Why are jeans called jeans and not denim pants / trousers?

Answer 1

"Jeans" comes from 'Genoese' the name for Italian sailors of Genoa who when at sea dressed in blue fabric.
"Denim" derives from the English translation of the South of France French phrase 'serge de Nîmes'.

Answer 2

The earliest known pre-cursor for jeans is the Indian export of a thick cotton cloth, in the 16th century, known as dungaree. Dyed in indigo, it was sold near the Dongarii Fort near Mumbai. Sailors cut it to suit them. [1]

Jeans were first created in Genoa, Italy when the city was an independent republic and a naval power. The first were made for the Genoese Navy because it required all-purpose trousers for its sailors that could be worn wet or dry, and whose legs could easily be rolled up to wear while swabbing the deck. These jeans would be laundered by dragging them in large mesh nets behind the ship, and the sea water would bleach them white. The first denim came from Nîmes, France, hence de Nimes, the name of the fabric. The French bleu de Gênes, from the Italian blu di Genova, literally the "blue of Genoa" dye of their fabric, is the root of the names for these trousers, "jeans" and "blue jeans", today.

In the 1850s Levi Strauss, a Bavarian dry goods merchant living in San Francisco, was selling blue jeans under the "Levi's" name to the mining communities of California. One of Levi's customers was Jacob Davis, a tailor who frequently purchased bolts of cloth from the Levi Strauss & Co wholesale house. After one of Jacob's customers kept purchasing cloth to reinforce torn trousers, he had an idea to use copper rivets to reinforce the points of strain, such as on the pocket corners and at the base of the button fly. Jacobs did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Levi suggesting that they both go into business together. After Strauss accepted Davis's offer, on May 20, 1873, the two men received patent #139,121, a patent for an "Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings", from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and the blue jeans, as we know them today, were born.


[edit] Jeans in popular culture

[edit] Blue jeans

Copper rivets for reinforcing pockets are a characteristic feature of blue jeans.Initially blue jeans were simply sturdy trousers worn by workers. In the United States during the 1950s, wearing of blue jeans by teenagers and young adults became symbolic of mild protest against conformity. This was considered by some adults as disruptive; for example, some movie theaters and restaurants refused to admit patrons who wore blue jeans. During the 1960s the wearing of blue jeans became more acceptable and by the 1970s had become a general fashion in the United States, at least for informal wear. Notably, in the mid-1960s the denim and textiles industry was revolutionized by the introduction of the pre-washing craze. Entrepreneur and noted eccentric, Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta developed the technique to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Denim suddenly became an attractive product for all age groups and Freeland became one of the most important innovators in the history of denim and denim products. Acceptance of jeans continued through the 1980s and 1990s to the point where jeans are now a wardrobe staple, with the average North American owning seven pairs.

In Eastern Europe, blue jeans symbolize American culture and "the good life". Being imported American products, especially in the case of the Soviet Union which restricted hard currency imports, they were somewhat expensive. In Spain they are known as vaqueros or "cowboys" and in Chinese, jeans are known as niuzaiku (SC: 牛仔裤), literally, "cowboy pants" (trousers), indicating their association with the American West, cowboy culture, and outdoors work.

Answer 3

not sure. and why do people say "those jeans"? how is it "those" if the jeans are only one unit of clothing?

Answer 4

I don't know but it probably started as a brand name.