# Why Are Blue Jeans Universally Loved? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136 "2006-10-19T20:06:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/1 "2006-10-19T20:06:55Z")
Blue jeans, or any jeans for that matter, seem to be one article of clothing that is worn by Presidents, teenagers, senior citizens, college and high school kids, all races, in the US and almost every country in the world. How is it that this one article of clothing continues to be a personal favorite, for such a wide group of people? ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/2 "2006-10-19T20:15:23Z")
They’re comfy, and don’t show stains as easily as other fabrics. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/3 "2006-10-19T20:23:38Z")
They’re tough, comfortable, adaptable and cheap. ---
**Author:** ![myskepticsight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@myskepticsight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/myskepticsight)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/4 "2006-10-19T20:26:18Z")
Comfortable, long-lasting (if you buy a decent pair), and easy to wear. You can make them look sloppy and scrubby or dressed-up. Very versatile. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/5 "2006-10-19T20:27:47Z")
They’re the uniform of the middle class. I think I read somewhere that denim and lycra are the two most important things that have happened to fashion in a hundred years or something. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/6 "2006-10-19T20:36:11Z")
Jeans aren’t universally loved. I haven’t worn jeans in a decade, if not more. I don’t own a pair and am simply more comfortable in slacks. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/7 "2006-10-19T20:48:10Z")
I don’t mind jeans, but I’m just as happy or happier in khakis or slacks, particularly in the summer; jeans are just too heavy for hot weather. What I don’t like are **blue** jeans. My standard jeans are black; I once had some undyed cotton and brown jeans that I loved, but I can’t find any more of those. Fad, I guess. Blue Jeans, though, make me feel like I look like a cowboy. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/8 "2006-10-19T21:36:11Z")
Karl Marx. We live in an age where the honest working man is held up as the ideal to which we should all aspire. Even blue-blooded aristocrats take great pains to present themselves as regular folks. Is it surprising then that the most popular trousers are laborer’s dungarees? Followed closely by the khaki of a common soldier? ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/9 "2006-10-19T21:44:38Z")
Jeans seem to come in more fits; you can (almost) always find a style you like. Most slacks I’ve seen seem to be made with the idea that one size fits all. Being close to four inches below average height (I’m about 5’8"), it seems that the part of slacks that are supposed to fit around my waist and butt are made for a six-foot man; and it always seems the same no matter what the waist size. I don’t have that problem with jeans because they seem to be better proportioned as you move to smaller sizes. Not scraping the floor when I walk, yet still almost reaching my shoetops when I sit…priceless! ---
**Author:** ![Logan\_5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/fbc32d/32.png) [@Logan\_5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Logan_5)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/10 "2006-10-19T22:17:45Z")
I don’t care for blue jeans. any other color sure. but not blue. esp not that deep/darker blue that you see more often in designer jeans with ugly stitching. I agree about emulating the working man/blue collar look. However when jeans cost as much as a car payment, it pretty much negates the regular folks thing. Also jeans and heels, nononono nnno. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/11 "2006-10-19T22:23:18Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] Karl Marx. We live in an age where the honest working man is held up as the ideal to which we should all aspire. Even blue-blooded aristocrats take great pains to present themselves as regular folks. Is it surprising then that the most popular trousers are laborer’s dungarees? Followed closely by the khaki of a common soldier? [/QUOTE] Except that to most of the rest of the western world, jeans were initially an imported commodity from uber capitalist America. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/12 "2006-10-19T22:55:39Z")
I went through a ‘no jeans’ phase right after college. Now I have one super comfy pair (which unfortunately got a knee tear. recently) and my rockabilly blues which are now quite comfy. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/13 "2006-10-19T23:17:43Z")
They hold up much better than many other women’s pants. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/14 "2006-10-19T23:36:50Z")
They are pretty much all I wear. Shorts sometimes in summer. When my good pairs that I wear to work get worn out, I can use them for good work pants for around the house. I also like them because the are warm enough (I live in a cold climate). A nice shirt and belt and I will look reasonably respectable. In Colorado, and the mountain west, they are accepted at all but the finest restaurants. They last. I go through maybe 4-5 pairs a year. When I need more, I can buy them with no hassle. I know my size. I don’t mind looking for comfy nice shirts, but I get almost all of those from catalog shopping. They are easy to take care of. Just throw them in the wash. I would think twice before taking a job where I had to dress up. There would have to be one hell of an incentive. And they beat the hell out of the silver jumpsuit. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/15 "2006-10-20T00:18:10Z")
I keep hearing that jeans are comfortable. I want to know who came up with that idea. Since I was a skinny little teenager, jeans have been almost always uncomfortable. They’re thicker than other types of pants, and tend to be stiff when you first buy them. They don’t bend very well. Overall, they’re some of the most uncomfortable clothes I own. Granted, if I buy a pair that are a size too big for me (and look it) they are comfy. The ones that look like they fit are icky to wear. But that’s just me, the pajama-wearing work-at-home programmer. After a year of life in sweat pants, nothing is comfortable. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/16 "2006-10-20T00:55:50Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Except that to most of the rest of the western world, jeans were initially an imported commodity from uber capitalist America. [/QUOTE] As a fashion statement they’ve moved beyond their working class roots. But the initial explosion of jean fashion in America in the 1950’s and 1960’s was driven by the same force that made rock 'n roll popular – a belief that the taste and appearance of the oppressed and the working class were more authentic and honest than the fashions of the bourgeoisie. What made jeans popular? They were cool. Why were they cool? They were the clothing of the working class. It’s the same impulse that’s behind The House of Blues restaurants and suburban white kids dressing in ghetto fashion in the 1990’s. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/17 "2006-10-20T02:05:29Z")
Are you kidding? Have you seen my ass in jeans? ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/18 "2006-10-20T03:34:01Z")
The best things about jeans? First, you can find them in all kinds of styles and fits. Want elastic-waist, pull-on jeans? Got it. Want fitted, zip front jeans? Got it. Tight jeans, baggy jeans, low-rise, grandpa-rise…all available. Second, everything goes with blue jeans. Any color, any style top. Rock-band T-shirt, white button-down shirt, glittery slinky top…they all go. Third, they can be worn to nearly every situation in life. Working in the yard, church on Sunday, on a date, visiting in the hospital…no problem. ---
**Author:** ![Sweet\_Mercury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@Sweet\_Mercury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sweet_Mercury)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/19 "2006-10-20T04:22:13Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] Jeans aren’t universally loved. I haven’t worn jeans in a decade, if not more. I don’t own a pair and am simply more comfortable in slacks. [/QUOTE] Ditto. I haven’t owned or worn a pair of jeans since the middle of high school. Dickies and corduroys all the way. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2006, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136/20 "2006-10-20T04:27:54Z")
[QUOTE=kittenblue] Third, they can be worn to nearly every situation in life. Working in the yard, church on Sunday, on a date, visiting in the hospital…no problem. [/QUOTE] Just you wait…someone’s going to pop in here and blast you for saying jeans can be worn on a date. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-blue-jeans-universally-loved/377136.md?page=2)