Denim pants were invented by Levi Strauss in the mid nineteenth century to cater to the needs of California prospectors. The highly durable material soon was adopted by laborers of all sorts, and for the next century denim jeans remained work clothes. Starting in the late 1950s, denim pants, or blue jeans, made a remarkable transition: they became the most popular kind of pants among young people, who helped make them acceptable in sportswear in America and around the world. Several factors were behind the- popularity of blue jeans during the 1960s. The hippies took up jeans for many reasons: they were inexpensive, required little or no care, and became more comfortable with wear. In particular, jeans were an antifashion statement. As Marshall McLuhan put it, "Jeans represent a ripoff arid a rage against the establishment." Hippies were not the only ones...