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Few clothing items are as iconic as denim jeans. And for more than 100 years, they've evolved to reflect changes in the world - changing in shape and material and the way they're made. But a growing number of people are going back to heritage denim. And as NPR's Kai McNamee reports, that can tell you something about how people are feeling in today's economy.
KAI MCNAMEE, BYLINE: Thirty-one-year-old Emma Peabody gained a new appreciation for jeans when, suddenly, she couldn't wear them.
EMMA PEABODY: I had a freak accident about two years ago that resulted in needing knee surgery.
MCNAMEE: She wore a full leg brace while she recovered.
PEABODY: So it really restricted that freedom to express myself, and I started to appreciate all kinds of different clothing, especially jeans.
MCNAMEE: That's how, free of her leg brace, she ended up diving down the deep rabbit hole that is heritage denim and three months ago, made her first purchase.
PEABODY: So my very first pair were the Naked & Famous Rainbow Core.
MCNAMEE: Naked & Famous is a Canadian denim brand, and on the surface, these jeans may look like any other pair - deep indigo color, straight cut, timeless. But they're $200, much more than your average Levi's. That's partly because they're made out of selvedge denim, a kind of fabric associated with high-quality craftsmanship. Peabody got lucky. She scored these for around 60 bucks on eBay. She feels like these days, a lot of the stuff we buy just isn't worth the money.
PEABODY: Nothing is made to last. And having something that is using a heritage technique and looks better with time is really amazing.
MCNAMEE: Andrew Chen is the cofounder of 3sixteen, a New York-based brand that specializes in premium denim.
ANDREW CHEN: Selvedge means the actual edges of the fabric have a finished self-edge. That's where the term comes from. It's a portmanteau of self and edge.
MCNAMEE: With selvedge denim, you get this clean edge from the way it's woven - that is, on traditional shuttle looms.
CHEN: Which was the only way that denim was woven from the late 1800s to the mid-1900s.
MCNAMEE: Jeans were invented as durable work pants, but as denim became a fashion staple around the world, these shuttle looms couldn't keep up with increasing demand. So manufacturers switched to projectile looms.
CHEN: Which ran much more quickly with less need for attention and maintenance.
MCNAMEE: So selvedge, with its old-school technique, is a signal to discerning consumers that a brand pays more attention to detail or cares more about the quality of the materials. And when a pair of jeans is well made, they can last a really long time.
CHEN: And as a father of two teenagers, my older son has taken jeans from me and wears them. And I wore them in to a certain point, and they faded. And he has taken them and worn them into the ground.
MCNAMEE: Chen says he's noticed a growing number of younger customers walking into his stores. Heritage-made denim is all over social media, and related Google searches are at a high. Denim consultant and trend forecaster Amy Leverton sees this growing interest as a response to the economy. She says the last time selvedge denim was trending was after the 2008 market crash.
AMY LEVERTON: The sentiment behind it was to buy less, buy something of better quality and have it last longer.
MCNAMEE: With inflation now a big worry for many, she says it makes sense for people to want the most value for their money.
LEVERTON: During those moments of, you know, financial uncertainty, people either go straight to fast fashion and are trying to spend as little as possible on their clothing, or they romanticize the idea of, I'm going to just buy a pair of jeans and wear it forever.
MCNAMEE: So it's a trade-off that some consumers can and are willing to make - more money upfront for something that won't have to be replaced for years. Emma Peabody originally got into selvedge denim looking for quality and durability, but she loved her first selvedge jeans so much, she bought another pair just a month later.
PEABODY: I mean, they look amazing. I have been enjoying them and wearing them both religiously.
MCNAMEE: Spoken like a true denim head. Kai McNamee, NPR News.
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