Created first in Nîmes, France; denim was actually an accident! What they were trying to create was a different durable fabric called "serge" which were worn by shepherd's and farmers. Serge was a blend of wool and silk and while trying to replicate it, they instead used cotton and silk. The word "denim" is shorted from "de Nîmes" which literally translates "from Nîmes."
What is denim? Denim is a sturdy textile used to often make jeans, skirts, jackets and even purses! While it used to be made with either wool and cotton or cotton and silk; it's now almost entirely cotton based fabric that is stretched and weaved into the classic diagonal pattern you see in jeans today. Traditionally, the cotton was dyed with indigo dye to create the dark blue color that we often see and love. Today in the fashion industry, we still use indigo to dye our denim but we also use a sulfur-dye process to create other colored denim such as black and brown. Both process requires the fabric be dipped in dye, rinsed, let it oxidize (dip again if a darker color is needed) then the final wash! Voila! Now you have dyed denim.
Denim has a long history in the world, once used mainly for farmers and working class people, it slowly expanded into everyday fashion. Not only did it expand to who wore it (not just farmers, not just men), it opened up to how to wear it. First was jeans, then jackets, to skirts, dresses, even shoes! How to wear it has been destructed and reconstructed many times so that you can wear it however you
want! Because of this and its sturdy nature, denim has become one of the best sustainable fabrics for the world of fashion.
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