Halcyon days of denim – somewhere near where it all began, in the 1500s and 1600s

While a denim predecessor namely the dungaree has been produced in India for centuries, denim as it is now recognised was first produced in Genoa, Italy (and soon to follow also in Nimes, France).

Think Medieval Europe during the Renaissance (the 15th to 16th century). Think European trading ports. Think Genoa, a key maritime and military base, also a trading hub exporting materials throughout Europe. It was the Maritime Republic of Genoa in Liguria from the 11th century until 1797. A major commercial power, and also one of the financial centres of Europe at the time. The Genoese navy played a pivotal role here. The importance of the Genoese navy was recognised throughout Europe. There was ongoing rivalry with Venice for dominance in the Mediterranean sea. Genoa was then conquered by the first French Republic under Napoleon and annexed to the French empire in 1805, but then in 1815 was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia sometime after the defeat of Napoleon.

Genoa and ‘Geanes Fustian’

Genoa was famous for its ‘Geanes Fustian’, a coarse and hard wearing twill fabric made from a blend of cotton and linen and/or cotton and wool and was originally purposed as sailcloth. Later it was adopted by sailors as work wear and then also as clothing for poor people, because of its heavy duty wearability in harsh living conditions.

The Geanes Fustian was dyed with either Indigo or Woad, both plant-based dyes, Woad being the European grown substitute for Indigo (of the Indigofera Tinctoria plant grown in tropical climates such as South Asia, and South America).

The Geanes Fustian fabric also became a staple for sailors in the Genoese Navy and through them it was popularised leading to its export to France and the UK.

From the 1800s it also became known as ‘blue de Genes’ (blue from Genoa, ‘Genes’ being Genoa’s French name). The term ‘jeans’ first appears in 1795 when a Swiss banker called Jean-Gabriel Eynard and his brother Jacques went to Genoa to start textile affairs, and started furnishing General Massena’s troops with uniforms cut from blue cloth called ‘bleu de Genes’.

The English on the other hand also imported a ‘cloth from Jeane’ (from Genoa) as early as the 1600s to make farmers overalls. The fabric content of bleu de Genes evolved such that by the mid 1800s it will have been closer to 100% cotton.

Right up to the end of the 1700s the ‘jeans’ fabric will have been hand-woven on hand-looms, and the yarn making up the threads will have been hand-spun on spindles, such as in a spinning wheel or spinning jenny.

Then from the 1800s right through to the early 1980s the fabric will have been woven on power operated shuttle-looms, and the yarn still either hand-spun (on a spinning wheel, or a spinning jenny), or from the 1850s on power-operated ring-spinning machines such as the Ring Frame - turning the raw material (cotton) into thread by a similar action (as in the spinning wheel) of rolling the fibres into shape via spindles, delivering the same compactness, quality and integrity of yarn- as in the traditional method of the spinning wheel.

Garibaldi

Giuseppe Garibaldi, a former Ligurian (Genovese) sea captain, also credited as one of the founding fathers of modern Italy, cuts an impressive figure in his ‘bleu de Genes’ that was part of his uniform and also his signature style, as it was for his naval colleagues.

Natural indigo (as seen here, and in the picture of Garibaldi in his red shirt and jeans below) is typically of a lighter blue colour than the deeper hue of the synthetic indigo used today - synthetic indigo being the go-to method for dying denim since the beginning of the 20th century.

Notice you can almost see the depth of cast and also texture in the dyed fabric here.

Cross reference that with a note from a Times correspondent who said, writing from the south of Italy on 13th September 1860,

“I had my first interview with a disinterested and brave liberator of Italy in his red shirt, a dirty pair of jean trousers and worn out boots”.

And you can begin to get a sense of jeans then as in real terms the equivalent of what would be today premium denim close to $300 at retail- but without the cachet (that you get today).

Albeit they were still begrudgingly accepted as a bona fide workwear staple, even for a high-ranking officer (or a General) - and that’s no doubt something to do with some latent appreciation of its inherent, dyed-in-the-wool fabrication (no pun intended).