Men in blue, spending green

What would those gruff prospectors of yore make of men's jeans today — what with the serious talk about selvage (a finished edge), whiskers (wear lines) and the rigidity of raw Japanese denim? One suspects the answer would not have been "crocking" (dye bleed) but something considerably terser and blunt. But, who knows? Like death, taxes and striking gold, looking "cool" is an eternal obsession.

By Bill Daley, Tribune Newspapers

April 27, 2012