For years I used to buy the Levi's Vintage Clothing jeans (specifically the black wash 606s), which were made in the US, felt sturdy and would last. They discontinued them a while back and I bought dead stock for years until I just couldn't find them anymore.
Lately I've been wearing the Oni "secret denim" collection [1][2] and they're amazing. It's only been a couple of years, but they break in beautifully and feel like they'll last years. It's worth spending the extra money for something high quality that will last.
At that price are they lined with gold thread? At ten times the cost do they actually last ten times as long? (I have some Levis that are ≈20 years old and are still wearable!)
Before I started buying Oni Denim I walked into a Levi's store in my neighborhood and nothing was made out of denim anymore. Everything had stretch fabric, or were 60% cotton with a blend of other random things. It sucks that beautiful quality denim costs that much these days, but they look great and I wear them nearly every day. These definitely will last 20 years though!
Thanks. That's worth knowing, I'll investigate further. From my experience, Levis of recent years are nothing like the quality they were years ago, and to make matters worse they've somewhat changed the styling/fit within a given type (501, 505, etc.), which means one can no longer rely on a specific type to be a good fit without trying them first.
I'm one of those males who finds shopping for clothes a pain, so when the old tried-and-true method of simply calling into a shop and quickly selecting jeans from the badge type number and size failed I was a bit pissed off. These days, there are just too many types of jeans around for my liking (I now have to think before I choose), but no doubt that's half the fun for those who like shopping around.
Been checking around since my earlier reply and it seems you're right, quality denim is now expensive. I've avoided raw and high quality denim for years because it was expensive and it required me to be careful with it (I'm notoriously hard on clothes). It now seems that if I want better quality I'll have to do the research first.
BTW, decades ago when I was a kid all jeans were made of raw denim. We weren't allowed to sit on the sofa or lie on the bed etc. until our jeans had been washed several times so the indigo wouldn't rub off and leave blue marks on everything. One thing for certain was that they were a damned side tougher than any jeans I've worn in recent years.
Edit: your comment about stretch material just got me wondering if one of the main reasons for why manufacturers are now pushing stretch fabric so hard is that they don't have to worry as much about the actual fit nor their manufacturing tolerances (thus cheaper to make). I haven't had a pair of stretch jeans in years but some of my cargo work pants are made of stretch fabric. A while back, I made a single purchase of four pairs of the same brand and size and noticed a good half inch difference in the waist between them (and that was before I wore any of them, so the difference wasn't caused through use). At the time I didn't think anything of it as the 'slack'—so to speak—was taken up by the stretch.
I bought a 3sixteen type 3 (in shadow indigo) before I discovered Oni and sort of regret not having known about Oni then! It's nice, but the denim is a little thin and the stitching at the sleeve came undone after minimal wear.
I say just buy it, you'll wear it for decades! Denimio has some discount codes and the shipping is free (took less than a week to get it here in NYC from Japan).
Wranglers have been the way to go in my experience. They're an extra-thick denim that really holds up through years of hard use. Affordable too! (Just the classic ones; the "fashionable" ones are made of worse material)
Agreed. Old school Wranglers are tough. Only problem is you feel like you are wearing pants made of plywood for the first several months before they break in.
I tried Duluth fire hose cool max a couple years back. They are so much better than jeans if you live in a humid region - they won't stick to you and they breath more when you're doing sweaty work (like checking bees in the summer). They seem to be generally more comfortable too. They are a bit on whe expensive side, but so are most jeans these days.
I wore my heavy weight Carhartt carpenter jeans about every other day for a few years until I started using them for house work. I would've thought the knees would have holes by now (5 years in) with the recent crawlspace work I've been doing.
Great taste. I was formally introduced to Carhartt deep in the aisles of an Ace Hardware store by a man who explained how he could fit his firearms in a pair of coveralls.
Look for Levi's with 100% cotton (well really like 60/40 cotton/hemp), or 99% cotton. These last far longer. All this stupid stretchy synthetic fabric wears out differently than natural fibers and then jeans start to fall apart. The all natural ones feel more stiff at first, but they break in and are super comfortable.
I just shopped at the Levi's store at the mall in San Jose, and the jeans I mentioned were hidden on bottom shelves under all of the horrible synthetic crap. The good stuff is there, you just have to look for it.
> Look for Levi's with 100% cotton (well really like 60/40 cotton/hemp), or 99% cotton. These last far longer.
This. I get only the natural, non-stretch fabrics (Leviticus 19:19, FTW!) and mine typically last up to a decade or more with decent care (turning them inside out before washing, washing only when visibly soiled, etc.).
Now granted, this is also a problem now that I’m losing weight, as they’re too loose to use without a strong belt, but too good of a condition to justify replacing.
> All this stupid stretchy synthetic fabric wears out differently than natural fibers and then jeans start to fall apart.
For what it's worth, I wear mostly pretty cheap American Eagle jeans with stretch and they have lasted years on me. And that's despite basically wearing only four pairs of them in heavy rotation.
A big part of it is that I don't wash them every time I wear them. If I don't do anything to get them actively dirty or sweaty, I'll wear them a few times before they go in the wash. My understanding is that washing machines are, by a very large margin, the largest source of wear in clothing.
I have got those before, no wash levis 501, they last me about 2 years of (very) regular wear before they get a hole in the crotch area(in addition to other areas I don't care as much about) and are not really usable. I've had a pair of unbranded brand (14.5 oz selvedge) for about 4 years with not nearly the wear.
Looked for but couldn't find prices for, say, 1920s Levis. Wouldn't be surprised if they're not too far off from what you have to pay for actually-good jeans today, adjusted for inflation or as a fraction of median income.
Huh? I buy 505s every decade or so. I think they are 100% cotton (and it's a robust weave) the only problem I ever see with them is the knees eventually wear out, which iis a simple patch-job.
I used to buy 501s every boxing day when they were on sale. They'd last 2 years before they'd start getting holes, which I didn't really care too much about, except when they got them in the crotch, which is when I'd toss them.
I've had good luck with LL Bean's Double L jeans. I do wear them out, but I wash after every wear and with that the service life seems pretty good, much happier than the last several pairs of Levi's 505 I bought. I've got one pair of a higher line which will hold together for a long time, because I don't like the cut of the pockets so I only rarely wear them.
I have to agree with this--a few years ago I started getting into the habit of putting more of my clothes on a rack (esp. anything cotton) and less through the dryer, and no question clothes last longer that way.
"That fuzz in the dryer lint trap is your clothes disintegrating slowly."
Right. Always impatient, I have worn out far too many clothes in the dryer instead of waiting for air drying (dryers are a conspiracy by manufacturers to sell more clothes). ;-)
You made an incorrect assumption! I wash them after about 2 weeks of wear, or when they get pretty visibly dirty. (The drool from my mastiff doesn't count, or they'd be washed every 15 minutes.)
I will say, "a year or two" is an exaggeration for some of my jeans. But I usually only have 2-4 pair with no holes that I rotate between, and most develop wear in the knees if not outright holes by the end of 2 years.
