, having been pre-washed and produced with a small amount of stretch is has a softer touch and super comfortable feel to it. We often refer to the washed denim as the ‘dad jeans’, being super soft and comfortable, resistant to wear, as well as still keeping a great look intact.

The washed selvedge denim, perhaps our favourite for wearing with tailored garments, is a mix of the softness of washed denim and the prestige and luxurious feeling of selvedge denim. They are pre-washed in order to create a softer touch than the raw denim. To summarize:

• Raw selvedge denim is the perfect choice for a rugged, authentic denim feeling and will create a unique patina with time.
• Washed denim is a very soft, slightly stretchy quality that works really well for casual occasions and as leisure wear.
• Washed selvedge is a hybrid, keeping the luxurious selvedge construction and mixing it with a pre-wash in order to create a perfect tailored jeans to wear both on and off work.

When we talk about the ‘construction’ of a garment, we refer to the way the product is made, with what materials, methods, and knowledge to create the best possible product. Our custom made, tailored jeans are to us approached the same way we create a beautiful, tailored jacket, with quality and craftsmanship in focus. We like to consider our tailored jeans, the equivalent of a “full canvas suit” considering the elements of historical and sartorial details that goes into making it. Some of the details and production elements that marks the craftsmanship are:

• Regular twin stitch
• Reinforced belt loops
• Chain stitch at the bottom of the hem
• Reece buttonhole
• Extra coin pocket with AMF stitching

To create the best possible tailored jeans, the raw material is extremely important. Therefore we only source the denim from the world most renowned denim makers. These include:

• Candiani denim (Italy)
• Bue Selvedge (USA)
• Kuroki (Japan)

Thanks to the dyeing process of denim, jeans can be produced in many colors. The natural blue denim color remains to be the most popular first choice for people in general though. Although the blue denim is also our favourite color because of its versatility, Blugiallo also offers a range of washed and raw, unwashed options for denim. This results in what we think is a perfect set up of colors options for your tailored jeans. To create the best possible look and to match with the rest of our understated luxury garments, we offer the following color options for our denim.

• Blue denim jeans
• White denim jeans
• Black denim jeans

These colors cover just about every situation and looks you would want to create with your tailored jeans. The blue jeans obviously offers the widest range of options, since the washing process makes the colors vary from light blue to dark blue and raw, unwashed qualities. In total we offer over ten different color or washes for our blue jeans. The blue jeans are wearable just about every day of the year and make up an important part of a well composed wardrobe.

The white denim jeans is a good option when you want a look that stands out a bit more than the regular blue jeans. White denim is a perfect choice for semi formal occasions and relaxed get together like an after work, dinner with friends or just a Saturday stroll in the city. A pair of white jeans will help to elevate the rest of your outfit in a nice way. White denims can be worn the year around, just the same as our blue jeans

The black denim is slightly overlooked in terms of tailored jeans. It is naturally a better fit to wear for fall & winter, because the rest of your garments are usually in a darker tone, for example dark brown or oliver green which works really well to pair with black jeans. A tone of tone look with black denim, black knitwear and a black flannel jacket is also a very cool look to create a casual, tailored look of understated luxury.

How to style your tailored jeans if of course and important question that often get from our customers. We usually also get question about:

• When can I wear my tailored jeans (in what situations)?
• Can I wear a jacket to my jeans?
• Which colors match my jeans in the best way?

Tailored jeans can be worn in a range of situations. Because of the measurements being perfected, and also the thoughtful process of creating a pair of custom made jeans, we can help our customers with these questions prior to their purchase. Jeans are more and more accepted into a variety of situations, and in general our rule is that jeans can be worn in any casual situation or private event that doesn’t have a dress code to it. The question often ends up with “what are you comfortable in wearing for that occasion”. Jeans should of course never be worn in formal or semi formal occasions and in general it is still considered an everyday, casual garment. In many countries and offices, it is still not accepted as a work outfit, but the differences, depending on country, company and culture are huge.

