JEANS

all good

definitely i would machine-dry my jeans though, that is a good way to destroy them

would not

Man, people are super serious about jeans! I wear them more than any other item of clothing so it's time to invest instead of just repeatedly buying $50 once they inevitably start to sag and lighten too much. So I guess you'd recommend buying them on the tight side?

My friend who got me into jeans in the 90's even buys vintage hand soap and using a wash board on his really expensive vintage Levis and other japanese jeans. There was a line of replica Levis in the early 2000's that I really liked. I don't really keep up with jeans like I used to but they lasted longer than any other denim I had. The problem I always have is the holes that form on the but near the back pocket or a hole in the pocket from my wallet. If the denim is very thick like real raw denim or old Levis this rarely happens.

If you're buying 100% cotton jeans that aren't pre-shrunk you want to buy them tight otherwise they will stretch out and not have a nice form a year from now. even slightly shrunk raw denim with loosen up after wearing.

I hang all my clothes to dry as it is
Ive been wearing dark jeans since the 90s and I'm not gonna change now dammit

If I were buying $400 jeans i'd buy the special soap too

e if you like how a pair of jeans fits, buy one size smaller in the waist because it'll stretch an inch in the waist

if one size smaller is too tight anywhere but the waist you need a different cut (otherwise even at the bigger size it's going to end up disproportionate - you will either have comfortable waist and too tight everything else or baggy waist and everything else ok)

if they're stretch blend (not 100 percent) they won't really stretch so just buy your size

actually jacob i think you're off there

unwashed unshrunk jeans (unsanforized) are "shrink to fit" so you buy one or two sizes bigger and then rinse because they'll shrink an inch or more

then as you wear them, they stretch and you when they're too stretched you wash again.

Doesn't it depend or whether you washed jeans in hot or cold water? The more I think about this the more confused I'm becoming. I think I was off.

no, the fibers contract when they dry. hot water will shrink fabrics if it's as hot as the air in your dryer but in general i don't think that's true for most washers (even on hot)

like boiled wool is shrunk but it's literally boiled for hours.

evaporation also shrinks jeans, which is why they'll shrink even if they dry on a line, but the faster you set them the more they'll shrink.

tbh though i don't think clothing shrinkage is well understood at the molecular level

er faster you dry them

like i keep reading stuff like this

Moving from one state to another requires crossing an energy barrier. It even takes energy to get back to the lowest-energy, most disordered state. Hot temperatures in laundering give the fibers the energy that allows them to change state so that the long polymer chains scroll back up again.

which is basically the same as saying "HEAT MAKES IT GO"

wow just wow at jeans physics discussions

eh call it textile science

no, too boring

ok then call it jeanetics

My jeans always wind up needing a belt after a while, even if they fit nicely elsewhere. All I want is a nice slim pair of jeans that will fit in the waist :-(

belts are part of wearing pants imo

Who doesn't wear a belt??

(sometimes me)

belts are def part of wearing jeans and in fact early jeans were designed to be worn with suspenders

I bought this belt almost 15 years ago and I still wear it almost everyday, one of the best investments I've made. Nothing hardly last 15 years.

Haha, me! I never wear a belt! Because where my jeans go to is not my waist, and my hips are too padded to hold things up unless they scrunched me way in.

Maybe one of those striped elastic ones with the nesting infinity-symbol buckles, you know like from jr high.

sorry now that i wrote that i realize it's definitely a part of guy jeans but since girl jeans are cut different i don't think you need a belt

It's okay, I was responding to rrrobyn, really.

i think it really depends on what shirt you're wearing. and what kind of pants/jeans. tucking in or not tucking in. high-waisted or low-waisted. will belt make a weird line in yr shirt or what. i have different belts for different purposes. i do know that a lot of women don't wear belts though. but i just feel it pulls the look together. even if the belt is worn outside, as an accessory rather than a utilitarian device.

