Blue Denim Fabrics

Introduction

Easy care fabric for leisurewear covers a major preparation of the total production of textiles. Not only classic and basic denim in twill were in demand but also medium and higher qualities in twill and chambray in demand. They are used for leisurewear, shirts, blouses, and jackets. The original dark blue indigo- colors have changed and cover all shades from super blue to black, light blue, light grey to brown.

History of Denim

As early as 1873 denim was produced by Bavarian Levi Strauss who emigrated to the USA. He manufactured trousers from heavy cloth. He soon realized that this type of fabric was ideal clothing for mine workers, farmers, and cowboys.

The production of denim has developed into a major part of the world textile industry. Word “denim” comes from fabric “serge de Nimes” made in France city of Nimes from where it originates. It has been used in America since the late 18th century, colored blue with indigo dye to make blue “jeans”, a type of cotton pants.

Jeans come from “Genes” – a name given by French to Genoa and the people from Genoa where the cotton trousers were made. In the 1800s, in the time of the Gold Rush, American gold miners needed clothes that were strong, lasted longer and did not tear easily.

Levi Strauss, a businessman, and Jacob Davis, a tailor, supplied miners with denim pants that were made from durable material and reinforced with rivets at the places where pants tended to tear which prolonged life of pants. This marked the beginning of the legend of jeans and brand Levi Strauss is still hugely successful today.

Denim was first used for clothes worn by workers because of its high durability. Then it became widely popular in the 1930s when Hollywood started making cowboy movies in which actors wore jeans. With the beginning of World War 2, production of the jeans drops but world meet denim when American soldiers started wearing them when they were on the leave.

When the war ended, other companies that made denim started appearing like Wrangler and Lee.

Young people started wearing denim in the 1950s a mean of rebellion. This fashion was also inspired by Hollywood with by Marlon Brando with his 1953 film “The Wild One” as well James Dean’s movie “Rebel Without a Cause” from 1955. Some public places like schools and theaters banned jeans because of what they symbolized.

Denim crossed from counterculture to fashion in the 1960s and 1970s when manufacturers started to make different styles of jeans. Fewer jeans were made during World War II, but ‘waist overalls’ were introduced to the world by US soldiers, who sometimes wore them off duty. By the 1960s, both men’s and women’s jeans had the zipper down the front. Historic photographs indicate that in the decades before they became a staple of fashion, jeans generally fit quite loosely, much like a pair of bib overalls without the bib. Indeed, until 1960, Levi Strauss called its flagship product “waist overalls” rather than “jeans”.

After James Dean popularized them in the movie Rebel Without a Cause, wearing jeans became a symbol of youth rebellion during the 1950s. During the 1960s the wearing of jeans became more acceptable, and by the 1970s it had become a general fashion in the United States for casual wear. However, the acceptance of jean to becoming casual wear is still relatively low in Japan.

Examples of intentional denim distressing strictly to make them more fashionable can be seen as early as 1935 in Vogue’s June issue. Michael Belluomo, editor of Sportswear International Magazine, Oct/Nov 1987, P. 45, wrote that in 1965, Limbo, a boutique in the New York East Village, was “the first retailer to wash a new pair of jeans to get a used, worn effect, and the idea became a hit.” He continued, “[Limbo] hired East Village artists to embellish the jeans with patches, decals, and other touches, and sold them for $200.”

In the early 1980s, the denim industry introduced the stone-washing technique developed by GWG also known as “Great Western Garment Co.” Donald Freeland of Edmonton, Alberta pioneered the method, which helped to bring denim to a larger and more versatile market. Acceptance of jeans continued through the 1980s and 1990s. Originally an esoteric fashion choice, in the 2010s jeans may be seen being worn by men and women of all ages. Denim is popular for long-term use and is a fashion fabric for casual wear. General features of the denim fabric are as follows: Cotton or cotton-polyester blended, durable and heavy-weight twill-weave. Maybe napped or printed, made with spandex or other stretch yarns, or otherwise modified for fashion. Dec 13, 2018.

Origin of Denim

Denim is a type of cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. Warp threads of denim fabric are dyed in indigo while weft threads remain plain white. Denim was first used for clothes worn by workers because of its high durability.

If you are in doubt whether the fabric is dyed with Indigo, Rub the yarn on a white piece of cloth, it should leave some particles on the cloth.

With the rope dying system, the core of the yarn usually remains white. This ensures the fading of the colors after multiple washing. It should slowly become lighter. Denim is a type of cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. Warp threads of denim fabric are dyed in indigo while weft threads remain plain white. That is why denim is blue on the one side and white on the other. When used for jeans, denim is turned blue on the outside and because of the way it is made it fades in a characteristic way.

Original denim was dyed with dye from plant Indigofera tinctoria. Modern denim is dyed with synthetic indigo. Denim is often dyed with indigo and dried many times over to get a stronger color that will not fade quickly. After the denim is made into clothing it as most often washed to make it softer and to reduce or eliminate shrinkage. Denim that is not washed is called dry or raw denim.

Denim fades in time and gets a worn outlook which is often desired as a fashion detail. Some denim is artificially distressed so a worn-out look can be got even before wearing. Denim that is not made of pure cotton but also has an elastic component (most often elastane) is stretch denim. Beside indigo dyeing, denim can be colored with sulfur dyeing which is used for dyeing of denim in colors other than indigo.

