Denim: The Fabric That Built America, 1935-1944

The legacy of denim in America, as seen through early FSA photographs of "blue collar" workers

There is perhaps no other fabric so inextricably associated with a country as is denim with the United States of America. First popularized by Levi's iconic jean designs in the mid-1800s, denim quickly became the material of choice for working-class Americans, spurring an influx of other brands making workwear with the durable and ubiquitous fabric--from Wrangler and Lee to OshKosh and Carhartt. In...