May 06, 2019

Behind our ripped denim inspired leggings

Within the last month we have released a few new styles of leggings that were inspired by ripped denim. So we wanted to dive deeper into where the fashion trend came from.

The first pair of jeans were designed in the late 1870s by Loeb Strauss, a German businessman who changed his name to Levi and founded the denim brand. Using twilled cotton cloth, he created a durable pant for the working man.

Since that time the denim jean has gone through many changes and has been apart of many cultural trends.

In the 1970's the trend of distressed denim had found its way into the punk culture. A lot of bands had ingrained the ideology to fight against status quo. The early punk movement tore apart consumer goods as a symbol of revolt. Denim became one of the popular symbols. Especially with both men and women wearing torn jackets and jeans adorned with pins and slogans.

Although the ripped jeans were a subculture phenomenon, by the 90's the trend cemented its place as a mainstream fashion piece. Today, it can be found in the wardrobes of most of us. People of varied tastes wear ripped jeans to express themselves in different ways, and at the end of the day, giving meaning to what you wear is important because it provides a means to symbolize your thoughts and opinions.

For us, applying the ripped denim inspiration to leggings has been anything but easy. One of our first designs was our Riptide Tights where we were able to create a full length legging but add unique raw edged slits down the leg. More recently we have added our Tear It Up Tights and the Prism Pant. The Tear It Up Tights were designed to give an exposed knee while having no raw edges. The Prism Pant we wanted to truly blend style with functionality. We created finished edged slits on both legs but also backed those openings with a 4 way stretch mesh to hold up to any kind of workout.