‘Riveted’: A controversial history of denim jeans from slavery to big biz

nypost.com:

caused a style standoff between millennials and Gen Z, denim was controversial.A new documentary, “Riveted: The History of Jeans” (out Monday, Feb.

7, on PBS), unfolds the untold story of America’s most iconic and ubiquitous garment. It follows denim from the slave-tilled fields of a profitable South Carolina plantation to the muddy pits of New York’s Woodstock, where hippies wore patchwork jeans — and inspired a generation of fashion designers.For the film’s co-writers and directors, Anna Lee Strachan and Michael Bicks, “Riveted” was an opportunity to unzip some of the myths about jeans — such as the idea that they were originally worn by strapping, chivalrous cowboys — and reveal the surprisingly complex story of what’s now an over $60 billion global industry. “It’s always Marlon Brando and cowboys and Levi Strauss,” Strachan told The Post of denim’s oft-repeated lore. “But once you start unraveling the cloth and following the thread, you find all kinds of stuff . . .

What other things haven’t been part of this traditional denim narrative that gets told?” Below, fascinating — and sometimes gritty — details from the long history of the fabled fabric.Bicks and Strachan told The Post that cowboys often get credit for being the first Americans to sport dungarees, but that’s not actually true.

Instead, slaves wore jeans and overalls, made from denim “Negro cloth,” because the heavy-duty cotton weave could stand up to forced labor.