Rivets in clothing

Depends on what the rivets are made from. If you are talking about iron in some form then yes, sweat could cause them to fail. Sweat contains salt, which speeds up rusting and of course weakens the metal. Rust itself will not do fabric any favors, especially if impacted into the fibers around a rivet that are being twisted, since it is abrasive.

I remember catching a program a LONG time ago that claimed that the original jeans had the pockets (or at least the ones at the back) entirely riveted in place - or possibly heavily riveted. These were unpopular as anyone who stood with their back to a fire ended up with a lot of hot metal rivets pressing against their backside.

Maybe one or two additional 'jeans' or rivet myths added to this might make things more tempting from the shows prospective - The idea is in and of itself rather a good one, but might be a little light on content on its own.

It is more likely that I'm misremembering what was shown on the program, rather than the program itself being wrong.

So let's see:

1. Can sweat cause riveted clothing to fail, either near the rivets or at the rivets?
* Will sweat cause the rivets to corrode enough to speed up failure?
* Will sweat cause the material near the rivets to corrode enough to speed up failure?

2. Can rivets transfer heat or cold to the wearer?
* Can a person who wears riveted clothing feel the temperature difference if their rivets heat or cool?
* Can the rivets transfer enough heat / cold long enough to injure the wearer?

That's two myths right there.

The team could simply see about renting one of the "wand" devices that the security people use.

I can tell you that the wands sensitivity can be altered to ignore Clothing rivets, zips, and other metal fastenings.
Also the operator may choose to ignore such signals.
It is expected that Zips and Jeans will have small metallic signatures.
They are after BIG things such as knife blades that have a much bigger signal return?....


The rivets themselves....
I think it may have been the Discovery program "How its made", but I watched how jeans were made one time?...
The inference was that the continued use of rivets these days was purely a traditional thing, the rivets in use today are not as strong as the original ones, and are only put in "For show", as people buying jeans expect to see Rivets.
And again, the ones I am wearing today dont have any rivets at all.
I am working on something in the back yard, its rather messy, and as usual, it will get on my clothing....
I trash more jeans by Dirt Grease and Oil stains than I do by wear alone, and at a fiver a pop, the ones I use, bought from ASDA (Wally World), are perfectly serviceable, and disposable as bio-degradable when they get too dirty?...

Of Course, certain brands still make the original recipe.... it works and they refuse to "Fix" it...same weight denim, same thread count, same exact way as they have always done.

I keep some decent jeans for when I need to be smart but serviceable... as in driving the Truck.. its still shirt-and-tie, but they dont expect pressed seam trousers or suits when you drive the heavy stuff.

And I remember the day I had to teach my Dad how to iron jeans....
Mum was ill, Dad was trying to help out, with Ironing, he was about to put creases in Jeans?....
I was about 20 at the time.
To his amusement, I grabbed the jeans, told him to "Follow me"....
I then lifted the mattress, placed the jeans folded in half lengthways under the mattress, and said "Jobs done, come back tomorrow..."

Mum was laughing at the look on my Dads face.
He had never been a "Student", never lived in Digs, and never used the lazy trick of flattening jeans under the mattress....

I do hope this isnt a strange thing to other people?... surely some others out there have heard of (and used) that trick?....

Jeans are what they are.
The places where they "Rivet" jeans are usually strong parts, they push the rivet through, not punch, so the fibres are parted rather than damaged, and the pressure put on the rivet as it grabs hold is enough to keep and increase the strength of the fibres around the joint.

Its a simple good strong trick.

If sweat and dirt are enough to cause failure, the fibres around the riveted part will fail first, or the thread holding seams together.
In all the years I have worn jeans, over half a century, by the time the rivets fail, they are usually the least of the problems you have with that pair of jeans.

My worst area of wear has always been the knees, or that area between knees and waist, as that is where my jeans get the most wear in the workshop, rubbing against bits I am working on or spillages.


The worst thing you can get on jeans, by far, is Line cleaner.
[Other than stuff that is complete call the fire brigade environmental seal off the area hazardous chemical that should never be handled without specialised clothing....]
The stuff any Bar Pub or Restaurant uses to clean the lines from barrel to tap, line cleaner, is that caustic that any spill on clothing will wreck it almost immediately, doesnt matter how quick you get it in the wash, its going to degrade right here, right now.

And line cleaner that DOESN'T do that is not worth using......

So I have wrecked a few pairs of jeans cleaning the lines in the Pub.
I have a heavy leather apron that I use to prevent splashes getting on me, but it doesnt go all the way to the floor, so from about knee height down, I am exposed to splashes.

As for the rivets themselves, that they use in jeans, I believed they were a form of either Stainless steel or Aluminium.
Neither will degrade that quickly in normal use?....

Wouldn't the first point of business be to find out if the rivets themselves are weakening the cloth to begin with? If they are, then there's instantly something to this myth, making the places the rivets are inserted into more or less pre-determined points of failure. From there it's just a matter of finding out if sweat could possibly accelerate the failure process.

That would have to be done side by side with a NON riveted seam, to see what wears first...?
Its not that rivets dont wear out, its more that they are supposed to lengthen the life of the seam?....

I don't buy riveted jeans (waste of money for what I'm normally doing), but I think Silver's point about how the rivets are set is a good one. In re-enactment circles, there's a lot of people who argue that you shouldn't use metal eyelets in your corset because the process of setting them cuts the fabric -- they recommend using an awl to shove the threads aside to make a small hole, then a knitting needle to force the hole large enough for your cording, then sewing around the hole.

(And if I can ever find someone local who can help me fit an Elizabethan corset, I'll be able to test this. That's not something you can fit to yourself without help.)

Any corset will reshape to some extent, but the radical reshaping would be Victorian. Elizabethan basically smooths the torso. And any garment that fits that close (of any era) had better be fitted correctly or it's going to be painful at best. [/hijack]