"Hi, well, here I am"
"I don't know if you know my face by this point"
"No, I'm not the guy from the old Ghostbusters"
"Hello little doggy, hey!"
"My name is Jeff Goldblum"
"In any case based on what you're seeing..."
"Oh drippy, drippy"
"What do you suppose we're going to be talking about today?"
"What do you think?"
Here's a... here's a quiz
at any point in any given day what percentage would you suppose
of the world's population is wearing denim?
Fifty percent
Half
Half of the world's population is wearing denim
Now, how did that happen?
We are going to find out that and a whole lot more
Oh, yes, denim, denim
"Come on, Jeff let's continue forward"
"Wild horses couldn't stop me from pursuing my investigation"
"I've been a fan of denim for as long as I can remember"
Yep
"I may not have always picked the best jeans, oh, boy"
"These jeans, long gone, long gone"
"But this is where it all began for me"
"Hopalong Cassidy"
"It was my very first exposure to the allure of the jean"
- "Hoppy my clothes sure look purty" - "Yeah"
"And it was in the Old West"
"where denim's meteoric rise first had its humble beginnings"
"Today, if you know where to look..."
"treasure lurks around every corner"
"Where are you taking me?"
I'm taking you on a denim quest, a denim hunt
- a denim safari, if you will - Wait a minute
Denim quest denim hunt, denim safari?
- Okay - Yes...
My passion is finding old clothing
I feel like I'm the best person in the world at doing that
Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back
"Look at this... this evocative what do I want to say"
this unusual Western...
mining environment
Yeah, that's... that's well put
- Thank you - The real irony here, Jeff
that I want you to understand is that...
imagine you're a miner that you are trying to get rich, right
and you're looking for gold and it never really works out
But you're wearing jeans you're wearing Levi's
which everybody wore back then
- Wow! - That the... the gold
that I'm looking for were the pants
that these guys were throwing away and discarding
- And I'm really fired up to go see - I can't wait
- you are infecting me with your... - My enthusiasm?
- Yes! - It's infectious enthusiasm?
- Yes - That's what I like to have
You have infectious enthusiasm too, I think
- I do - We're feeding off each other...
- The two of us - ...with this infectious enthusiasm
We're like a couple of sticks we may...
this may be combustible in a second
- okay - Let's go
Is it true that you're known as Indiana Jeans?
Let's go find out
If I find some jeans in here I guess I will be today
Do you believe in ghosts? I opened this and then it closed all by itself
- Did you see that? - That's the wind
- Really? - It's windy, be careful
That's what they always say about ghosts
"That must have been the wind"
Hold on to your hats, people
Let's get in there, come on
He's trippy, this guy
"Brit Eaton is a true denim obsessive"
"this is cool, I don't know if it goes anywhere"
"For over 20 years now he's been risking his life"
"unearthing denim in the most dangerous of locations"
"but he's not doing it just for fun"
"Brit sells his wares to avid collectors around the world"
"for a serious profit"
"Jeans that once cost a dollar twenty-five"
"can now sell for almost 100,000 dollars"
Wait a minute what the heck is this?
This is an old hoist house it's a mining building
he amazing thing is, there could be old clothing anywhere
the denim was an adaptation to the environment
- that they encountered, right? - Yeah
So the miners would get wet sometimes
I mean, they used candles back in the old days
so it's possible that they would you know
burn some of their pants, they'd have to get another pair of pants
That's why we might find clothing in the mine or in the mine buildings
- Here's your... here's your lights - Yeah
- You figure that out, your helmet - What's this?
- It's a mask - What do I need that for?
We're going to start hunting for stuff, man
we're gonna do some real denim hunting here
How would I put it on? It's... uh, oh
- Yep, there you go - Really? Ready?
Don't forget it does say unsafe mine
Okay, let's get jeans
Yeah, Well, let's look around, man
Let's see who can find something first
Oh, it's a piece of material
Hey, I could make a pair of short shorts out of that
Look at that, that's a collar
Put it in the pack that's our first thing
Oh, okay, but what... but, uh...
