Jean Therapy Revisited

About a month or so ago, the Gap brought out its new line of jeans for men and women. I had read about them several months before they reached stores, and I was somewhat curious, as I have been having a minor moment of enlightenment about my jeans. I finally realized that I've been buying jeans that are cut much too full for me and don't look good. While I avoid slim-fit pants, there is certainly a lot of space (no pun intended) between these two extremes.

So Friday night we needed to go to the mall to take care of a couple of errands, and I decided it was time to check out the Gap jeans. For me "check out" means "try on." I generally hate trying on clothes in a store, and tend to buy things and bring them home to try on, which means I sometimes have to go back to the store to exchange or return items. I guess I just don't like fitting rooms, but in this case I figured it was easier to do the trying on at the store.

There are seven fits for men, ranging from skinny to loose. To me this seems like too many, but I understand that Gap is trying to appeal to the broadest possible range of customers. I was able to eliminate anything that was too slim, low-waisted, or boot-cut. Knowing that I was also trying to avoid anything too loose meant being able to eliminate styles from the other end of the range as well. Eventually I was able to settle on the appropriately named Standard, which is in the comfortable middle of the range. Not tight, but not a lot of excess fabric either.

I was very impressed with the fit and construction of the jeans. The fabric is nicely soft and broken in, unlike a lot of other jeans. They sit nicely just below the waist. The leg openings are neither too wide nor too narrow. I was ready to buy a pair, but then I ran into the fail: every single style of Standard jeans has some kind of wash or treatment or finish that is distressed, discolored, or whiskered. This is absolutely a deal-breaker for me. If I'm going to spend $55 on a pair of jeans (not an unreasonable amount of money, but not throwaway either), I expect to be able to wear them to work, which means the color needs to be consistent. They aren't of much use to me if I can only wear them on weekends.

I did find corduroy jeans in a slightly different fit that were not faded or distressed in any way, so I bought a pair of those. (J. Crew has taken to sanding the thighs of theirs so they appear worn, and theirs cost $20 more than Gap's.) Cord jeans have been a staple of my wardrobe since I was in high school; I went to a parochial school with a dress code, and denim jeans were not permitted, but cords were, so I had them in many different colors. Now I stick to tan, brown, gray, and olive-ish green, but they still are just as comfortable and versatile.

I'm hoping Gap gets a clue and brings out additional denim styles that are not distressed. In the meantime, I'm going to have to look elsewhere.