Is there already a thread? I saw some for boots

Wrangler Retro Slim Boot jeans fit me wonderfully and was my go to for a couple years. It’s made some kind of stetch type denim but they look and fit like an actual pair of jeans - a bit more fitted, but nowhere near to that shitbag little gentleman look that is so prevalent among billionaire funded white nationalists.

Unfortunately, these motherfuckers get ripped to shreds and I have no idea why the back pockets are trying to escape. I work at an office. I bought them in two sizes and keep having them repaired and its gotten a little insane.

What’s good these days in jeans world? I need to be able to wear them with boots

My wife got me some skinny jeans from Old Navy years ago as a present and I really like them. I've been wearing them for 3-4 years now. I think there might be some elastic in the fabric.

Good question. I can't find anything that can withstand more than a year of regular use, even pricey Flint and Tinders.

Huge fan of Levi's 511s. Slim and normal, and they last a good long while.

Caveat: I have stopped thinking much about ethics when it comes to clothes. Am at the point where I think that just about anything I wear right now is probably made in a place where the laws are suspect at best. If this is a concern, you might be best served ignoring my post.

Anyway, I buy jeans almost exclusively from Old Navy. They have a bunch of different fits, and each of them vary drastically in how much I like them in looks and in comfort. Their "straight built-in flex" fit is my favorite and allows the most for gaining or losing a few pounds, which is definitely something that I'm prone to do.

As far as longevity, yeah I don't know. To me, jeans look their very best right before they are worn to shit and become unwearable (sort of like how an English cider tastes the best in a cask right before it goes totally bad and wrong). So I am fine spending $20-30 for a pair and wearing them for a year or so until they fall apart, at which time you just buy another pair.

Adriano Goldschmied, almost exclusively. Expensive, but I like the fit. Occasionally I buy new but mostly lightly used.

I'm tall and prone to losing/gaining weight. Levi's are old standbys and always fit my carriage. Diesel denim is better. It isn't crazy-ass expensive or festooned with chump embroidery.

Some different brands and perspectives:

(I'm a big fan of super dark indigo jeans or black denim and I like for them to show up so stiff they have to be broken in, so take anything I say here with a grain of salt if you're not a denim nerd)

Bravestar: Around $120-$150 a pair, but long lasting. Three fits: skinny (slim taper), slim (slim straight), and middle-aged dude (true straight). Good black denim with contrasting stitching, which I like very much. They have HEAVY denim: 22oz is like old school Carhartt thickness. Impossible to wear in Georgia for three months of the year. They have a mix of in-stock and pre-order. I've worn all of my Bravestar jeans until the crotch blew out (up to 2 years in some cases)

https://bravestarselvage.com/

Gustin: Similar business model to Bravestar, a mix of in-stock and pre-order. A little bit cheaper than Bravestar with comparable quality. Less of the superheavyweight denims. Gustin had some quality issues about ten years ago but the stuff I've gotten in the past few years has been solid. The pre-order takes just long enough for me to forget I ordered jeans, and then one day some new britches show up and I'm stoked.

https://bravestarselvage.com/

Dearborn: I have been meaning to try their jeans for a while, but the last pair of each of the previously mentioned brands just wouldn't die. These have a little stretch built in, I think? The next pair of jeans I buy will be Dearborn so I can check them out. Gotta be worth a shot at less than $100.

https://dearborndenim.us/

Levi's: The American standard denim. Almost certainly made by nine-fingered orphans in Sufferistan. Mostly disposable quality but if you need a pair of $40 jeans right now, this is the way. Completely arbitrary sizing because they cut stacks of patterns all at once, so you need to try them on before you buy, even if you know your sizing. The classic 501 fits (and there are like five? I think?) are suddenly hip again, so you don't have to keep cramming your middle-aged body into fitted skinny jeans if you don't want to.

Many many years ago, there was a denim plant in Greensboro, NC (which is basically where I'm from) founded by a man named Moses Cone. Cone supplied denim to Levis until they started off-shoring in the '70s. Cone Denim was the gold (blue?) standard for a century, and when they ceased manufacturing in like 2010(?), some companies bought up everything they had in stock. If you can find Cone Denim jeans, I find that they break in and fade in really cool ways, eventually get butter soft, and breathe well in hot weather. I had some Flint and Tinder Cone Denim jeans that I wore for three years, even getting them repaired with the bike-seat-crotch-split happened. I don't know what the equivalent is, these days, but I prowl the Goodwills and Salvation Army jeans sections looking for anything that says "Cone" or "White Owl plant" on them. It's gotten harder and harder to find Cone stuff, unsurprisingly. It's a heartbreaker.

Anyway, I'm a denim nerd and that's my $.02

I spend a lot of time at my job crawling around, running cables, going under desks. Regular Levis, Wranglers, etc. last me maybe 8 months until a hole develops on the knee. I love Levis 511s and I have a few pairs still (and keep my eyes peeled when I can find them on sales; they show up in Chicago thrift stores fairly often), but they are more secondary. I am not into the stretchy material they have added into jeans, yet I have a few pairs of Banana Republic's Traveler Jeans which are incredibly comfy (and I do wear them when I am traveling or weekend use) and look really good (yet wouldn't survive 4 months of wearing them to work).

*EDIT* I somehow skimmed right past DFR commenting on Gustin, but my findings are below.

I like old fashioned jeans, I like a pair of jeans I have to break in, yet are still comfortable. I cannot recommend Gustin jeans enough. They offer everything from super heavy Japanese style denim, to more of what a classic pair of 501s were like in "the good olde days" in skinny, slim, and straight cuts. They range from $70-150 and I'll be damned if they dont feel great, and the more regular pair ($85) took about 3 years to develop a hole after heavy use. The heavy pair ($125) is going on 4 years now and still going strong. They have all the in between sizes so that's nice. They run a little small in the waist and I'd recommend ordering a size up. I wear 32s in Levis and in Gustin a 33 fits perfect. The length is pretty true to size, I order a little longer because I like to cuff my jeans. Gustin uses a crowd funding method (and they have stuff in stock), where you order the jeans you want, and when enough people order them, they make them and send them out (I dont think its ever taken longer than 6 weeks or so to get the jeans). They also offer stretchy jeans and all sorts of stuff. I know my size, so I troll ebay and pick up lightly used pairs between $35-65 all the time.

Like DFR I have been looking to try some Dearborn Denium, but my Gustins have been treating me good, but I think Dearborn will be my next pair to try out when the time comes.

Owen wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2024 9:34 am Regular Levis, Wranglers, etc. last me maybe 8 months until a hole develops on the knee.

Yep, #1 jean killer right there. You can then jort them of course, but next down the line comes the taint tear, or erosion/holes around the back pockets so even the jorts don't make it much longer. Bravestar or Gustin sound right up my alley and I'll try those the next chance I get.