See anything else next to the blackboard?
Oh, I see some material
Oh, Is that a tar... Yeah, it's a tarp
Let's go over this way
- Can you see this? - Holy cats!
Wait a minute
Let's try to figure out how deep this is
Okay, there ready...
- It's still going - That's not possible
- What's this behind you? - That is fascinating
Anyhow, I'm gonna climb up here and see what's back this way
You are? Ease up already
Let's go take a little bit of a look outside
Yeah
Oh man, the weather changed completely, look at this place
- Look at all this trash - Oh, wait a minute
And this looks like a building that just came down or something
Wait a minute
Okay, I see...
Watch out for nails
For nails, yeah
What's up behind you there?
There's some... something there what's that white stuff?
- Wow! - Well look how sun faded it is
it's been here for like, 50 years look at it
Those are jeans or overalls or something there
a whole other level... Whoa, whoa!
Jeez, I think this is the motherlode
This is great, I mean this is a legitimately really cool piece
- That's a... that's a... - I mean this is like a framable piece
I've got a guy in France right now with a store
- Yeah? - That's been looking for something
he wants to put it in a frame that's all screwed up
It's not the big dollar stuff
you know, maybe in the thousand-dollar range
I think that's what we found here
- Holy crap! - Wait a minute
- There's an old shirt, Jeff - It's a whole outfit
- God, look at this, man
- I knew I needed something... - Oh, it's got the tag
- It's an Uncle Sam! - Wait a minute
- It's a freaking Uncle Sam shirt - Indiana Jeans strikes again
This is freaking great, seriously I'm excited
- One, two, three, yabba-dabba-doo! - Yabba-dabba-doo!
This is the most fun I ever had in my whole life
"So, why is it that a pair of jeans"
"can survive so long up a mountain?"
"And, from whence did this rugged material spring? Hmm?"
"Any answers Professor Goldblum?"
"Well, as a matter of fact, I do if I may"
"Five to ten million years ago"
"an African plant evolved light and strong fibers"
"in order to help carry its seeds in the wind"
"Cheeky, cheeky"
"The cotton plant spread across the planet"
"At some point homo sapiens got a hold of it"
"did some tinkering resulting in those fibers"
"getting longer and stronger"
"Now, we go to France and a city called Nîmes"
"where cotton is woven into a unique pattern"
"de Nîmes, or as we say, denim"
"And then, we come to America"
"There was a tailor named Jacob Davis..."
"and he had one particular customer who was..."
"gee, I don't wanna be... he was quite..."
"he was... he was a mountain of a man"
"and he needed a pair of trousers that wouldn't bust at the seams"
"Anyway, what was the solution? Copper rivets"
"Copper rivets, eureka!"
"Mr. Davis went in business with a guy named Levi Strauss"
"and there we go, we have these super-duper tough pants"
"that became a smash hit on the workwear scene"
So I brought a few pieces from my own collection
- I thought you might want to look at - I'd love that
All right
Wait a minute, Levi Strauss & Company copper riveted clothing
These are the holy grail of the vintage denim world
This is the one pocket Levi's okay?
So in 1901, Levi's added a second pocket
and the one pocket Levi is the crème de la crème
I mean, I've met Japanese collectors who've been doing this 30, 40 years
that never have had one of these
These are like super rare like maybe 25 in the world
Denim is a canvas that paints itself over time
or is painted by its experiences and its exposures
Look at the candle wax all over the front
- Look at these original repairs on it - Let me see, let me see
- Okay, 'cause what... - It's a work of art, man
That's amazing, and where'd you get those, by the way?
Can you say? You can't say? Never mind, I shouldn't pry
It's okay, you can ask questions I don't have to answer
- That's correct, that's correct... - I always say
it's nice to be asked to the dance but I don't have to dance
- Do you dance? - I'm ready to dance any time
How about the forbidden dance do you know what that was?
It goes like...
