Denim A sturdy cotton textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. The most common denim is indigo denim, in which the warp thread is dyed, while the weft thread is left white. As a result, one side of the textile is dominated by the blue warp threads and the other side is dominated by the white weft threads. This causes blue jeans to be white on the inside. The indigo dyeing process, in which the core of the warp threads remains white, creates denim's signature fading characteristics. Denim initially gained popularity in 1870s when Jacob W. Davis, a tailor from Nevada, manufactured the first pair of denim pants upon customer's request to make a pair of strong working pants for her husband who was a woodcutter. He started to work for Levi Strauss, and the rest is history. |