What would you estimate is an average price for a good pair of jeans?

For a good pair of jeans, you’re looking to spend somewhere between $150 and $300. H&M has some very interesting denim washes; Zara has been making… you need to understand that I don’t want to compare a $75 pair of jeans from Zara to a $250 Diesel jean because if you put them side by side the quality aspect and the workmanship in the two are totally different. But if you’re just looking for a nice pair of jeans on a budget that are fairly in fashion and are good quality, you can find that kind of stuff at Zara or H&M… Ultimately, at the end of the day it’s the fit (that matters most) because you can go buy a jean for $300 or $500 or $25, but if it doesn’t fit you, it doesn’t matter what you paid for it. So, everybody needs to find a jean that fits their body type and if it looks good, sometimes price is irrelevant.
People are always surprised when denim costs $300, and they say, “It’s just a pair of jeans! How can you justify spending $300 or $400 on a pair of jeans?” But if you buy a Hugo Boss suit, for example, which is middle-of-the-road -- it’s not low-end and it’s not super high-end -- it costs roughly $1,000. If you actually look at the amount of work that goes into the pair of suit pants, it’s very simple. But when you look at a pair of jeans there are all these details in terms of the fabric, in terms of the cut, in terms of the wash, in terms of detail and buttons, etc… And if you actually look at the cost-per-wear of a suit pant -- if you’re not somebody who wears a suit on a daily basis -- you’ll probably wear the suit about 10 to 12 times over the year. Buy a pair of jeans, and you’ll probably wear them 50 times over the year. If you actually look at the cost-per-use, if you only wore the suit pants 10 times, which alone cost about $400, that’s about $40 for every wear. If you spend $400 on a pair of jeans you wore 50 times, it only costs you $8 for every wear. In essence, if you look at that aspect, you’re probably better off spending more money on a good pair of jeans that fits you well and that is superior in quality.

What labels aren’t worth the price?

Victoria Beckham's [VB Rocks] jeans don’t give you the product for your money. You spend $400 or $500 on a pair of jeans because Victoria Beckham has her signature on it; it’s not really worth it. You have another jean like True Religion; I think that they came out with a certain style of jean, and all the stars hit it and it’s not as great as everybody makes it out to be, yet people are running out to the stores and spending $300 on these jeans because it’s in the lyrics of a Black Eyed Peas song. There’s another company called Stitch’s; the product’s made in China, it’s next to some of the mediocre quality jeans on the market, yet they’re asking $350 for their jeans… not that China shows poor quality, but usually cost of labor, cost of fabrics and cost of washing are substantially less [in China] than [in] some of the European countries that manufacture jeans, and therefore, it doesn’t justify the price.

What if you don’t want to spend a lot of money on a pair, but you still want a quality product -- are there some particular characteristics that you s

Ultimately, there are a few companies in mind that really produce superior product quality in the denim field -- one of them being Diesel. In terms of actual quality for price, they’re probably your best combination of quality and price because there is a lot of work that goes into every single pair of those jeans, and the details are unbelievable. Most European companies tend to put a lot of attention to fit and details while American denim companies put their efforts into more fabrics and marketing.
There are usually four tiers of denim brands: designer, fashionable, mainstream, and mass market. My picks for each category based on price/quality value: for designer (DSquared, D&G, Karl Lagerfeld) you’re looking to spend $450 plus; for
fashionable (Diesel, G-Star, Joe's, Parasuco) prices can range from $150 to $400; for mainstream (Abercrombie & Fitch, Zara, H&M) you'll get fashionable jeans at an economic price range, like $59 to $89; for mass market (Old Navy, Target) prices range from $39 to $65, but you're compromising quality and fit here... But the run-of-the-mill Levi’s 501 basic fit [is] always a classic and it’s not too expensive.

Are some washes more expensive than others?

