Any idea how expensive jeans were in Soviet times? One of the best gifts western visitors (which were very rare) could bring during that time when visiting family, was jeans! It not only provided a coveted piece of clothing, but even if you grew out of them, they were still very useful for trading for other things. It's commonly thought that alcohol was used for trading, which is also true. But, for imported goods, jeans were more important. A bottle of JD only lasts an evening, and even in the smallest village, someone knew how to distil or ferment alcoholics anyway. But, a good pair of jeans would be useful for years. (somewhere in the nineties, the quality of western jeans did take a dive though, originally, those things were made from sturdy canvas, then just thick jeans cloth, but modern jeans are made of a much thinner and much weaker fabric)
