Why Soviet jeans never came into fashion: the reason will certainly surprise you!

So why were people willing to pay their entire salary for imported jeans? Were the factories of the USSR not able to produce ordinary blue trousers for the workers? Of course, this was not a problem for the factories.

For the first time, Soviet boys and girls saw jeans in 1957 at the World Youth Festival. A veritable hunt for “cowboy and gold digger pants” immediately begins: only those who are friends with diplomats, sailors, athletes and actors who have been abroad manage to procure it.

It was possible to buy jeans only from speculators for a lot of money – at least the average monthly salary. It is said that Yan Rokotov, the king of black currency traders and traders, who received the highest measure, including for denim trading, said before his death: “Yet jeans are the best clothes.”

Of course, they tried to fight against the mania for jeans in the Union, but neither caricatures, nor satirical essays, nor lessons from comrades changed anything: blue pants remained the dream of every fashionista. .

And then Soviet officials decided that since the movement could not be stopped, it had to be directed – in other words, to establish the production of jeans in the USSR. No sooner said than done: in 1975, the Ministry of Light Industry launched the production of its own Orbita denim.

The Orbita, as well as the Salyut and Voronezh that appeared behind it, cost from three to eighteen rubles – in other words, ten or even a hundred times cheaper than imported pants. However, it was also not easy to get domestic denim – for all the products of the Vereya clothing factory there was not enough.

However, the shortage did not make Vereya fashionable – she was exhausted, but was not worn as fashionable pants, but simply as blue-purple cotton pants. And it was not a question of style at all: it was borrowed from Western manufacturers, and they themselves produced a variety of models.

A cruel joke with the Soviet light industry was played … by the high quality of the fabric. Soviet denim, unlike imported denim, did not want to wear out either during wear or after experiments with “whiteness” and brick chips – the dye held “tightly”.

Jeans lovers did not like this: it was believed that the most valuable thing in pants was “individuality” that emerged over time in the form of scuffs that were never repeated. As a result, “Orbita” did not become popular – Soviet citizens continued to dream of Levi Strauss, or at least the Bulgarian “Rila”.

Over time, officials realized their mistake: in 1983-1986, Tver jeans appeared from the “correct” fabric, purchased in India. Alas, too late: in the late 80s the state allowed small businesses, the era of resale began and denim ceased to be a cult – now it was very easy to get it.

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