Denim's Golden Age (Part 2)

Before the mid 1950s selvage denim was the norm, every pair of jeans was made off of shuttle looms that produced 29” wide denim finished with white selvage. It wasn’t till the 1980s that this method of making denim was reestablished. What happened to the last 30 years in regards to selvage denim? Well, it all started with the growing demand for jeans after the great depression in the 1940s and 50s. Up until the 40s jeans were seen as work wear, nothing more. Jeans were the everyday wear of the blue-collar worker, everything from miners to railroad conductors. They all supported the denim.

[Picture taken from Denim Design Lab]

The war changed the world’s perception of the blue jean.
When war broke out over-seas, almost every manufacturer answered their call of duty by making products for the cause Levis was no different. Enlisted men were supplied with one pair of Levis Dungarees. When men were off duty and dressed in their civilian’s clothes they were most likely wearing Levis. (This was the world’s first introduction to blue jeans, and the need for them was instantaneous.) To save on thread Levis painted their iconic arcuates on their back pockets, this may have been where a certain fanatical denim company called Evis later changed to Evisu got their idea for painting their gulls on the back pockets.

Let’s skip ahead to 1945, the troops are home and they’ve now adopted jeans as their “civi” clothes. Jeans, still held the connotation for being worn for the dirty work, but would soon become a cult phenomenon that would change the denim industry into what it is today.
Levis and other denim companies saw a new market to fit so they advertised accordingly. Instead of seeing adverts specifically geared towards workers you see them shift to families.

[Picture taken from Denim Design Lab]

Where better to make your mark on the world then in Hollywood? Marlon Brando and James Dean are two of the most well known movie stars to be seen wearing blue jeans on the silver screen. The roles these stars played perpetuated a stereotype that had been attached to the blue jean. They were rebellious. Who ever wore blue jeans was making a statement…they were against the establishment.

[Picture taken from Denim Design Lab]

The cult classic was born. The need for blue jeans spread like wildfire.
It was only when the demand for denim was greater then the mills production abilities that they ditched the old looms in order to make room for the newest manufacturing marvel, the open-end loom or OE loom which was designed to produce up to 60” of denim per yard versus the vintage shuttle looms 29” per yard.

A world thirsty for denim saw no need for selvage, so the shuttle looms were stored, trashed and shipped overseas where they lay dormant awaiting their day to spark a whole new kind of cult…the classics revival.