Denims- Un-fit for Formal meetings?!

While creative industries and IT industry upto some extent take pride in casual dressing policy, certain thumb rules about business attire are followed worldwide. Wearing denim /jeans or Corduroy (most of us call it qua-dra-aai) in formal business meetings is inappropriate or unprofessional - and this statement is always debated upon . The reason why most of the formal dressing policies and boardroom meeting protocols exclude the denims from their list is in the history of these fabrics.

The name "denim" derives from French serge de Nîmes, meaning 'serge from Nîmes'. Denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue jeans, although "jean" formerly denoted a different, lighter, cotton fabric. The contemporary use of the word "jeans" comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy (Gênes), where the first denim trousers were made.

Denim has been used in the USA since the mid 19th century. Denim initially gained popularity in 1873 when Jacob W. Davis, a tailor from Nevada, manufactured the first pair of “rivet-reinforced” denim pants. When they were invented, jeans were associated with blue-collar work. They were meant to get muddy and gross and take lots of abuse without falling apart, even if you wore the same pair every day. The people who bought them were the ones whose lives required durable clothing. Soon, the popularity of denim jeans began to spread rapidly as heavy work clothing.





Corduroy is a vintage textile of cotton or cotton-mix fabric with a raised, ribbed, sheared surface nap and underlying weave. It is made from woven, twisted fibres which lie in parallel rows or ‘cords’ to form the cloth’s texture. Corduroy has a velvety feel making it durable yet soft to touch. It has been used mainly for men’s working and sporting clothing throughout the centuries. Corduroy evolves from the ancient cotton weave known as ‘fustian’. This manufactured textile existed for thousands of years before it came to acquire the name of corduroy as we know it. By the 19th Century corduroy is being mass-produced in factories all over Europe and America. It was mainly used by workers, artists and students it has the image of ‘poor man’s velvet’.Both denim and corduroy were hence used by workers and not the elite businesspersons during their business hours and hence traditionally not considered as business/formal attire. In other words, it's not the jeans themselves that are the problem; it's the people who've traditionally worn them.