Yes. Thank the French (hold the fries, if you like) for this most American and versatile and enduring apparel. Merci beaucoup.

Denim was the rugged cloth loomed in Nimes, France. (From serge de Nimes, which morphed to denim.) The California Gold Rush of 1848 launched massive imports of this tough-as-nails cloth. Two San Francisco merchants to the miners, Mr. Levi and Mr. Strauss, reinforced their work overalls with metal rivets on seams and pockets.

Voila! Denim Clothing was born.

We heard that a stuffed denim cat named Bastaat survived over 4,000 years in an Egyptian tomb. That’s probably a false urban legend. But it does show how long lasting this fabric called Denim is in the world of everyday casual clothing.

Legend also says denim is always blue. That’s an honest mistake. A current trend is white and off-white denim jeans for women and men.

Successful wholesalers, resellers and off-price distributors of denim clothing for men and women, teens and tweens, toddlers and infants know a couple of things for sure:

1. Denim Clothing Trims and Styles Change and Recycle – Denim jeans, jackets, skirts and shirts come embroidered, sequined, bugle-beaded and rhinestoned; Plain, stone-washed or distressed. Popular cuts flip from straight-leg (hot now) to boot cut; from flared bottoms to cut-offs and Capris.

Also Current Hottie Wear: Fitted jean jackets, long-and-lean denim pants, paired with classic T-shirts, big-collar white cotton shirts and lacy satin camisoles for the Ladies; sleeveless scoop-necked “undershirts” worn over for the Gents.

Trends in denim do repeat and recycle. Attention Buyers: Pallets of close-out and liquidation denim jeans, no matter the cut or trim, is a game of Warehouse & Wait. Demand, fads, styles always return.

Hello, sailor? Let’s tip our hats to navy sailors, the fashionable folks who gave us that enduring symbol of Hippie Apparel: Bell Bottoms. And don’t bury your bell-bottom pants yet. Search our categories of Urban Wear, Used, Vintage and Work Clothes for denim clothing. They’re baaaaaaack!

2. Go Mr. Green Jeans – Another current trend, driven by customer demand, is for eco-aware clothing. Green Jeans refers not to a dye color, but to organic-grown cotton (no pesticides, no heavy metal dyes), fair-labor (seamstresses, sewers); light carbon footprints (shrinking shipping, transportation, warehousing energy use). Green Textiles and Apparel are all about sustainable clothing sources and designs. And, eternal denim clothes are no exception.