From blue to green, jeans have colorful past, future
By Robyn J. Whrritt Special to the Kansan
It all started in 1853 when Levi Strauss opened his San Francisco wholesale business.
Carl Leuschen, Houston, Texas,junior, and Brian Stebbins, Lawrence junior, model their favorite jeans.
In 1872, Jacob Davis, a Nevada tailor, suggested to Strauss that the company should make work pants with rivets to reinforce the seams. Production of riveted blue denim jeans and jackets began in 1873 after Strauss hired Davis. The business later became Levi Strauss & Co.
Amy Solt/ KANSAN
Today, it is rare to find a pair of jeans around that do not have rivets, although they come in any shape, style, or color imaginable.
Blue jeans are the standard style in fashion, but recently jeans have gained popularity in colors anything from black and green to purple and stone-washed blue.
color to suit any fashion wardrobe.
Some KU students buy colored jeans because they like them and they want to add some life to their wardrobe.
The J.C. Penney Co. Inc., 1801 W.23rd St., received a shipment of colored jeans this fall and a shipment of natural-colored jeans for the spring.
Doug Bradley, Hays junior, said he was planning to purchase a pair of tan jeans to wear specifically with a red Polo shirt and a denim shirt.
But colored jeans are not new. Levi Strauss & Co. was one of the first companies to produce and sell jeans with color.
Tina Roberts, senior merchandise manager, said earth-toned, natural-colored jeans are the latest craze this spring. Colors include tan, beige, earth green, brown and bleached jeans. Jeans are available in any
Kay McDonough, assistant archivist for Levi Strauss & Co. in San Francisco, said that between 1905 and 1911 the company began making black and gray jeans for men. Then in the '50s and '60s, both men and women wanted colored jeans.
During these decades, the colors of olive green, gray, brown and forest green became popular. Burgundy jeans were produced in 1966. Levi's stone-washed and white-washed blue jeans were popular in the 1980s.
The Gap began producing and selling colored jeans three years ago. Sheryl Clark, the Gap's historian in San Bruno, Calif., said that their colors were determined by the season.
Kristina Pruitt, Overland Park junior, said she bought a pair of Gap natural-colored
green jeans this spring.
"I bought them to go with all the shirts I own that have green in them," she said.
Jeans have come a long way since Levi
Strauss & Co. produced his first work pants 141 years ago. But at the rate of their present popularity, they could be around for a long time to come.