Denim sellers launched a campaign to make jeans seem less risqué

In the 1950s, teenagers wore denim — but so did bikers and outlaws. Brando’s juvenile delinquent character in 1953’s “The Wild One” strutted across the screen in a leather motorcycle jacket and cuffed blue jeans, only fueling growing suspicions that denim pants went along with an outré lifestyle. In response, schools and concerned parents started banning jeans. That’s when denim sellers got together to protect their product’s reputation. They launched a national advertising campaign to clean up denim’s image. “They start going back to the myths of denim. Christopher Columbus, cowboys, stuff like that,” Bicks told The Post.