'distressed' jeans...

[Quigley Brown]

Rant of the week: I really can't put into words what I think of someone who would actually buy these and think they're cool. My jeans eventually become this 'distressed' looking, but it usually takes a couple of years...not right off the shelf.

From an ad in today's Sunday paper:

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[patrick1987]

I agree. It's almost impossible to get a pair of decent jeans for cheap that aren't distressed. I'm lucky to find one pair a year in the Goodwill but I wouldn't mind being able to walk into a department or especially discount store and buy a pair of cheap jeans with no holes. Same when a girl is shopping, the selection is just not there. It's distressing.

 

[cooncatbob]

I've always found it strange that someone would pay alot more for worn out jeans then for new ones and to think I usually throw out my old jeans when they get holes in them. Man I've been throwing away $$$.
Bob.

 

[Smithy]

The one which got me was the "dirty denim" trend of a couple of years back where kids were purchasing jeans off the shelf that looked like they'd been rolling in dung for half an hour.

 

[MK]

.

Madness!

 

[ClayBob]

I have a pair almost like the ones in the ad. Mine started out new, this morning I was debating whether to throw them away or save them to paint in. Sheer madness to spend good money on that.

 

[tonyb]

The one which got me was the "dirty denim" trend of a couple of years back where kids were purchasing jeans off the shelf that looked like they'd been rolling in dung for half an hour.

Oh boy, now you've got me going ...
I found myself in a GAP store at the mall (for the first time ever) yesterday and checked out what has to be the most unattractive assortment of jeans I've ever seen. These pants are not only a bit "distressed," they are faded in an uneven sort of way and dyed in a dingy color that makes them appear just plain dirty. To me, anyway. But get this: On the sale rack, among other abominations, were some not-bad pants, including a pair of Mexican-made, tan-colored, heavy-denim jeans in my size that had been repeatedly marked down to the $4.97 I paid for them, which is three cents less than I paid for a pair of barely used black Bugle Boy brand jeans I picked up at a charity thrift shop a coupla-three weeks ago.
And then, last night at Target, I found a pair of regular old Wranglers (made in Costa Rica) for a little less than eight bucks.
I used to be a Levi's loyalist, but ever since they stopped making them here in God's Country, I've gone for the relative bargains to be had from the other brands.

 

[dhermann1]

The whole idea is to look "as if" you've been outdoors and being physically active, like a cowboy. Ha! Phoney, phoney, phoney.

 

[LizzieMaine]

They'll do it every time.

 

[MrNewportCustom]

I buy faded or stone washed denim shorts, sometimes, but not ones with holes - that's my job!

WalMart carries a number of jeans brands, including Wrangler (I don't recall if they carry Levi's, though), and you can often get them new for about fifteen dollars a pair.

That's a great comic strip, Lizzie. Back in the late '70/early '80s, one of my sisters absolutely refused to allow my mother to buy her new jeans. But she was happy to go to a place not far from here called, "Funky: Damn Near New" and buy ripped and faded used jeans for three or four times the cost of new. Mom and dad made her pay for those with her own money.


Lee

 

[gluegungeisha]

Haha. I remember being in middle school when the whole mass-marketed "distressed" look started getting big. I told this girl clad in $50 Abercrombie or whatever jeans that she could get the same look for 99 cents at the thrift store. Her response?

"Why would I want to wear something that someone else already wore?"

lol :eusa_clap

 

[MrNewportCustom]

"Why would I want to wear something that someone else already wore?" lol :eusa_clap

You should have answered, "So that you can look exactly like you do for one-fiftieth of the cost." And then explained to her how much more money she'd have for accesories and make-up and hairstyles that look like contrasting-patterned wood flooring and . . . lol


Lee

 

[gluegungeisha]

hairstyles that look like contrasting-patterned wood flooring

Hahaha!! Brilliant.

 

[Benny Holiday]

Some clothing company mogul, somewhere has to be laughing hysterically. He or she started laughing at first when they originally put this rubbish on the shelf, marketed it as 'hip' and 'trendy' and watched the clowns go in and buy it en masse. Now, they're still laughing . . . all the way to the bank.

What about the shirts with all the printed scribble over them, you got those over there in the USA too? What a joke!

 

[Feng_Li]

You should have answered, "So that you can look exactly like you do for one-fiftieth of the cost." And then explained to her how much more money she'd have for accesories and make-up and hairstyles that look like contrasting-patterned wood flooring and . . .

One-Fiftieth of the cost? We obviously have an untapped market here, and a fantastic opportunity to add value to the product. We can buy up the cheap jeans and offer an authentic distressing service - the tatters in your jeans are guaranteed to be the result of actual hard use, not factory imitations! Pricing would be competitive; certainly less than the designer damage.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

One-Fiftieth of the cost? We obviously have an untapped market here, and a fantastic opportunity to add value to the product. We can buy up the cheap jeans and offer an authentic distressing service - the tatters in your jeans are guaranteed to be the result of actual hard use, not factory imitations! Pricing would be competitive; certainly less than the designer damage.

I read an article in InStyle magazine about a company that did just that and that Steve McQueen sent his jeans there to have them distressed. I haven't picked up a copy of InStyle magazine since.
Benny Holiday, we also have that scribble stuff. Sometimes it's printed right over an otherwise nice print. Ugh.
As for wearing what other people wore, do they actually think no one has tried that retail stuff on? Or bought it and returned it? Well, all the more thrift stuff left for us to buy is how I see it.

 

[Alan Eardley]

'Stone washing' was invented by a French company.

In the 'punk era' of the mid to late 1970s when the worn/torn jeans look became popular, a friend of mine worked as a contract carpet fitter. He crawled around on his knees all day, which wore out any pants he wore PDQ. His knees were always 'hanging out' - it was a real problem and replacing them was a considerable expense.

Then someone wanting the punk 'worn out look' asked if he would 'wear out' a pair of new Levi's for them. That started a trend, and soon he didn't have to buy a pair of work jeans for at least a year. He didn't actually charge them, but I bet he could have!

Alan

 

[Smithy]

'Stone washing' was invented by a French company.

In the 'punk era' of the mid to late 1970s when the worn/torn jeans look became popular, a friend of mine worked as a contract carpet fitter. He crawled around on his knees all day, which wore out any pants he wore PDQ. His knees were always 'hanging out' - it was a real problem and replacing them was a considerable expense.

Then someone wanting the punk 'worn out look' asked if he would 'wear out' a pair of new Levi's for them. That started a trend, and soon he didn't have to buy a pair of work jeans for at least a year. He didn't actually charge them, but I bet he could have!

Alan

Brilliant!

 

[TheKitschGoth]

I used to work in a clothes shop, back when I was going through a fairly punky phase, and because I had a cool manager (I can imagine some of you will disagree with me in a minute lol) she let me customise my clothes however I wanted, as long as I wore clothes from the store. So I had a pair of jeans I'd cut a series of slashes into.

A customer came in one day and asked where she could buy the jeans, so I directed her to them, and she came back a few minutes later, "I couldn't find the jeans". I pointed out that I'd put the cuts in myself and was left speechless when she said "oh I cant be bothered to do that"

I even offered to cut them for her and she said no.

[huh]

 

[Mocheman]

Man I remember the whole stone/acid wash ripped jean craze of the late 80's. Every piece of jean material from jackets to shorts had that look. The hair bands of the time really made good use of it.

I've been buying Dickies jeans from walmart and I'm very happy with them. Though they are a little stiff to begin with, but they have that old style look to them and are tough as nails.