Skinny Jeans Almost Ruined the American Economy and Your Closet

Another reason why you shouldn't wear them.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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There hasn’t been an item of clothing that can make a dad embarrass his son in front of the Internet like skinny jeans. We don’t have to tell you, but they can also cause serious testicular problems. Duh. If angry fathers and doctors aren’t really convincing you to lay off those skin-hugging pants, how bout if we told you it’s also destroying America’s money?

It’s true. According the Washington Post, banknotes haven’t been the same ever since the fashion industry started mixing denim and spandex together. Thus, America’s money has been suffering a setback.

Since the late 1800s, a company called Crane has been producing the 75/25 cotton and linen “paper” blend that the U.S. prints its money on. The cotton was sourced from scraps of denim the garment industry no longer needed—yes, this whole time U.S. money was actually produced from the Levi’s’ scraps. That’s until fashion around the ‘90s got hip to spandex fabrics.

After combining the stretchy fabric to denim, it was practically game over for Crane. The denim scraps were rendered useless and might have been considered garbage to manufacturers. Why? This is because “even a single fiber of spandex can ruin a batch of currency paper, degrading the strength of the material,” according to the Washington Post. And removing the spandex from the fabric is tough, so doing so would be pointless. 

It's nearly impossible now to find denim without a trace of spandex—all denim has at least a single thread of stretch built in. Without the recycle denim originally used to make Benjamins, Crane has been forced to work around this, resorting to buying cotton straight up. 

Basically: skinny jeans are fucking with your money. That’s usually the last straw for many people.

RELATED: The 10 Denim Brands Who Make Jeans in the USA

[Washington Post via The Atlantic]

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