- It's a... it's a little like that - Yeah, okay
- All right, that's exciting - But, we can't show the whole thing
- That's exciting - I'm a little excited, too
Okay, so where can I go next?
Where would you point me to visit people
- who are also obsessed with jeans? - Oh, man
Who are buying jeans and the most interesting places to buy?
Well, I mean the Rose Bowl Flea Market is incredible in Pasadena
Man, you're gonna love it you're going to flip out
- Thank you, good stuff - Wonderful
- Awesome, really fun - I can't thank you enough
"traveling music, please"
"Well, no time to waste then"
"let's travel from the denim past to denim present"
"Well, looky here this is the rather well known"
"once a month California Rose Bowl Flea Market"
"It's a carnival, as you can see a circus of all kinds of denim"
Wow!
"Lots of denim here"
Denim
Over the bridge for denim Lotsa denim
- Really? - Oh, yeah
- Denim? - Denim
"I got a little tip about a denim legend"
"who operates right around here"
"somebody who is known the world over"
"and she's got a quite intimate knowledge, I'm told"
"of how denim has evolved"
- My name's Kathleen - Hello, Kathleen, I'm Jeff
- Lovely to meet you - You look fantastic, look, denim...
there's much denim on you this denim jacket is so interesting
and that denim... I didn't see that
I like it, all the vintage places in America
maybe in the world, is this the...
- This is the place - But why? Why is this the place?
It's just this gathering place of humanity
from all over the world and you just never know
what's gonna show up here
- I might have something - What?
I think the original man in black
- Oh my gosh, yes - Hopalong Cassidy
Wait a minute, you're killing me
It's my first remembrance of seeing a pair of jeans
I was like...
And look how impressed you were by that
that you still remember that to this day
Oh, I'm telling you I do and I can't believe
And look at this feature Sweet
I want to share these with you
You're hypnotizing
Follow the whimsical pants
Women's pants, in excellent shape
Wow! Duke, Duke!
You could actually buy these in a Sears catalog
It's a history lesson like right here in music
Jeez, what year do you think these are from?
early '40s
These are from the '90s
It's Malcolm X
- Amazing - It's kind of acid wash
- is that what you call it? - Acid wash, yeah
- Maybe like '92 - It's back because it's ugly beauty
It went away long enough died a horrible death
It's back!
Why is it that denim material and the...
this evolution of denim has been the basis for all these clothes?
I think it's like a... Kind of an armor
it's like a soft armor that carries you through the day
and it allows you to get out there and just be yourself
you know, and you're protected
And when you wear it it does function oftentimes
as a kind of, hey, self-realization you know, right
- I think so - It's kind of, "Hey, this is me"
This is who I am, through the eras
You know, it started off as a humble workers' thing
and it just went from there and now it's like...
it's a... In our lives it's not going anywhere
"Ho there!"
"Since the denim of the Old West styles have just exploded"
"Tough, flared, boot cut all manner of washes"
"patched, bell bottoms straight bottom"
"cut off, high waisted, low waisted acid washed, distressed"
"doubled up, baggy, skinny, colorful"
"There's now a whole cornucopia of denim out there"
"It's overwhelming, I'll tell you that"
Wow! Denim, denim, denim
Well, originally work wear for the rugged
and the... the protective wear...
Now, it's used for many many other kinds of costuming
You know, what began as one thread of interest
now that I've been to the Rose Bowl, what strikes me now
is that it possibly is several threads
And as we follow it along maybe we'll find
as we put all those threads in the loom, so to speak
we come up with a tapestry...
and a design which may tell a larger, more interesting story
Well, that's what I'm on the lookout for
"These days people seem to be just hungry"
"for a whole wide variety of denim looks and styles"
"and for a whole bunch of different reasons"
"But mass-producing individuality"
"that's one heck of a job"
"Nobody knows this better than the man who has spent his whole life"
"perfecting ways to produce and distress"
"denim on a vast scale"
"Speak of the dibber"
Bart Sights
- Bart Sights - Hi, Jeff
- Hello, so nice to meet you - How are you?