it's a utilitarian device for making my head spin

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_5ukY6Ag3teQ/Taew9ecsm-I/AAAAAAAABic/q7ck9iy8mxU/5620846592_12e21962d7_o.jpg

hott

http://image.tianjimedia.com/uploadImages/2011/167/FIJ37EQV2V45_re_4df8137a8159c_500.jpg

super hott

(the style in general, not those particular girls / outfits)

the outfit on top is pretty sweet but that shoulderless shirt has got to go, and i'm not gonna get into the hemline / jeans clash, the played out sunglasses, the hair or the facial expressions. i do want to ask why she's carrying around a leather sofa pillow.

it is surprisingly hard to find pictures of people pulling that look of well though which surprises me because i feel like a lot of people i know irl have been successful w/ it

i guess this pic of reese is the closest i could find though she's not wearing jeans

http://images.teamsugar.com/files/upl1/0/3987/22_2008/Reese-Witherspoon-3.preview.jpg

Re: belts being de rigueur for wearing jeans - are there any stylish stretch-band jeans? Or are stretch-band waists hopelessly mom-jeans/dad-jeans?

(also, TS: the comfort of not having an inflexible leather belt sticking into your back or stomach vs. a belt's lack of constant squeezing of your thigh)

What happened to the shoulders on that girl's shirt, is that a thing?

I need new jeans! I'm thinking of trying shrink-to-fit 501's, but I have rly skinny legs. Will it look like I'm swimming in them? Does anyone have tips on shrinking them?

yow what the hell is going on with the outfit of the second girl i posted? i didn't look too closely at that one. still like the first outfit.

you have two options stevie: you can get spendy and buy the 1947 501s which are slim fit or you can forego shrink to fit and just get 511s. you might be tempted to buy your regular size and shrink those but you'll get something awkward that won't be as flattering as buying a slim cut in the first place.

yeah i think the thing with 501s is even when you're done shrinking them, they're not going to be skinny jeans

if you look around then 501xx can be had for v cheap (sub 50$ on amazon, even less if you get lucky with a sale), so it's not the end of the world if you think they look a bit mom jeans in the end. i am old and i have a big bum, so i like 501xx.

Yeah, even spending like $40 on jeans is a lot of money for me right now. I'm past the phase of wearing, like, crustpunk-skinny but the fact that I've got chicken legs and nonexistent thighs/butt means that normal sized jeans look baggy on me.

http://us.levi.com/product/index.jsp?productId=4101270&&cp=3146842.3146854.3691990&fbn=4101270|null|null

Ya I've been wearing those for like 6 years; ppl keep telling me how great 501's are but I think all of these ppl have more substantial lower halves than I do. I do like 511's quite a bit.

opinons on steven alan jeans

I have been unsuccessfully jeans shopping myself. All I can say is that it was a shitty enough endeavor when I had $$$ to spend; now that I'm on a tight budget, it is BEYOND SHITTY.

Got a pair of madewells rail straight in dark blue wash on sale; not terrible but not great--stretched out quite a bit (2% elastane) and gapes at the waist.

Gonna try Levi's "Bold Curve" straights when I hit up a Levi's outlet.

Oh and a washing question: if a jean has stretch (which seems unavoidable in women's jeans these days), is washing good or bad? I'd like to get them tightened up again. . .

temporary solution (washing) causes a permanent problem (sagging) ime

soak in cold water, hang dry, ive heard tell

^^^ will try this. Am I supposed to put salt in or waht. Too lazy to go back and read this whole thread.

i would like to take this opportunity to relate that being a parent is taking a serious toll on the knees of my jeans. one pair i've already patched three times, another pair, less than 3 years old has just developed a hole. it's a disgrace.

idk abt salt water seems like a bit much

I am seriously upset about jeans these days.

I literally only have one pair that I like and I've bought about five over the last year that just did not work.

They're great out of the dryer but sag within an hour and then I have baggy ass which is NAGL! I am ready to spend some serious $$$ on jeans that will fit well, make my butt look good, and not lose their shape but I don't know where to start looking.

HALP.

madd @ jeans