RECENTLY SINGLED out as one of the Top 10 Products of the Decade, by Advertising Age, 7 For All Mankind jeans were the only item of clothing to make the list. 'When we created our company, premium denim in its current version did not exist,' says Topher Gaylord, president of Seven, sitting across from me at their store in Harbour City. 'Denim was a very functional, utilitarian fabric.'
Due to the strength and resistance of denim, the earliest jeans were designed as work wear. When Levi Strauss and his partner, Jacob Davis, set up business in the 1850s, it was to supply denim 'waist overalls' to gold miners.
The popularity of blue jeans soared in the 1950s when icons James Dean and Marlon Brando wore them on screen - making denim such symbols of youth rebellion that several schools in the US banned students from wearing it. 'Denim has always been a symbol of freedom,' says Gaylord. During the cold war, many non-Western countries considered them to be a sign of western decadence so they became hard to get hold of (making them all the more covetable).
By the 70s, everyone was wearing them and the 80s saw the jeans industry boom with designer labels such as Calvin Klein and Armani creating their own versions. The 90s was a quiet decade for blue jeans, perhaps because the rebel youth had tired of seeing their parents wearing them.
When Seven launched in the US in 2000, it transformed the way denim was perceived, positioning it as a luxury item. 'We paired it with some of the most luxurious and highest quality products,' says Gaylord. 'We bridged the gap between designer fashion and denim.
'At the time, the highest priced jeans were around US$100 and ours were selling for US$150. Women combined them with high heels and a sexy top and transformed the way denim was worn.'
