Lunchtime in denim at the railroad company – Chicago and North Western Railroad roadhouse, Iowa, 1943.
Denim was G.I. in wartime America. Originally used as heavy industry, utility workwear, these images mostly from the 1940s, show how the fabric became synonymous with American grit and productivity.
The look was born in 18th Century Europe. Bleu de Gênes was the rough fabric manufactured in Genoa, Italy. In France, workers were wearing serge de Nîmes, a mix of wool and silk. Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis were instrumental in giving us the cotton denim jeans we know today – in 1873, Levi Strauss & Co. and Jacob Davis received a U.S. patent for an “Improvement in Fastening Pocket-Openings.” By adding metal rivets to work pants, which would be known as blue jeans, they created stronger pants for workers, like the women at the Douglas Aircraft Company.
Bethlehem-Fairfield Shipyard, Baltimore, Maryland, May 1943
Mrs Angeline Kwint, an ex-housewife aged 45, checking the tyres of trailers in Union Made overalls
Todd Erie Basin dry dock, Pennsylvania, 1943
Defence plant worker, Michigan, July 1944
Missouri:Arkansas state line, October 1942
Walter Latta, Bozeman, Montana, July 1939
JD Estes, naval air base, Corpus Christi, Texas, August 1942
Daytona Beach, Florida, January 1943
Douglas Aircraft Company, Long Beach, California, October 1942
Creek County, Oklahoma, 1940
Daniel Senise, Indiana Harbor Belt Railroad yard, Chillicothe, Illinois, 1943
Denim: The Fabric That Built America 1935-1944 is published by Reel Art Press by Graham Marsh, Pictures are via the archive of the Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information. – via Reel Art Press.
Would you like to support Flashbak?
Please consider making a donation to our site. We don't want to rely on ads to bring you the best of visual culture. You can also support us by signing up to our Mailing List. And you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For great art and culture delivered to your door, visit our shop.
