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ACID WASH
A very successful wash and a controversial issue. World famous, acid
wash was first commercialized by the Italian firm Rifle, at Inter-Jeans in 1986. It turned
into a boom and proliferated in a number of variations, but the process was actually
patented by the Italian Candida Laundry Company the same year. It consists of soaking
pumice stones with chlorine and using their abrasive power to bleach jeans into sharp
contrasts. Also known as moon, fog, marble, ice and frosted.
AMERICAN CLOTH
A light-weight, plain-weave fabric, usually of cotton, coated on one
side with a mixture of linseed oil and other materials so as to render it glossy and
impermeable to air or water.
ANGORA YARN
Fibre from the angora rabbit. Note The hair of the angora goat is known
as Mohair.
ANTIQUE
A denim finish achieved through sanding and washing, which gives an aged
look to the garment. Antique is also a type of ring denim in which the yarn is strongly
uneven.
AUTHENTIC
A finishing process similar to vintage, using stonewashing or a
cellulose enzyme wash, with or without bleach, for an old and worn look. Also a type of
ring fabric in which the ring yam has evident slubs.
Also, a jeanswear adjective that became a marketing buzzword in the
early '90s as the quest for original denim qualities swept the European market. Among the
characteristics of "authentic" jeans are traditional fabric weaves and finishes
and jeanswear styling details.
BACK POCKET FLASHER
Paper or cardboard flap attached to the right back pocket of jeans, used
as a means of communicating the difference between denim fabrics, finishing, shapes and
sizes. A strategic marketing tool, it also expresses a jeanswear brand's image, featuring
illustrations, copy and graphics that evoke such themes as western-style, American '50s,
eco-consciousness, romance and high-tech.
BALL WARPING
A step in denim making in which the individual threads formed at
spinning are combined for further processing. The yarn threads are pulled together into a
single continuous strand and wound onto a wooden beam called a "ball warp."
BANDANNA
A colorful printed handkerchief complementing any jeans look. From the
Hindu "bandhnu," for a primitive tie-dye technique. Cowboys' bandannas were
brightly colored squares tied around the neck or face to keep out dust. In the U.S. during
the '50s and '60s they resurfaced with the revival of cowboy style. The '80s saw another
comeback thanks to music idols Bruce Springsteen and Little Steven, who wore bandannas,
typically printed in red and white or blue and white, wrapped around their heads. Also,
Milan's Pan liked them at the neck or wrist or as he and in the '90s, rappers kept them
tied under their baseball caps.
BAR TACKS
Closely spaced stitches that connect to form a band or a bar that
reinforces the comers and edges of pockets, seams, tucks, belt loops and buttonholes.
BASICS
Easy pieces and perennial commercial favorites, including the five
pocket jean, the western-style jacket, the western shirt and the bib 'n' brace.
BELL BOTTOM
A jeans style born in the late '60s, '70s. Tight at the waist (sometimes
lowered) and at the thighs, the trousers flare out from the knee to make a comeback at the
end of the ‘80’s, but didn’t quite catch on.
BELT BUCKLE
Indispensable complement to any western or jeanswear look. Though
seemingly ornamental, its origins are practical: The hardships of western life called for
comfortable but well-fitting pants. Consequently, strong leather belts and sturdy buckles
became "vital" goods. As embroidery, studs and geometrical applications were
added to belts, decorations started enriching buckles with the scenes of life in the
fields.
BELT LOOPS
Standard feature added to jeans when the belt replaced suspenders as the
preferred method of holding up pants. Regular jeans have five to seven belt loops; others
have double belt loops or additional loops at the back. Wrangler boasts extra wide belt
loops to accommodate a trophy style western belt. Levi Strauss added belt loops to the 501
in 1922, though the suspender buttons remained until 1937.
BESPOKE
Descriptive of a tailored garment made to an individual customer's
specifications.
BLACK CHANGE BLUE
Denim fabric made with black over dyed indigo warp yarn, it
"fades" into deep blue after a number of washings.
BLACK DENIM
A denim weave using black yarn rather than indigo. It fades to deep gray
or to salt & pepper and has become a classic color for jeans, preferred by tough urban
guys and girls. Wrangler claims to have been the first to introduce black denim back in
1950, producing the outfit for American TV character and rodeo hero Hopalong Cassidy.
