Denim Community
From Mod Mania
DENIM COMMUNITY
What is Denim?
Cotton and blue indigo dye
Denim is a fabric that we use to make a pair of jeans. In the early 16th century, denim was made of cotton and wool1, but after the Levi Straus Company born, denim was made of cotton only. The blue color of blue denim is from the indigo plant. Basically the blue denim is formed from the cotton that colored with indigo dye.
evolution of raw jeans;washed jeans
There are 2 basic types of jeans we have known today. The first one is the raw or dry jean. They are basically an unwashed pair of jeans, so when we are wearing raw jeans it will age naturally depending on our daily activity. The second one is washed jeans, these jeans are already washed in the factory, and usually they already have worn out look.
History of Denim
The history of denim or jeans began in 16th century when some craftsman in Turkey made the first pair of jeans. The jeans were used to be sailor pants. In fact Colombus the great sailor from Italy was used denim for his sails over a hundred of years.
Loeb Strauss, founder of Levi Strauss; the first pair of Levis Jeans
In 1853 Loeb Strauss, later known as the founder of Levi Strauss began the first mass-produce jeans. He was supplying jeans and clothes for the mineworkers in California. Levi Strauss was invented a lot of features and details of jeans. For example, they invented to use metal rivets to hold the pockets and the jeans together. It was a great solution due to complain from the mineworkers who always found that the pockets were easily to rip off.
one of Hollywood movie featured James Dean wearing jeans; Different cuts of jeans
19th century might be the golden century of jeans. Jeans were very popular and many jeans manufacturers were born. In 1900s Jeans were not just used as work wear, but also as daily clothes. In 1950s Jeans were also become the fashion icon. One of the factors was the development of film industry, where there were a lot of Hollywood movies featured the actors or actresses wearing jeans. In 1900s the variety of new jeans cut or silhouette was invented, such as skinny, relaxed fit, slim fit, boot cut, etc.
The hype of jeans in 20th century is still continuing. There are more brands that offers different kind of jeans, whether the details, cuts, colors, and fabrics.
Denim Community
As mentioned above about the jeans, the hype of jeans is still going until now. These days denim lovers are not just wear the jeans, they also gather together to make a community. The denim community basically is a group where there is a bunch of denim or jeans lovers gather together. They share experiences and knowledge about denim in the community. There are many denim communities that exist, such as Superdenim, Mynudies, Denimology, INDIGO (Indonesian Denim Group), Denim Heads, and many more. Most of them are online communities.
The membership in a denim community is not restricted only for people who have a lot of experiences and knowledge about denim, or for people who own fancy jeans. Denim communities open for anyone, it could be for people who love denim but have not got one, people who have no idea about denim, and people who want to learn more about denim.
Denim community usually has some activities to maintain and tighten the relationship between one member and others. Gatherings, online forums, blogs, Facebook pages, and denim exhibitions are some of denim community’s activities. These activities are very important to keep the community alive. The denim community activities are not just all about denim and jeans, it could be social activity, such as helping poor and homeless people and collecting some money to help the victims of natural disasters.
Gathering
Gathering held by INDIGO (Indonesian Denim Group)
Some of the denim communities hold gatherings, where the members can gather together to share their experience or knowledge about jeans and denim. Usually they meet in a meeting point such as café, restaurant, bar, etc. Then they could gather together to talk about jeans or anything else. Some of denim communities usually hold the gathering once a month or once a week.
Online forums
Online forums might be the most important activity in a denim community. Most of the denim communities were born from online forums, such as Superfuture, Kaskus, Styleforum, Mynudies, Hypebeast, etc.
In the online forums the denim community could have their own section or threads to discuss all about denim. The threads may discuss about different brands of jeans, new jeans, the evolution of jeans, and many more. Some of denim community such as INDIGO (Indonesian Denim Group) has their own website and online forum. The advantage of a denim community to have their own forum is to make the discussion about denim more specific. It also helps the denim community to run independently.
Some of denim communities also have their own page in other websites, such as facebook, blogspot, and twitter. These pages are very helpful to keep the communication within the community. It also helps the members to keep up to date to the latest news about denim.
Denim Exhibition
Wall of Fades, denim exhibition held by INDIGO
One of local brand stand at Wall of Fades
One of denim community in Indonesia named INDIGO (Indonesia Denim Group) has their own way to tighten the relationship within the community. One of the ways is to hold a denim exhibition. In this exhibition INDIGO shows a bunch of worn out jeans. They also open local brand stands and give opportunity to local brands to show and sell their jeans. The exhibition is very helpful, because the exhibition is open for public so anyone can come. It also supports the local brands, and encourages them to produce the best jeans for the local market.
Denim Contest
Blue in Green and Warehouse Denim Contest
The winner of Blue in Green and Warehouse Denim Contest
Another denim community’s activity that quiet popular recently is a denim contest. Denim contest basically is a competition between the community’s members. The rules is simple, all the participants have to wear an identical pair of raw jeans in a period of time. The winner will be the ones with the best natural fade. The participants also have to keep the progress of the jeans up by putting the progress photos in the online forums.
In conclusion, jeans are not just something that you wear everyday. There are so many things behind these blue pants. There are so many details and interesting histories. By joining or making denim community we could share our experience and knowledge about denim to other people. We could share what we know about this amazing fabric to other people who do not know anything about it.
References
Blue in Green, 2009, Warehouse Worldwide Contest, viewed 21 August 2010, http://blueingreensoho.com/site/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=184&Itemid=
Dj-Jax, 2010, Common Denim Questions, The Denim Thread, viewed 21 August 2010, http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/showthread.php?t=2760729
Oki-ni, 2010, History of Denim, viewed 21 August 2010, http://www.oki-ni.com/page/thehistoryofdenim
Pot Meets Pop Denim, 2010, Pot Meets Pop Denim @ Wall of Fades, viewed 21 August 2010, http://potmeetspopdenim.blogspot.com/2010/02/wall-of-fades.html
Rakuten, 2010, FULLCOUNT 1100-09 full count cotton jeans Tea Limited War Model 200, viewed 21 August 2010, http://en.item.rakuten.com/vintage/fc1100-09/
Retroflux, 2009, Indonesian Denim Group, FAQs, viewed 21 August 2010, http://www.darahkubiru.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=18
Ruano, L, 2009, Levis Venom Lights oz Sanderys Light Washed Denim, viewed 21 August 2010, http://hypebeast.com/2009/06/levis-fenom-light-oz-sunderys-light-washed-denim/
Sabbah, H, 2005, World’s Oldest Levi’s Jeans? , Viewed 21 August 2010, http://sabbah.biz/mt/archives/2005/05/19/worlds-oldest-levis-jeans/
Wahyu, T, 2009, Why Denim, viewed 21 August 2010, http://www.darahkubiru.com/2009/05/why-denim/
Wolverine, 2009, Levis Capital E Jeans: 10th Most Expensive Jeans, viewed 21 August 2010, http://www.bayareabags.com/apparel/levi-capital-e-jeans-10th-most-expensive-jeans.html
