# blue jeans

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 3, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325 "2000-06-03T22:12:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![curwin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@curwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/curwin)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325/1 "2000-06-03T22:12:26Z")

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What color is denim when it isn’t dyed? And why of all colors was blue  
chosen as the standard for jeans?

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**Author:** ![Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6de8d8/32.png) [@Kilgore\_Trout\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilgore_Trout_1)\
**Post date:** [June 3, 2000, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325/2 "2000-06-03T22:26:10Z")

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look here.

[http://www.olah.com/indexed.html](http://www.olah.com/indexed.html)

[http://www.levistrauss.com/about/invention.html](http://www.levistrauss.com/about/invention.html)

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**Author:** ![Wood\_Thrush](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b38774/32.png) [@Wood\_Thrush](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wood_Thrush)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325/3 "2000-06-04T03:31:19Z")

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From _The World Book™ Multimedia Encylclopedia_ (© 1998 World Book, Inc. and its licensors):

> [@](#):
>
> [Levi Strauss] \*\*used brown canvas cloth at first but later made the pants of a tough cotton fabric from Nimes, France. The word _denim_ comes from the French phrase _de Nimes_, meaning _from Nimes_. Strauss dyed the denim a deep blue called _indigo_, which became the traditional color for jeans.  
> \*\*

It offers no explanation for why Strauss chose indigo.

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [June 4, 2000, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blue-jeans/21325/4 "2000-06-04T05:19:44Z")

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Indigo is an ancient and stable dye. This makes it rather easy to procure. While it can fade as easily as many others, it does not “rub off” the way that other dyes of the 19th century would have under heavy use with constant friction.