Jeans can definitely be worn with a jacket. The most important part to think about when doing so, is to have the correct measurements of your denim as well as selecting a jacket that is more on the casual side, preferably with a fabric that is brushed or has a lot of structure. Wearing a very formal jacket with a pair of jeans is not a good option, in fact this is a general rule of styling, to wear your garments with the same type of structure in both jacket, trouser and shirt or knitwear piece. This help in creating a harmony between the garments. In terms of measurements, the same rule goes. A jacket is not meant to be worn too tight, and if you want to pair your jacket with a nice pair of denims, make sure the measurements of your jeans aren’t too tight. Also make sure the waist isn’t too short (meaning the height of the waist) since it has to “meet” the jacket properly in order to create a nice balance between jacket and trouser.

When it comes to color choices for the denim itself, we prefer to keep denim in blue, white and black. These color options just about all the situations you might want to wear denim for. It also makes it possible to wear just about every color along with your denims. Blue denims is easy to match with a range of color, both for spring/summer and fall/winter. A general rule is that the darker the wash, the more you should look into darker shades and colors to match with your jeans. The same goes for lighter denim wash that in general looks better with more vibrant, lighter colors traditionally worn for spring and summer.

Denim

A sturdy cotton twill fabric characterized by its 3×1 warp-faced weaves. In this weave, the weft passes under two warp yarns producing the familiar diagonal ribbing, identifiable on the reverse of the fabric. Traditionally, denim is made with indigo-dyed yarn for the warp and natural (or more commonly bleached) yarn for the weft. Nowadays, denim is mostly associated with blue jeans.

Chain stitch

The traditional stitch used to hem jeans. It uses one continuous thread that loops back on itself and ends up looking like the links of a chain.

Coin pocket

Often confused as the fifth pocket of the quintessential jean, the coin pocket is also known as the watch pocket, and was actually part of the original Levi’s XX (501) design from 1873. The real fifth pocket, the left back pocket, was added almost three decades later in 1901.

Cotton

Cotton is the most widely known vegetable fibre, collected from the cotton plant. It has been used for over 7,000 years to make cloth, with first references found in Egypt. It withstands high temperatures and can therefore be boiled and hot pressed. It is abrasion resistant and gains 10% in strength when wet

Fabric Weight

Denim is graded in terms of weight per square yard of fabric, in three categories: light, medium and heavy. The material usually weighs from 5 oz. to 20 oz., although exceptions of extremes like 30 oz. do exist. Most jeans are made of 12 or 14 oz. denim. Lighter denim is mostly used on skirts, shirts and other garments.

Honeycombs

During the process of wearing a pair of jeans, the fabric around the knee area gets repeatedly scrunched with friction, which creates fading patterns that resemble the honeycombs of a beehive.

Inch

An American and British Imperial unit of size used to indicate the length and waist size of jeans. One inch is equal to 2.54 centimetres.

Indigo

Indigo is a natural pigment, originally used for dyeing denim yarn. The dye bath starts out with a white-green colour, which only turns blue once the textile is exposed to oxygen. The more often the fabric is dyed, the more dips it has had, and the deeper the blue becomes.

Jeans

Only since the 1950’s has the word jeans referred to a specific item of clothing: the jeans trouser with familiar features such as its stitched threads, rivets, five pockets and stitched back pockets. In the mid-18th century, the current spelling of jeans started to appear in England. The use of jeans (in plural) does not necessarily refer to the plural form of jean, but a derived form from the French spelling Jannes or Gênes.

Laundry

A laundry is a manufacturing company that washes, sandblasts or garment dyes jeans. Italy, Japan and the US lead the field in this industry because their techniques are the most advanced and are therefore the most influential in pushing fabric development.

Loom

A loom is a weaving machine that produces fabric by weaving vertical threads of yarn (warp) with horizontal threads (weft).

Left hand twill

A denim weave where the twill line rises to the left, usually resulting in a softer hand feel after washing.Also known as “S” twill.

Right Hand Twill

This weave form shows a twill line that rises to the right. The majority of denim is woven as right-hand twill, also known as “Z” twill

Recovery

A key element of stretch denim which informs about the extent to which the fabric returns to its original shape after being stretched to the maximum.

Raw Denim

The purest form of denim. It has not been washed or treated in any way and is therefore quite rigid.

