A tale of two cities links a fabric that now accounts for worldwide sales of three billion garments a year. The fabric is denim, and the garment, jeans. Denim’s name comes from serge de Nîmes, a twill weave woven since the 16th century in the textile manufacturing city of Nîmes in southern France. Well known by the 17th century, this was a blend of wool and silk, also a wool blend worn by shepherds in the
