VII.

INFORMAL FASHION
VII.1. SPORTSWEAR During the 80s several sport as well as open-air activities had inspired daily fashion: horseback riding (Husky), sailing (Henry Lloyd), hunting (Barbour), woodcutters (Timberland), etc, all pieces of clothings that widened the casual sector of fashion, usually linked to leisure time. Casual was transformed and became sportweat, a range of clothing meant for urban consumers who love comfort, practicality and flexibility. It is no wonder then that sportswear became the second or third class of the collections of many couturiers. This was introduced by the informal wave introduced by youth generations during the 60s, to the amazing diffusion of jeans as well as the increasing global success of sport activities. The fact that the American culture is enjoying the favor of people on a worldwide level also influenced the welcoming of sportswear. It is no wonder that the so-called Friday wear that is the opportunity given to American companies employees to wear informal clothes on Fridays is becoming more and more common outside of the US and that the typical American informal style is increasingly influencing fashion. In recent years the US influenced a lot the rest of the world as far as the common wearability of brand clothes of great stylists is concerned: Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan, etc. VII.2. LEVIS AND THE MYTH OF JEANS From the US we also get jeans, which have represented the symbol of informal style for more than a century and they have been considered such thanks to their versatility. According to tradition, jeans were created in March 14th 1853 when Levi Strauss, a 24-year-old boy with Jewish origins immigrated to the United States and went to San Francisco where he experienced the core of the gold rush. The fact that he came from a Jewish family was very important for Levi Strauss because in the centuries selling fabrics was considered something very humble and allowed just to Jewish people, which therefore developed a particular hability in this sector. Levi Strauss golden intuition was that of mass-producing trousers following a number of given sizes. The only thing he had was a khaki colored tent fabric, and he started using it to produce the first trousers, at that time known as overalls (the word jeans was probably coined after the city of Genoa where this kind of fabric was commercialized and was introduced only during the 1930s). We do not know when exactly the actual shape and cut of the jeans was created because a big fire caused by the great earthquake of 1906 destroyed the archive. We have reasons to think

though that it underwent many changes during the years: some not functional elements have been inserted, although they were considered something very typical. We are talking about the copper rivet on top of the pockets, the patch saying the brand, the model and the size with two horses stretching a pair of jeans introduced in 1936. Even though Levis started advertising its products in 1882, progressively lost the monopoly of jeans production. It was flanked by Lee that introduced the zyp replacing buttons in 1926 and by Wrangler, that introduced the overall in 1906 and the sanforizing a process through which it is possible to limit the shrinkage of jeans first washing (it was probably named after the city of Nimes, in which it was created). Starting from 1930s jeans became even more popular: born as a work uniform for West workers, they became the leisure time uniform of every American thanks to a number of factors among which we list the high accessibility and cheap price, the increasing attention towards leisure time activities, the creation of mass consumption, the mechanization of industrial production and the impressive and sharp growth of the middle class. The third and most important step of the history of jeans started in the aftermaths of the Second World War, with a particular scope on Europe. American soldiers leisure time clothing produced by Levis became the symbol of the wealth and freedom expressed by the United States at that time. They were considered the nation who had won the war and had brought jeans, Coke, chewing gums, nylon tights, Hollywood movies and, last but not least, rocknroll. Another important step to understand the history of jeans are the years in between the 60s and the 70s, when they became the uniform of youth movements and of the Woodstock generation. Jeans became something to favor sex equality thanks to the democratic values they expressed. Today jeans have lost these specific meaning and are considered something socially and universally indifferentiated, a classic piece of clothing opposing, with its stability, to all the ups and downs of fashion. Same goes for the T-shirt that, starting from 1942 year in which the US Marine established a basic model and adopted it for millions of its members. Jeans have played and still play such a fundamental role in our societies that can be considered the most widespread and popular piece of clothing on earth.

VII.3. ADIDAS, NIKE AND REEBOK: SPORTS CHARME Sport shoes (hereinafter referred as trainers or sneakers) have increasingly originated a symbolic and commodity related universe associated to sport and particularly inclined to sync with youths fashions. Such universe influences daily clothing as well: in fact, it is pretty impressive if we think that up to a century ago, trainers were considered poor and humble shoes associated to thieves and criminals. In 1895 William Foster - a high ranked athlete - found a firm in Bolton (UK) to produce the football boots he had invented. Later on he passed his firm to his nephews who decided to call it Reebok (named after the name of an African antelope). In 1908, marquise Converse found in Massachussetts a firm named after him and launched in 1907 the first pair of All Star, which were used until the 1960s by basketball players and became very popular in the US. In 1926 Dassler family founded in Germany the Dassler Schufabrik, which shoes were worn by many athletes for the Olympic games in 1928, 1932 and 1936. After splitting the company, the two brothers Adi and Rudi Dassler founded Adidas and Puma. Adidas was a sort of leader in the world market of the 70s also thanks to the easily recognizable brand with the 3 parallel stripes. Nike was founded in the 70s by Phil Knight, an accountant, and Bill Bowerman, working as a coach at the Oregon State University. In 1972 there was the foundation of the world famous brand, Nike, named after the Greek goddess of victory as the young designer of the brand told he had dreamt with this winged goddess and also because the word nike was easy to pronounce in many languages. During the 80s and the 90s there was a sharp hike in the market demand of sporting clothes and shoes. Trainers underwent many transformations until becoming sneakers, sporty shoes with an extremely technologic and expressive design. Whereas Adidas was meant for professional runners, Nike oriented its strategies towards beginner runners and amateurs. This explains why at the end of the 70s Nike produced half of the running shoes sold, and the main competitors were Adidas and Reebok. In the following years, long tank tops and high top shoes became a must for young black afro-american men and hip hoppers, influencing white people in the suburbs. In addition, thanks to the success of aerobics in the early 80s, women started practicing sports building a new market: Reebok foresaw this phenomenon, and was the first brand creating products meant for women.

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