What is denim fabric made of?

Cotton

Denim is a material made from 100% cotton. This is a cotton thread that is used to make a particular weave. It has warped threads in which a weft thread is placed under. This forms the traditional diagonal ribbing on the surface of the material.

What is bull denim?

Cotton Bull Denim is perfect for slipcovers, upholstery, draperies, pillow covers, headboards and much more. Bull Denim fabric is often referred to as “tough as nails” due to the strong 3×1 twill construction. Although the fabric is extremely durable it is also amazingly soft!

Why are jeans blue?

Blue was the chosen color for denim because of the chemical properties of blue dye. Most dyes will permeate fabric in hot temperatures, making the color stick. The natural indigo dye used in the first jeans, on the other hand, would stick only to the outside of the threads, according to Slate.

Definition of Denim fabrics

• A coarse, twilled cotton fabric, often blue, traditionally used for overalls and work clothes and now used for jeans and casual wear.
• Denim Pants or another garment made of this fabric.
• A similar but finer fabric used in draperies and upholstery.

Denim Characteristics

• Cotton Thread and Twill Weave
• Denim is made from cotton, which is spun and free of any debris
• Blue Color
• A distinguishing feature of denim is its blue color
• Durability: Denim is very strong and does not snag or tear easily. It is also breathable, can be ironed at a high temperature and creases easily. Suitable for long wear, it is quite stiff when new, but softens with repeated washings.
• Raw materials used for blue denim fabrics: To produce good quality denim, the conditions have to be optimal regarding the quality of all the raw materials and yarn used. For raw cotton and the carded OE (rotor) or ring-spun yarns made from it, the quality criteria are as follows:

• • Minimum staple length: 2.7 cm.
  • The proportion of short fibers (less than 12 mm long): under 40%.
  • Micronaire value: 4.0 to 4.5.
  • The Uster values for strength and elongation, for the evenness CV and imperfections, must conform at least to the 25% plot.
  • The usual count range of denim warp yarns is 50 to 90 tex and weft yarns is 75 to 120 tex; finer yarns as fine as 25 tex in twill or plain weave are often used in denim shirts.
  • Twist factor: 4.5 to 5.0 for warp yarns, 4.2 for weft yarns.
  • Low yarn hairiness.
  • Yarn strength and uniformity.

True blue denim Fabrics are made out of 100 percent cotton warp and weft yarns. Fabrics are also made of Elastic core-spun yarns which are used as a weft yarn for textile fabrics and has gained great importance in the last decade due to the fact that stretch and recovery, comfort fits and flexibility properties.

The dual core-spun yarns are composed of cotton/ filament that contributes durability and polyurethane-based elastane that provides stretchability to the fabrics. Hereby, both filament and elastane characteristics have a great influence on denim performance at the same time. The main purpose of using this type of yarns is to achieve the effect of filament fineness and elastane draft on denim fabric performance such as braking force, breaking elongation, tear force, vertical elastic recovery, moisture management that is wicking rate and water absorption properties.

Meanwhile, filament core-spun yarns with different filament fineness and 100% cotton yarn are also used as the weft of the denim. It is found that that filament fineness and elastane draft had a statistically significant effect on all inspected performances of denim fabrics except water absorption.

Polyester blends are also manufactured and are available, however, the overwhelming majority of jeans sold are 100 percent cotton. The most common dye used is synthetic indigo.

What dye is used for denim?

Indigo

The primary use for indigo is as a dye for cotton yarn, which is mainly for the production of denim cloth for blue jeans.

Why do jeans fade?

As an example, blue jeans fade where the fabric is physically rubbed. Most other natural dyes fade equally in sunlight, and minimally when rubbed. Indigo does not form a chemical bond with the fabric, like other dyes. The reduced state is also necessary because indigo cannot dissolve in water, it is insoluble

Unique Structure of Indigo dye

Indigo, or wood indigo, is a unique dye. The extraction process reflects the different molecular characteristics of indigo, as compared to other natural dyes. As an example, blue jeans fade where the fabric is physically rubbed. Most other natural dyes fade equally in sunlight, and minimally when rubbed.

Indigo does not form a chemical bond with the fabric, like other dyes. Instead, it forms a physical bond, bonding molecularly to the fabric when reduced. The reduced state is also necessary because indigo cannot dissolve in water, it is insoluble.  When the indigo molecules bond to the fabric and it is re-vetted, the indigo forms layers – like bricks. This makes indigo very impervious to sunlight, but indigo will fade with rubbing.

Reduction and Oxidization process

In the reduction vat, the indigo molecule loses an oxygen molecule.  This makes it negatively charged. When oxidized, the indigo molecules snatch back new electrons and at the same time bond to the fabric. When the fabric is re-vetted, some indigo is re-reduced but a new layer of molecules is also put down. This layer, when oxidized, then bonds to the previous layer of molecules, making a darker and more permanent color.

Extraction Methods

In the indigo, or wood indigo extraction, the molecules which form indigo, known as precursors, are soluble and extracted from the plant. During the extraction, the soluble precursors bond together to form insoluble indigo. The molecular makeup of Indigo is C16, H10, N2, O2, with double bonds on the Hydrogen. These double bonds form single bonds during reduction and then oxidize back to a double bond with the re-claiming of electrons.

Warp preparation methods/processes and finishing of Denim fabrics Processes