Language Matters | Where jeans and denim come from – the clues are in the names
- Jeans originated in the Italian city of Genoa, while denim comes from the French city of Nîmes, where weavers strived to replicate Genoa’s textile
- Wearing jeans on Denim Day, the last Wednesday of April, has become an international symbol of protest against victim blaming in sexual violence
The design, production, trade and use of denim span the globe, but the name, as with many fabrics, originates in the place it was once made.
From the 16th century, the northwest Italian port city of Genoa crafted a type of twilled cloth, notable for yarns of cotton instead of linen, hemp or wool, and indigo-dyed warp.
This durable, relatively inexpensive textile, which could withstand the damp, was used to make ships’ sails, cargo covers and trousers for sailors and the Genoese navy.
By the 17th century it had become a crucial textile for northern Italy’s working classes – this is attested in a series of 17th century paintings depicting everyday scenes of the poor wearing such fabric.
Meanwhile, in the southern French city of Nîmes, weavers – striving to replicate Genoa’s textile – developed a particularly sturdy fabric also of twill weave, with a natural white weft thread passing under at least two indigo-dyed warp threads.
These textiles were subsequently exported to northern Europe, Britain and North America – as were their names.