- Welcome - I wanna drink you in before I...
- Before we say anything - Sure, drink
'Cause we're here to...
gee you're stylish you're very interesting
- So are you - What happens here?
This is Levi Strauss & Co's Eureka Innovation Lab
It's a small factory
So if you go to our shop anywhere in the... in the world
anything you see in that shop we've probably made one of those
a year before that let me show you
Glad I asked I think I asked the right question
Hey, I didn't notice this
- Hey, do I ever - You can throw a spiral!
"Bart's experimental denim playground helps create"
"over 3,000 different styles of jeans every single season"
"and they do it with the help of some ingenious technology"
"So, this is a 501 that we consider a base"
We photograph that and we have this application
that's going to allow you to build your own finish
Some damages maybe?
- Maybe just a little - Oh my gosh!
Oh, the different kind of holes
- I see, wow! - We have libraries of these
So, well, this is amazing
Then I would suggest maybe like, a small one like this
- Click that on - I used to have holes in my pants
all the time, I used to fall down but they weren't jeans
you know, they were just... But nobody really gets holes
So if you see somebody's holes you go, "That's phony"?
A pattern, hey, can I look at all those patterns?
I... I like a plaid but let's go to the leopard print
Let's... let's make it intense
Yeah, yeah let's play around with that
"Well, traditionally denim has been..."
"just horrendous for the environment..."
"using a cocktail of pollutingchemicals"
"and huge amounts of water"
"But Bart and his team with their high-tech tools"
"are aiming to clean up the whole denim world somewhat"
This is how these finishes were done a couple of years ago
Look, this is like 800 men in a room repetitive motion
- Look at that, look - Least desirable jobs in the factory
- Nobody... - Fast forward to today
Clean as a whistle
This uses a fraction of the chemicals
- it creates much less waste - I see
So now you're... You want to be able to see the jeans
Oh, yeah, that's what I got
- Reanna, you ready? - Yes, I'm ready to go
- Three, two, one, go - Three, two, one, go
It's doing something it's doing something
- Wow! - So it's gonna see...
it's starting on the left side It's taking off the very fine top layer
of cotton fiber and the indigo that's attached to that cotton fiber
much in the same way we would have done that with sandpaper
or much in the same way a farmer would have done it
by rubbing his hands repeatedly over his thighs
when he was sitting on a tractor
If we got in between that laser what would happen to us?
Um... it would mark you
You'd have a little tattoo probably
- Oh, I'm not going to... - A little burn
So now, those are the highlights
and now it's going to do the burning, these damages
It is amazing
There you go
- And now... - Did you see that?
I see it and now it's starting the leopard
- So... - It's starting the leopard?
How is it doing that?
The laser is able to produce the pattern using different intensities
like higher power lower power of the laser
you can achieve different effects
- Yeah, it's like magic - It's magic
I want to take these off so you can see them
Okay, you smell that?
I love the smell of...
- burning denim in the morning - Burning denim, yeah
"So, what is it about blue denim jeans"
"that makes them susceptible to get marked up?"
"Well, may we offer a show and tell at this point?"
"Who likes animation? Here you go"
"here... here... here's the big word, indigo"
"That's the dye that makes jeans blue"
"It was originally made 6,000 years ago in Peru"
"and some resourceful folks found a way to ferment plant leaves"
"in order to extract a brilliant blue dye"
"Now, if you zoom in you see it's..."
"molecules don't penetrate the fiber"
"but instead just cling to the surface which means that in denim fabric"
"the dye is built up in layers and layers like coats of paint on a wall"
"So as we wear it layers of indigo dye are worn away"
"and that is what allows every pair of jeans to become, you know"
"as individual, as a... as a fingerprint"
Indigo is like our lifeblood
so we keep these natural fermentation pots here
to develop new colors, and also just to... to play around with
- It's... So it... - Ugh! Ugh!
