Denim was a material used for tents during the California Gold Rush. Levi Strauss ( a Jew) decided to use his tent material to create a sturdy pair of pants that would hold up under tough mining conditions, and could easily be washed and re-worn. (This started stone washed denim). The material enjoyed popularity with laborers because it was inexpensive and outlasted most of the other materials that clothing were made of. When the Zionists came to build Israel they needed sturdy clothing material, too. Denim became popular, albeit expensive in Israel. Many rabbonim equated the wearing of denim with secular Jews/Zionists. Thus we have the attitude that wearing denim is dressing in a way that identifies with a non charedi outlook. However if you speak to any frum Israeli today they usually buy denim for their little kids and particularly are excited by the Children’s Place clothing. They stop their children from wearing denim before they enter first grade. A woman wearing a perfectly modest, not tight fitting, denim skirt can be sure that her daughter will not be accepted to Bais Yaakov. However I am amused by the proliferation of denim housecoats for sale in most women’s robe stores…… In charedi Israel it is clear that denim is not assur, but it can be used for either the home or on vacation or pre-school…..Can you imagine if someone made a black denim bekeshe?
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