How Finding A Pair of Jeans Has Become A Man Issue

All of my life one of the things that I never had to worry about was finding a pair of jeans.  As men we would go into the store with our waist and inseam in our mind grab a pile of jeans pay for them then go home.  I went to JC Penny this weekend with the same mentality only to be slapped in the face with the reality of men’s blue jeans shopping has caught up with women’s in its level of difficulty.

The issues that I encountered started with style.  I grew up with Levi 501 button fly jeans.  All of us older folks remember bell bottom pants and the danger of wearing them, but I digress.  I was a rebel the day that I walked into school with a pair of pants that had a zipper on them.  Why we paid attention to each other crotch is beyond me.  But back to the story.

jeans now come in relaxed, loose, bootcut, easy fit, and some others that I can not think of.  What amazed me is that each style fit very different.  I was used to straight leg and bootcut only so I was thoroughly confused.  After trying on the sixth pair of jeans that commercial where the two men are in the bar and one says, “Do these jeans make my butt look big”, came to my mind.  What started off as a quick in and out trip took over an hour and a half to buy six pairs of jeans.

Even my wife was blown away by how hard it was to find my size which is a 40 waist 32 inseam and how many pairs of pants I had to try on in order to find a style and brand that fit.  She commented that normally jeans are her nightmare and felt sorry for me as she wiped the sweat from my forehead.

Big men know that these are the problems that you will face when you go looking for jeans:

1. The days of paying twenty dollars for a pair of quality jeans are over.
2. The kids that wear their pants around their butt are buying up the larger sizes making it hard to find sizes 38 and 40.
3. Be prepared to try on several pairs of jeans even if you know what you normally would wear.
4. Every brand is different which translate to your size will vary depending on the brand you select.

Though I am happy with the pair of Levi’s 559 Loose Fit jeans I am scared by the shopping experience.  This is the second shopping lesson I have learned in as many months.  The other involved learning the difference between XL and LT but that’s another story.  big and tall men be warned when you go to shop for jeans its not like it was in days of old.