Buying the Proper Fit of Jeans
How do you choose the right fit of jeans
I'm going to talk about how to buy a pair of jeans that actually fit. I'll discuss an overview of denim and the terminology that we use to understand how they are built.
There is no substitute for going in and choosing a pair of jeans because there are so many factors out there. I get people that contact me once every couple of months and they're starting a denim company or starting a jean company.
My hat is off to my friend, Christopher, he has a company, Brown Deim, he's in the denim company as well.
5 Things You Should Know About Fitting Your Jeans
1. Waist
Let's first talk about the waist, one of the easiest things. We all think we know what we fit into. In fact, I wear 32/32. Does that mean I have a 32-inch waist? Yes? No? Waiting for your answer. No.
The answer is actually no. That is vanity sizing. So the fact that they tell you, you have a 32-inch waist really means that your waist is about 34 to 34.5 inches and it depends on the brand.
Some brands are going to give you a little bit of extra room; some are going to give you a little bit less. They look at their target market and they build for that.
I don't know who started this vanity sizing or why, but it really throws a wrench in everything and it confuses people, and they really believe that they are a 32-inch waist when they're not, or even those of you that are a bit bigger.
It also changes with brands. This is where if you are used to one brand, don't think a 32/32 in Levi's is going to fit the same as 32/32 in Cooper or a 32/32 in Wrangler or Lee or any of those other brands out there, especially when we get into small brands. You could see even more variation.
2. Rise
What is the rise? The rise is actually the distance from the bottom of the crotch area all the way to the top where the button is at. We normally think of high and low rise. Many of you have seen that.
A lot of you younger guys out there wearing low-rise jeans that started in the women's department, the whole low-rise just because of the way their bodies were built. It transferred over to the young men department for whatever reason.
I think too much of a low rise is not a great look for a man because it shortens his leg line and makes his torso look longer. Some guys like this. I guess if you've got the whole six-pack abs thing going for you, you could probably pull it off. For most of us, low-rise is not a good idea especially if you are approaching 30 or over 30.
Let's stick away from low-rise. What you want to go towards is more of the classic cuts or the high-rise. High-rise is actually a great cut for older men.
I've got a link at Real Men Real Style that talk about jeans for the older men and I do that with Kaycee Golden. She comes in and she's a jean consultant. This is really what she does and she helps men find the jeans that really show off their back side the best. Believe it or not, she helps hundreds of men do that.
The jeans that she recommended were AG along with Zegna. It actually has a very nice jean for a man in his 50s or in his 60s, but that plays with the rise.
3. Inseam
If I hear a 32/32 on jeans, that last number is the inseam. What is the inseam?
The inseam is inside basically from your crotch area to the bottom area. They've got a line right down here. This should be 32 inches, it isn't always. In fact, if it's a little bit longer, that's not that bad of a thing guys because you can have your jeans shortened. Take them to a tailor or a seamstress. They can easily shorten them. It's going to look better than tearing at the back.
4. Hip and Thigh Style
When they talk about the styles, you hear slim, regular, and relaxed. Many jean companies like Levi's. They've got the 505's, the 501's, the 559's, the 569's.
They're affecting some other things, but really what they're talking about is the fit in the buttocks, in the hips, and in the thigh area, and this is one of the most important fits and something you need to get right because each of us have certain fits we're used to.
The Levi's 501‘s, they are a straight leg button fly doesn't really affect the fit too much. While some of you jean enthusiasts may disagree, but really what I'm concerned about is what type of fit, and the original fit.
I'm expecting the 501's to be a regular fit. That's going to be for the regular guy. It should fit him. If you find you need something a little bit looser, then you want to go for more of the relaxed fit and that's going to give you a little bit more room.
If you're well-built like you're a rugby player or something like that, you're going to want to go possibly for a more relaxed fit because you're going to have muscular thighs and muscular buttocks.
5. Leg Style
We're moving on to the actual leg. What we see is tapered, straight, and boot cut. When you hear those three things, what they're talking about is this hole right here.
On tapered, you're going to see that's going to be the smallest and that's where you're going to see sometimes 12 inches.
Boot cuts, which you can see range up to 20 inches, so that's going to be almost doubled. You don't want to go with anything that looks like you're flaring and you're back in 1970.
If you are going to go for the boot cut, you want more of that flare out there, just make sure it's not extreme.
Most of the companies like Levi's, Cooper, Lee, and Wrangler. They do a pretty good job of not going out there, but some of the smaller designers sometimes they can go a little bit crazy on that boot cut.
Armed with that knowledge, you should be able to go out there and make a smart purchasing decision, go into the stores and try them on.
If you bought a pair of Levi's five years ago, my advice would be to go into a store and try things on. Maybe they don't have all the designs and patterns or all the styles you're looking for.
Go home and order online and you will have a very good idea of the numbers which you need to play with, and then you can just get a whole bunch of these jeans at home, try them on, pick which ones you want or go back to the store and purchase them and I think you'll be a much happier man.