Recipe (wash recipe)

A wash recipe is a set of finishing instructions that work in sequence to produce a specific vintage effect. These recipes can feature a long series of stages involving different abrading, baking, wrinkling, washing, bleaching and handwork steps. A wash recipe is created by both research and trial-and-error and is one of the hardest disciplines to master in the art of jean making

Rinse

A term that implies raw denim that is only rinsed, rather than being subjected to a full wash, and therefore keeps its rough, durable qualities.

Rivets

When Jacob Davis contacted Levi Strauss regarding acquiring a patent for his new invention, the patent was not for jeans. His invention was merely that he had reinforced a pair of pants with copper rivets. This of course made a huge difference for the common working man, who stuffed the pockets of his pants with rocks and various bric-a-brac to the point of actually breaking the pockets. The demand for riveted pants grew quickly, and this tiny little invention ushered in the original blue jeans era which is still alive and kicking today.

Selvedge Denim

Selvedge (UK) or selvage (US) is the technical term for the narrow and tightly woven self-finished edges that function as the natural endings on each side of fabric woven on an old school shuttle loom. In denim, the selvedge is usually white and often has a coloured thread in the middle, which was originally added to help manufacturers recognise the different qualities that they were producing for different clients. Selvedge fabrics are woven on narrow 28 to 30-inch shuttle looms that throughout the 70’s and 80’s were replaced by more efficient and wider 58 to 60-inch projectile looms. Although they produce denim fabric at a slower rate, the older, traditional “narrow loom” shuttle technology also produces more natural irregularities across the denim’s surface. These irregularities, in turn, come to life when subjected to special wash and wear-pattern recipes and can produce more beautiful finishing effects.

Stretch Denim

This refers to a denim hybrid. It is denim fabric made with a percentage of elastane, an elastic fibre, in the weft. This makes the model cling to the body thanks to its elasticity. Cone Mills was the first (American) mill to produce stretch denim back in 1962.

Tear & Repair

Tear & Repair is a specialized aging process where wear-pattern replication includes aggressive sections that constitute “tears” or “wear-throughs”. These areas are then repaired using a range of artisan techniques such as darning, back-patching and front-patching.

Whiskers

The thin horizontal fading lines you find in the crotch and thigh area of worn in jeans. Whiskers may also be referred to as a moustache or hige. Slim-fitting jeans tend to have tight, straight whiskers, while looser jeans usually have wide, more angled whiskers. Today, the majority of jeans are sold with pre-fabricated whiskers.

Worn-in-denim

Denim that has a faded and worn look, because of intensive, frequent wear or by means of artificial treatment.

Warp

The lengthwise, vertical yarns carried over and under the weft. Because they are subjected to more strain in the weaving process, warp yarns generally have more twist and are stronger than weft yarns. Warp is the yarn that runs parallel to the selvedge; in denim it is dyed indigo.

Weft

These yarns are subjected to less strain in the weaving process, and thus require less strength than warp yarns. In denim, this yarn is generally left a natural, un-dyed colour.

Twill

Twill is a weave technique that gives the fabric a characteristic pattern of diagonal lines. Twill weave is not limited to a certain type of material and can be applied to cotton, silk, linen, wool, or any combination of these materials. All twill fabrics consist of warp threads and weft threads. The warp threads run along the length of the fabric and the weft across the width. The way in which these threads are crossed determines the strength and look of the woven fabric. Thread quality and width also influence the fabric’s flexibility and sustainability. Denim fabric is traditionally woven using 3×1 twill, which refers to the number of weft threads per warp thread, as opposed to a more lightweight denim (under 10.5 oz.) with 2×1 twill. With a 3×1 fabric, the weft thread is woven three times over the warp thread, one time under, then again three times over the warp thread, and one time under, and so on. Weft Warp 21 / 21

Weave

Warp and weft yarns are combined in different ways to produce weave designs. These designs affect the appearance, feel, strength, and durability of the fabric.

Yarn

A continuous length of spun fibres. Through the process of weaving, it can be used to create fabric.

Yarn Dye

Denim is a yarn dye fabric, whereby the yarns are dyed before weaving.

Yoke

Also known as the riser, the yoke is the V-shaped section at the back of jeans that gives jeans their curved seat. The deeper the V, the greater the curve, and the cut of the yoke can range from straight to very V-shaped to no yoke at all.