If you’re like most Americans – or most people on earth – you have a pair of jeans, or maybe five, in your wardrobe. There’s a decent chance you’re wearing jeans right now. These humble pants were invented by a Reno tailor in the 1870s in response to a frustrated customer whose husband kept wearing through his pants too quickly. How, then, did they become a global phenomenon expected to exceed $100 billion in sales by 2025? Joining me to help answer that question is historian, writer, and screenwriter, Dr. Carolyn Purnell (https://www.carolynpurnell.com/), author of Blue Jeans (https://bookshop.org/a/34046/9781501383748).
Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag (https://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html), composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The mid-episode music is “Blue Jeans (https://www.loc.gov/item/jukebox-39223/),” composed by Josef Pasternack and performed by the Peerless Quartet in 1921; audio is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress National Jukebox. The episode image is “Five Idaho farmers, members of Ola self-help sawmill co-op, in the woods standing against a load of logs ready to go down to their mill about three miles away (https://www.loc.gov/item/2017774037/),” photographed by Dorothea Lange in Gem County, Idaho, in October 1939 for the Farm Security Administration; the image is in the public domain and available via the Library of Congress.
Additional Sources:
“ The Origin of Blue Jeans (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/the-origin-of-blue-jeans-89612175/) ,” by Joseph Stromberg, Smithsonian Magazine, September 26, 2011. “ The History of Denim (https://www.levistrauss.com/2019/07/04/the-history-of-denim/) ,” Levi Strauss & Co., July 4, 2019. “ Riveted: The History of Jeans [video] (https://www.pbs.org/video/riveted-the-history-of-jeans-giam2l/) ,” PBS American Experience Season 34, Episode 1, February 7, 2022. “ Durable and enduring, blue jeans turn 150 (https://www.npr.org/2023/05/21/1177391804/blue-jeans-150-years-old) ,” by Jessica Green, NPR Weekend Edition Sunday, May 23, 2023. “ Behind 150 years of the world’s most famous denim jeans (https://vogue.sg/levis-501-150-year-anniversary-paul-o-neill-tracey-panek-interview/) ,” by Gordon Ng, Vogue Singapore, May 3, 2023. “ How Denim Became a Political Symbol of the 1960s (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/denim-political-symbol-1960s-180976241/) ,” by Brandon Tensley, Smithsonian Magazine, December 2020. “ Throwback Thursday: Levi’s — Right For School? (https://www.levistrauss.com/2015/09/24/throwback-thursday-levis-right-for-school/) ” Levi Strauss & Co., September 24, 2015.
Episode link: https://play.headliner.app/episode/19212902?utm_source=youtube
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