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| Quick
-- how many pairs of jeans do you own?
Two, three, six? (Or, some that fit
and others that will
fit after you lose the Holiday weight?)
Americans love
their jeans! It doesn't matter what
your "socio-economic strata" or your
budget -- when you want to be comfortable,
you probably slip into your favorite
pair of jeans. These
sturdy blue slacks have gone around
the world as the ultimate "American
logo", spreading the news of our democratic,
equality-loving, comfortable society.
This week,
read more about how jeans made it from
the gold fields to your closet, and
how to make them look great enough to
go anywhere.
See you
soon!
Ed and Mary Longanecker
Iris City Cleaners and Laundering Company |
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Factoid
Levi
(Loeb) Strauss sold cotton denim fabric to tailor
Jacob Davis who made them into work pants
for his customers. When Davis hit on the idea
of installing metal rivets to strengthen the
pockets, he couldn't afford the $68 for a patent.
He approached Strauss
to split the cost and together they received
patent #139,121 for "An Improvement in Fastening
Pocket-Openings" on May 20, 1873 -- and blue
jeans were born. Source:
Levi Strauss & Co. website history.
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| Take
the Blue Jeans Challenge!
Sometimes
you wear jeans because you're going
to be lounging around or doing something
messy. But other times, you wear them
because you're going out, wearing them
to work with a jacket or otherwise want
them to look great. We can do that for
you far better than you can with your
home equipment. Have
$15 in regular drycleaning done, and
we'll professionally clean and finish
a pair of jeans at no charge.
(Include first
page of this e-mail with your order.
Offer expires 4/15/05. Cannot be combined
with other offers.) |
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Ahhhhh
-- I got the Blues!
Normally, "the blues"
is a serious condition. Not when it comes to
fashion. In many ways, blue jeans are so much
a part of the fabric of American culture that
they have taken on mythic significance. No
other fabric, no other garment has the power
to obliterate class distinctions and put us
all on a level footing like jeans.
There's a lot of debate
about where the words "denim" and "jeans" came
from (if you're dying to know, you can check
the Levi
Strauss website history section). What
is clear is that "blue jeans" have had lasting
significance and impact on fashions of
the 20th century and beyond. It's
a far better name than the original one for
the garment, which was "waist overalls"
!
The appeal of blue
jeans is in their comfort, durability, and versatility.
Being made of cotton, the fabric breathes well.
The thickness of the weaving strands makes jeans
rugged. Weaving
together white strands and dyed blue strands
means that, over time, your favorite jeans take
on that sublime fading that wins your heart
forever. (Seriously, is there any
other garment you would permit to get into the
state of the one at left, and still
wear it in public... regularly?) |
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Gold
in them thar Jeans!
We've all heard the
stories about Levi Strauss heading to the California
gold fields to supply goods to prospectors (the
real gold was in selling, not in panning.) Strauss
and his partner, Jacob Davis
(see Factoid above), had
a lock on cotton denim pants with rivet reinforcement
for about 20 years with their patent.
But once that patent expired, the real rush
was on for other companies to capitalize on
their design.
Still, jeans were considered
"work wear" and not at all chic. They were strong,
utilitarian pants -- and would have probably
stayed that way had not Hollywood intervened.
With the popularity
of the movies in the 1930s and '40s, millions
of people were exposed to tough, handsome, horse-riding,
jean-wearing cowboys on a regular basis.
Later, people vacationed at "dude ranches" and
brought home jeans.
After World War II,
with new prosperity and availability of consumer
goods, jeans took off in earnest. The
phenomenal appeal of people like James Dean
and Elvis gave jeans another boost -- right
into the teenage culture, where they took up
permanent residence. As Baby
Boomers have aged, Lycra has been a welcome
addition to the recipe for jeans, with its stretchable
comfort. (If you see a senior citizen wearing
jeans and think it seems odd, remember that
grandmother was probably a teen when jeans were
first widely accepted. What else should
she be wearing??)
In the 1960s,
jeans were personalized like crazy with embroidery,
lace and decorations. In the 1970s
and '80s,
they went upscale with designer labels and snob
appeal (and prices to match.) In the '90s,
they got bigger, baggier and low-slug, and some
had "aging" airbrushed on them (but most people
prefer to age their own.)You can still find
brands that fetch incredible prices (like Chanel
jeans with the logo on the back pockets created
of crystals and pearls, sold for over $1000).
But the comfortable
staple in most people's closets are generally
much less than $50 a pair -- which is why one
study estimates that 450 million pairs
of jeans are purchased in the US each year!
Read more
about it:
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We
are enormously appreciative of the opportunity
to share our weekly newsletters with you.
We feel that much of the content is valuable
for anyone who purchases fine clothing and is
interested in their preservations and cleaning.
Click on the symbol to the left if your
would like to send this and future newsletters
to a friend.
Thanks a million, Ed and Mary
The
Iris City Cleaners Connection
is a weekly news letter
dedicated to the interest of fine garment care, restoration,
and conservation. It is published in Mt
Pleasant, Iowa by Iris City Cleaners and is
an extension of our services described in www.iriscitycleaners.com
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