10 Tips for Buying Denim

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Make sure you measure yourself around the waist at the point where you plan to wear your jeans. Try not to rely on other the sizes of other clothing brand sizes, since you don't want your brand spankin' new pair of jeans to either choke the shit out of you or hang off your ass.

Be particularly careful when you're buying raw denim, or when you're venturing into new brand territory. Each brand sizes differently, and it's always a good look to ask someone working at the store how the denim is expected to stretch and conform as you wear it over time. Remember, raw denim will stretch as it wears on your body, whereas washed denim will likely maintain its shape from the date of purchase, or even shrink slightly. Keep these things in mind as you browse different stores and selections, and don't be scared to ask about each pair's unique evolution.

Before you even drop some hard-earned guap on a new pair, determine if your well-worn jeans can actually be repaired. You'll keep some scrilla and save you time (break-in's a bitch). There a number of places willing and, more importanty, able to take care of your jean jawns. Find a place that can keep an eye on color matching and small stiching details, and you won't have to get rid of your favorite pair of jeans.

Cotton is the most common fabric in all denim, and it's more than likely that the jeans you have in your closet are 100% made from it. However, denim variants can come in twill or poly-blends, which affect the wear, durability, and price of the piece you're looking to cop.

Denimheads are typically going to be searching for selvedge (or "self edge") denim. This means that the denim will not unravel, no matter what type of weaving method is utilized. This type of denim will be handled with a closed selvege that involves a continous weft yarn that goes across the vertical warp beams. This process is truly only possible with a shuttle loom, which is an uncommon and old-fashioned way to weave the loom.

With today's factories and technologically advanced processes, a pair of jeans can include a multitude of fabrics for various effect, including plastic, cashmere, elastic, and a ton others. Each fabric is unique, and make sure you know why exactly a pair you're looking at has its unique composition. 

Here's a simple breakdown: lightweight denim is under 12 oz., midweight denim is between 12 and 16 oz. and heavyweight denim is above 16 oz. These numbers stand for how much a yard of the fabric weighs. Each brand has variants, and some produce only one "weight class." But no matter what, lighter denim will be easier to wear initially and to break-in. As the jeans become thicker and heavier, they become more difficult to wear-in.

Keep in mind that lighter denim clocks in at a cheaper price point, but lacks in durability. The opposite is true with heavier denim—more dough, but more reliability. If you're still a little lost, a good relative gauge is to realize that a commonplace pair of jeans will likely weigh in between 12-14 oz. So if the stuff you find at your Macy's is a little too plyable, or wears out too quick, it might be time to upgrade to a heavier denim.

Some jeans will have a pre-washed or "distressed" look that comes right when you buy them off the shelf. This means that the denim won't stretch or change much, and have less of a "breaking-in" process. Raw denim, on the other hand, will take months (and based on some preferences, years) to properly break-in to your body shape. However, this means that they will be more "glove-like" to your body, and have a better and more precise fit to your actual figure.

Traditionally, jeans are a symbol of the American working man. Some excellent American brands have grown to both symbolize the common perception of jeans and produce a high quality product. However, Japan has also seen an incredible rise of high quality denim producers.

In the '60s and '70s, Japanese denimheads began importing the shuttle looms that Americans were dumping in favor of mass-produced jeans. Soon, Japanese brands were creating a product that first emulated then surpassed its American counterpart. Current labels like Big John, Studio D'Artisan, and Momotaro Jeans make strong products that have now lead the contemporary denim market. Where your jeans originate will obviously affect the price, but the quality and long-lasting nature of good denim typically makes the purchase worth it.

Today, Japanese denim is known for it's traditional techinques which incorporate not only shuttle looms, but also large amounts of hand stitching on each individual pair. The large interest in American jeans was the foundation, but the Japanese expanded far beyond their American predecessors in establishing a current standard in raw selvege.

Of course, each brand has its own story, so make sure to do your research to find out where the fabric comes from, where it's produced, how it's made, etc. Each of these components factor into making each brand unique.

There are three pervasive types of leg cuts in the world of denim: tapered/slim,, straight/regular, and boot cut/wide leg. In case you can't grasp the obvious, tapered jeans cut closer to the body as they come down your leg. Straight fits are the original cut with a leg width that never changes. And it doesn't matter what boot cut jeans are, because you should never ever wear them.

The button fly is the choice for jean purists and true denim-nerds, and they securely close your jeans and can be undone with just one firm pull. However, they can be time-consuming to both fasten and undo (especially when drunk), and can be difficult if the denim is still tough and non-plyable. Zippers are an easy and efficent way to close up your fly, but zipper bulges are not an uncommon occurance and can break and cause some tricky situations.

Jeans can come in a variety of washes and cover the whole white-blue-black spectrum. Understand what you're looking at in terms of color and figure out what to expect from each wash and color as it wears and fades. Lighter washes won't change much over time, and any fade will be minimal.

Expect darker washes to show the classic signs of wear very easily. Whiskers (the lines around the crotch), honeycombs (lines that form beind the knee), and stacks (lines formed at the ankle due to jeans "stacking" at the ankle and on top of shoes), will show and add character to darker dyes and raw jeans. You can also expect to see outlines of what you stash into your pockets on a daily basis over time when sticking with a darker dye.

Obviously the primary way to break-in tough denim is to actually wear it (mind-blowing, we know). However, if you want to expedite the process a little, various tricks have been discovered that should make tougher jeans a little more supple and easy to wear. This can include wearing your raw denim while doing squats, or even soaking it for an extended period of time in the tub or shower. Be careful though—exposing the denim, particularly raw denim, will cause color fades and some bleeding in the dye. In other words, just wear them!