The great thing about indigo is it chips off and wears
I mean that... that's why jeans a walking history of, you know
your life and your experience and everything
It all comes from that... The inherent way that a jean wears in
Yes, it's a map it's a recording device
- Right, exactly - For what it's gone through
Like your jeans, a lot of jeans you say don't wash them
Oh, I never wash my jeans... for 35 five years
Even if the... even if you... even if they get dirty?
I mean, they... If they get stained then you can...
- you can take that stain off - Yeah, brush them
I mean there have been experiences
where, you know, something happened catastrophically
You don't have to go into those that's private
Everybody poops their pants at one point or another
Well, we know that there's no shame in it
I hope that helps you This is a red-letter day for you
it wasn't that, it wasn't that It's warm
Just put your finger in there just one finger
- Okay, I'll put a finger in there - Just feel how warm it is
Ooh, oh! I... I...
Oh, boy Wipe that off, oh!
- Oh, you should shake my hand - Thank you so much
- It's great to have you - We're brothers, we're blue brothers
The Blues Brothers we're The Blues Brothers
Blues Brothers, yes
What can we say about jeans at this point?
Well, I'll tell you this, even though it's mass produced
and so many people around the world
are wearing the exact same pair of jeans essentially
it's almost like, you know it's everybody's uniform
except each one of them becomes formed
and tells the story of the individual you... you make it your own
Whether you've gotten help from the laser system
of technology or not So, isn't that something?
"Denim's popularity"
"it seems to me has a whole lot to do with the..."
"the many, many ways that it allows us to"
"express ourselves"
"I think, at this point"
"it's time to visit some folks for whom denim, really matters"
"Five, six, five, six, seven, eight"
"I've been invited to take part in a denim ritual"
"This happens to be the Dallas Pride Dancers"
"weekly LGBTQ line dance"
"And, I think I picked it up pretty quick"
"I don't know if they're laughing with me or at... at me"
"Yeah, look at that Not bad"
"but keep that tongue in, Jeff That's the only thing I'd say"
Wow! Wow!
Let me see, now that I'm looking at everybody
Yes, you're all wearing jeans, jeans, jeans
What kind of jeans are you wearing, may I ask?
It's the Asian cowboy jeans
- Asian cowboy jeans - Well, you know
those are fancy pants
Yeah you've got... Look at those your shoes, everything
boy, jeans seems to be the uniform of everybody
So maybe... we're trying to figure out what the big appeal is?
One thing that everybody has in common is denim
Isn't that interesting?
The denim, the reason that it became so iconic for us here
we can go to a country and western bar and get to dance
- line dancing - Yeah, yeah
Whether we're from the LGBT community
or the straight community
and you can feel comfortable and the uniform was the jeans
I mean, I came from a farming background in Kansas
- Ah - So, denim was a way of life
you just wore it because of all the things
you're doing throughout the day
and so now that I've lived into the bigger metro cities...
- Yes - ...it is still inclusive
it doesn't matter the conservative life that I came from, denim is...
- what we wear - Sweet
Kansas
In what movie do they say
"I don't think we're in Kansas anymore"?
- The Wizard of Oz - The Wizard of Oz
My grandfather hated that movie
Why did he hate that? How could he have hated that?
Ready? One, two, three
"Somewhere over the rainbow"
"Way up high"
I love this, this is my favorite moment of my entire life
"So what then can we say finally about jeans?"
You know what, they cover the, the bottoms
the legs of half the population at any one time
but somehow, magically, they make you feel unique, an individual
"And so, what's... what's special about denim, it seems"
"is it offers us a glimpse at a mythical fashion utopia..."
"you know, it's an item of clothing that unites us all..."
"while allowing each one of us to express our own honest..."
"identity"
Authenticity, authenticity
I think that's it, who here doesn't want to be real?
That... That's it in a nutshell and I think I'm done here
"Well, let's pack up and get back to Bar 20"
"you homeless little maverick"
Subtitled by: Image Production House