BLAZER CLOTH
Traditionally an all-wool woven fabric for apparel, in either solid
colors or stripes, that may be milled and/or raised. Imitation blazer cloths introduce
cotton in the weft. The term may be used loosely for other fabrics for blazers.
BLEACH
Essential ingredient in giving denim a faded look. Bleaching can be
achieved with Hypochloride of Sodium or Potassium Perinanganate. The latter can leave a
yellow tint that purists don't like. (Pinto Wash Denim)
BOOT LEG
A popular jeans style in which the pants' leg is wide enough to
accommodate a pair of cowboy boots underneath.
BOOK CLOTH
Fabrics of many qualities, used by bookbinders. They are generally of
plain weave, usually colored, heavily filled, and calendared or embossed between hot
rollers.
BOTANY WOOL
A term applied to tops, yarns and fabrics made from merino wool. The
term originated from Botany Bay in Australia.
BRILLANTINE
A dress cloth of cotton warp and lustre worsted weft. It generally of
plain weave, but jacquard designs are sometimes used.
BROAD CLOTH
A fabric made from fine woollen yarns in a twill weave heavily milled
and given a dress-face finish. It is usually in dark colors.
BROCADE
A figured fabric, usually of single texture, in which the figure is
developed by floating the warp threads, or both, and interlaced in a more irregular order.
BROKEN TWILL
Denim weave invented by John Neil Walker and first used by Wrangler in
its Model 13MWZ in 1964. The fabric is distinguished by a construction in which the
diagonal twill line changes direction. At the point where the direction changes, if the
warp yam is on the surface, the next thread on the surface is the filling yam, forming a
clear break. This breaking of the continuous line reduces the torque in the fabric and
thus avoids the leg twisting phenomenon particularly common in early jeans construction.
(Anti-Twist)
BRUSHED
Denim in which the back of the fabric has been raised by passing the
cloth over a napper, giving it a fleece like hand.
BUBBLEGUM DENIM
A general name for Lycra containing denim that has between 35 to 50
percent stretch.
BULKED YARN
A yarn that has been treated mechanically, or chemically so as to have a
noticeable greater volumniosity or bulk.
BURLAP
A plain cloth made from single yarns of approximately the same linear
density in warp and weft, usually made from bast fibers, particularly jute.
BUTTON
The traditional jeans button is made of two parts, one the short
"nail" fixed to the fabric; the other the visible part pressed onto the nail. It
is typically made of a metal alloy--copper, brass or aluminum-and on its face bears the
brand's logo or a symbol or initial. Some jeans buttons, composed of three parts, have a
movable head for better flexibility in fastening.
BUTTON FLY
The original jeans closure, and still the favorite of jeans aficionados.
CABLED YARN
Two or more folded yarns twisted together in one or more operations.
CAMEL FIBER
Fiber from the fleece of the camel. This comprises strong, coarse, outer
hair and soft, fine undercoat, both of which are used in the manufacture of textile
products.
CAMLET
A fine, lustrous, plain-weave fabric made of silk, hair, or wool
fibers and in a variety of qualities for suitings.
CANVAS
A fabric usually made from cotton, flax, hemp, or just. The weave is
plain or double-end plain.
CARDING
A step in denim in fibers are further cleaned and paralleled and the
short fibers removed. The raw material is transported to "cards," each of which
consists of three cylinders covered with wire teeth. The first cleans, the second
parallels the long fibers and the third delivers the fibers for transport to the next
process.
CARROT
Loose-fitting style of jeans whose shape is similar to that of a carrot.
Also known as peg jeans, comfort fit and baggy jeans.
CASEMENT CLOTH
A light-weight to medium-weight weft-faced curtain fabric of cotton or
manufactured fibre yarns.
CASHMERE
Originally hair from the dowdy undercoat of the Asiatic diameter of 18.5
microns or less. Similar hair from animals bred selectively from the feral goat
populations of Australia, New Zealand, and Scotland is regarded as cashmere provided the
fiber diameter is similar.
