I Heard it Through the Grapevine

There were three brands of absolute must have denim jeans in the 1980's.

These were firmly rooted in youth and fashion culture through some very slick marketing on the TV and cinema screens. Take the antics of, the loosely termed Beefcake, Nick Kamen, in the launderette in stripping off to give his clothes a wash in front of two amused mature lady customers. This imagery and 60's soundtrack boosted the sales of the Levi 501's and even today vintage pairs can make around £5000 amongst collectors and even those who might want to actually wear them.

Wrangler were not far behind in desirability although the name and imagery were perhaps more rugged and roughneck than the trendier, stylish Levi Strauss.

In third place were Lee Cooper. No less a product but it was a bit of a give-away of your personal buying power and taste if you were seen in a pair of these.

My first denims?

I was not at all up with the times and it was my mum who bought them for me from Foster Menswear under their Lopez Jeans label. They were a bit stiff in the leg and for the first few weeks, if I wore them when it rained, my skin turned a bright, washy blue which took some soaking to get rid of.

I was a bit envious of my friends who, through part time jobs or a higher pocket money allowance could stretch to a pair of Levi's. These had to be worn in the bath to shrink-fit and always, as a consequence looked like a custom made pair. My Lopez tended to have that loose baggy fit, after the initial stiffness, that gave the impression that they may have belonged to someone else and had been spotted in the rummage pile at a jumble sale or in a charity shop.

I and my contemporaries in this country took owning and wearing a pair of jeans for granted although I was becoming aware of the highly prized status of branded quality denims in such place as the old Soviet Union.

The first jeans reached the USSR in the 1950's being brought in from the West by a few privileged to travel such as diplomats, pilots and sailors. These goods could be kept in the family as an indicator of influence or sold at a huge profit to those who saw jeans as symbolic of everything that was missing in the country, mainly freedom.

At the Moscow hosting of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1957 the feverish demand for jeans really took root with some of the overseas guests bringing over supplies.

The Communist State began to see jeans wearing as a threat from the emerging Free Market Sharks and a ban was enforced on trafficking. Earlier in 1961 two black marketeers had been sentenced to death although many now prominent Russian businessmen began their career rise in this trade, such was the demand. They flaunted Article 88 of the Criminal Code in force running the constant risk of an 8 year prison term.

The term "Fartsovshchik" referred to the many illegal traders in the Soviet Bloc for much of the post war period until the collapse of the USSR in 1991.  They dealt in all manner of goods smuggled through to avoid customs and duties or those bought from foreigners permitted into the country for completely legitimate purposes of trade or cultural exchange.

The Fartsovshchiks were not seen in the role of spivs as we experienced in the UK in the austere times of ration books and scarcities of the war years and 1950's but were regarded as providing more of a social service to help the ordinary Soviets look trendy and modern.

The main three brands of jeans were the most sought after and would cost the equivalent of one months salary. Of course, with such profits to be made there was a thriving market for counterfeit denims and the public soon became skilled in detecting copies from the originals. This entailed drawing a wet match along the fabric. If turning blue it meant that the jeans were the genuine article.

The fading characteristics of denim were the key factor and the more faded and worn the more valuable they became.

The Soviet manufacturing machine did produce their own jeans but they just would not fade to look like the foreign denim and were not therefore an option for the aspiring younger elements of the population.

Always improvising because of the shortages and high costs a technique by which the communist bloc denim could be boiled to give that essential washed out look was devised. The four steps were to 1) Twist jeans fix with rubber bands 2)Add bleach to warm water 3) Boil jeans in the solution for 20 minutes 4) Rinse several times. All of the above imposed health hazards and important precautions  such as good ventilation and wearing rubber gloves.

In the dying years of the USSR the home produced Montana Brand was commonplace but they were so unbending that when taken off they could be stood up on their own in the corner of a room.

In all, I seem to have it quite easy with my faithful but distinctly untrendy Lopez jeans.