Internet Colors - Set of 1035

Denim Color 307 - #1560BD

Denim (which gets its name from the French for "from Nímes" is a rugged cotton twill textile, in which the weft passes under two (twi- "double") or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces the familiar diagonal ribbing of the fabric, which distinguishes denim from cotton duck.

It is characteristic of any indigo denim that only the warp threads are dyed, whereas the weft threads remain plain white. As a result of the warp-faced twill weaving, one side of the fabric shows the blue warp threads, the other side shows the white weft threads. This is why jeans are white on the inside and what makes denim's fading characteristics unique compared to every other fabric.

Denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue "jeans," though "jean" then denoted a different, lighter cotton textile; the contemporary use of jean comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy where the first denim trousers were made.