Peru hopes for jeans record

Peruvian seamstresses hoping to snag a Guinness World Record for sewing the largest pair of blue jeans celebrated yesterday, one day after cranes buckled while trying to lift the giant 7.5-tonne pants.

Workers laid the pair on the ground and put big balloons inside the legs to show off the size of the jeans, which are 43 metres tall and 30 metres wide.

They have pockets, red buttons and a brown belt.

On Thursday, disillusioned crane operators gave up trying to lift the pants with three machines and went looking for a fourth. They wanted to lift the pants to display them. Yesterday, workers had to scrap the idea of hoisting the jeans altogether.

The Colombian city of Medellin currently holds the record for the world's largest pair of jeans, which is measured by size, according to the clothing company that organized the event in San Juan de Lurigancho, a district full of textile plants east of the Peru's capital, Lima.

The Colombian pair were 35 metres tall by 25 metres wide. Representatives from Guinness were not present to see the Peruvian-made jeans, but a notary who can send documentation to the group was.

The company's chief executive said material from the pants will be cut to make backpacks for area school children.