Jacob Davisin created jeans in Nevada in 1873. He and Levi Strauss joined to patent the garment. In the 1970s, designer jeans became a "must have" and Gloria Vanderbilt began the association of jeans to glamour. Calvin Klein, in 1980, launched an ad campaign with actress and model Brooke Shields that made Calvin and his jeans a household name. By the 1990s, with the popularity of hip-hoppromoted baggy and loose jeans, companies such as Phat Farm and ECKO were naturally associated with this look. The turn of the century saw companies such as Diesel and Paper Denim competing in the jeans category, a forever-reinventing itself product.
See also Denim.
Historical Dictionary of the Fashion Industry. Francesca Sterlacci and Joanne Arbuckle.