Jeans fulfilled a different perceieved need for each each decade from the 1940s on. In the 1870s through the 1940s Jeans were originally intended for the poor/middle working class to use as a pair of working pants that would be durable and washable. There was a shortage of of good working pants and jeans filled this need during the the times when most Americans were working very hard for very little.
Loeb “Levi” Strauss saw the potential for jeans in the American manual laborer. He made a denim pant and sold these durable, washable and affordable pants to the people of the Gold Rush in 1849 (45). He advertised to the miners annd continued to sell out of his supply on a daily basis. At this point, jeans fulfilled the need of the massive influx of people for a well-rounded pair of pants to work in the gold mines (46).
Because of the huge numbers of people that migrated to California from various parts of the country, the efficient idea of jeans seemed to catch on in the West Coast in the beginning. After the Gold Rush era, some of the miners moved back to their homes before California while others stayed and wrote to their loved ones (47). Either way, denim’s popularity started to spread quickly. The popularity was bolstered by artificial blue dyeing in 1880s and again in the late 1920s when the Great Depression began (48). Again, people turned to the affordable and durable nature of these “working” pants. The people needed denim in the Great Depression for the same reasons they needed jeans in the Gold Rush era. There wasn’t much money to be spent so they had to invest in a pair of pants that could be 1) washed many times without ruining 2) affordable and 3) easily and comfortably worked in (49). Because the majority of Americans had little money, jeans were seen as a great choice for the rest of the family, as well.
In the 1950s, jeans filled the need of a youth culture looking to revolt. With the rise of celebrities like Elvis Presely, Marlon Brando and James Dean, the youth culture had a set of changing ideals different from their parents.Their ways of expressing themselves was through how they dressed and what music they listened to(50).
In the 1960s, during the Civil Rights Movement, people of America took the idea of jeans and changed them from a product of pop cultiure, to a political statement. They dyed their jeans light blues, greens and browns so to differentiate between who was “real” and who was “artificial”(51). They also softened their jeans from the stiff style of the 1950s(52). Some people saw jeans as a way to protest segregation and wore jeans because denim was popular among black Americans. This was the era that different races of people were brought together by this similar style of pants (53).
In the 1970s, music took a wide swing away from the rck ‘n’ roll of the 50s, and instead turned to Disco. Bell-bottoms were seen as the new, “hip” style of pants (54). Also in the 70s, designer jeans werre invented by pricing some pairs of pants upwards of $100. This filled the percieved gap in income classes by creating the same type of pants but making it a status symbol by it being more expensive (55).
In the 1980s, denim with rips, slashes and acid washes became the solution for the percived need of changning denim again. The people of the 1980s wanted a way to distinguish themselves from the rich (56). With the rise of the Punk Rock Movement in Europe, people in America took notice and started ripping and tearing their jeans. They also bleached out their jeans by “acid washing” them. This was a way to make a statement against the world excesses of the rich (57).
Through the 1990s and beyond, jeans nowfulfill a wide array of percived needs. Need a pair of pants for helping working on outside? Jeans. Going to school? Jeans. Whether it be helping Americans make a political statement, look fashionable (rich or poor) or simply looking for a pair of pants to wear, jeans have showed through their progressive years that they are the American pant (58).