CEYLON
A colored woven fabric for blouses and shirtings made from a cotton
warp and a cotton-wool weft.
CHALLIS
A lightweight, soft-handling, plain-weave dress fabric, generally of
wool, using single worsted-spun yarns in warp and weft.
CHAMBRAY
The lightest of indigo-dyed fabrics, chambray is a plain cotton weave
normally used for shirts and womenwear. A lightweight plain-weave cotton fabric having a
colored warp and white weft, producing a mottled appearance.
CHEESE CLOTH
An open lightweight fabric of plain weave, usually made from carded
cotton yarns.
CHECK FABRIC
Two or more stripes of color in the warp and weft direction resulting
in a square or crossing line pattern.
CHIFFON
Originally a very light, sheer, open-mesh fabric made from silk yarns in
plain weave: now made also from manufactured fabrics. The term is loosely used
adjectivally to describe the lightest types of fabrics, e.g. 'chiffon velvets', 'chiffon
taffetas'
CHINOS
Classic, basic slacks often worn with jeanswear. A favorite of '50s
teenagers and college students, although the pants' origins go back a century before. Made
of khaki Indian cotton, chinos were first worn by British colonial troops in the
mid-1800s. At the end of the century they were adopted by the U.S. Army for the
Spanish-American War. The name comes from the nickname given to the fabric, because the
tailors who worked with it were Chinese.
CHINTZ
A glazed, printed, plain-weave fabric, originally and usually of cotton
lighter than cretonne.
CIGARETTE JEANS
Straight-legged trousers with a slim fit and lean proportions.
CLOTH
A generic term embracing most textile fabrics. Note: The term was
originally applied to wool cloth suitable for clothing.
COIN POCKET
The "fifth" pocket, also called "watch pocket." Very
functional, it is located inside the right front pocket, and justifies the term
five-pocket jeans.
COIR
A reddish-brown-to-buff coarse fiber obtained from the fruit of the palm
Cocos nucifera.
COLORED DENIM
Jeans used to be blue and nothing else. Then they were offered in black
and ecru which quickly became staples. Now they come in a variety of colors that range
from seasonal pastels to deep brights and intense darks. Colored denim is generally
yarn-dyed. either just in the warp or in both warp and weft, for greater resistance to
fading. Colored jeans can also be piece-dyed or garment-dyed.
CORDUROY
Strong, durable fabric with a cotton ground and vertical cut pile
stripes formed by an extra system of filling yams. Often used as an alternative to denim
in jeanswear garments. A cut-weft-pile fabric in which the cut fibers form the surface.
The binding points of the pile wefts are arranged so that after the pile has been cut,
cords or ribs are formed in the direction of the warp.
CORE DYEING
Considered by some a requisite for quality indigo fabrics. The color
remains on the surface of the yam and does not soak to its core. Denim dyed this way is
called core denim.
COTTON
The seed hair of a wide variety of plants of the gossypium family.
Textile fiber obtained from the cotton plant (hot. Gossypium herbaceum). The fruit of the
shrub is an oval capsule that contains a white down to protect the seeds. From this soft
wad comes the fiber so essential to the production of denim. Original denim uses GOSSYPIUM
HERBACEUM only American cotton: the Memphis, Texas, Mississippi and St. Joachim Valley
types. The last is a high-resistance, special quality cotton that is often mixed with the
first three. European denim makers buy mainly Pakistan, West African, Indian, Turkish,
Greek and even Spanish cottons.
CREPE
A fabric characterized by a crinkled or puckered surface.
CRETONNE
A printed of fabric originally and usually of cotton and of heavier
weight than chintz.
CRINOLINE
A stiff fabric made with a cotton warp and a horsehair weft.
CROTCH RIVET
Reinforcing rivet located at the base of the button fly, common in early
jeans. Its demise was the eventual result of complaints received by Levi Strauss & Co.
When worn around a stove or fire, the rivet heated up, causing discomfort, to say the
least, to the wearer. But it wasn't until Walter Haas Sr., then chairman of the company
and a descendent of Levi Strauss himself, wore the jeans on a camping trip in 1941 and
crouched a bit too close to the campfire that the offending rivet was removed from the
501.
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