Yes. Washing is really where the major cost of denim comes because there are only certain procedures that you can do by machine and everything else has to be done by hand. For example, if you see a pair of jeans that has a certain whisker or marking that is truly original from [one pair of] jeans to the other, it means that it’s done by hand. So there’s some person in whatever factory physically making a scratch or making a hole on each individual pair of denim, and you’ve got to pay that person and that’s where the labor costs come in… The more processes on the jean, the more expensive the washing factor is going to be. So it can get quite expensive when you talk about having a destroyed jean [because] somebody in the factory has to rip it with some sort of machine, wash it and rip it again, wash it, rip it again...

Is there a way to prevent jeans from stretching excessively?

What technically happens with denim -- and any other cotton garment -- when you wash and dry it [is that] the fibers tend to shrink or they get tightened, and when you wear the jeans and you loosen up the fibers again they stretch a little bit. Then you wash them again and [the fibers] condense; you wear them again and they expand, and so forth until the fibers start to rip... There’s no real way to solve that issue other than to buy a jean with 2% to 5% of elastic or Spandex… This will compensate somewhat for the fibers condensing and stretching so that your jeans will have a more structured fit to them. For example, 7 [For All Mankind] is a big proponent of Spandex denim -- they were one of the first companies to really introduce Spandex inside their denim... 7 jeans [are] popular because people like that fact that... the jean will automatically stretch because of the elasticity in the fabric and they won’t be loosening up as much... but you lose that authentic denim feel.

Does raw denim really allow you to personalize your jeans the way it’s marketed?

Yes and no. It’s a very short-lived thing. If you take a pair of raw denim and you wear them, they’ll conform to your body and your movements, so you’ll get certain stretched pressure points in your knees and your thighs and bum, but the minute you wash them you will lose most of that personal effect and you’ll have to start [reforming them] all over again. But technically, if you wore the jeans and left the denim and you never washed it -- which would be kind of gross -- they would eventually fade out and they would be totally customized to your body

What about the raw denim trend that’s in style right now? Is there a difference in quality between these jeans that you’re not supposed to wash for mo

Denim is denim; not all denims are equal, but no matter what pair of jeans you have at some point or another it started off as raw denim. So, with raw denim, what you’re really doing is eliminating the washing, which should decrease the price of the denim as a general rule.

But with regards to your question, right now the raw denim is just a trend; it’s like anything else. The market is so inundated with denim from European brands, American brands and Canadian brands that one company from another needs to try to differentiate itself by trying new things or starting a new trend. Everything in fashion is very cyclical. We had a raw denim craze about five or six years ago, then it faded out a little bit, then it came into washed denim, dirty denim, ripped denim embellished denim, and now it’s coming back to the traditional raw denim feel. I just hope acid-wash denim never comes back!

How would a regular consumer be able to tell a fine-quality denim from a lower-quality denim?

For the layman who doesn’t know anything about fabrics and quality, they can usually tell right away by the feel of the fabric. That’s a really good indication. If you feel denim that’s soft and has a certain moisture to the fabric, which usually means the fabric was made with good-quality cotton, even if the denim is raw and unwashed. The touch is a big factor in determining the quality and look closely to the fabric of the denim. There are so many processes: traditional is what is called a right-hand twill, there is left-hand twill, a ringspun, a double ringspun, a cross-hatch, a broken left-hand twill, a double ringspun... Basically, look for interesting characteristics of the fabric and the more interesting the fabric the better the quality.

Then there are certain things like stitching on the side-seams -- there are basically two ways to sew the side-seam: overlock stich or open seams. The open seam is the process where the seams on the outside of the legs are sewn and pressed flat for a more comfortable feel. In order to do this procedure there are three steps -- sew the ends of each side, sew the two pieces together and press the seam flat. The overlocked machine sews the two pieces of fabric together and cuts the excess all in one step, making the process easier and less expensive; however, it leaves a bump on the side of your leg.

Other quality notables are copper buttons and rivets, doubled-belt loops, two-piece waistbands, and back pockets that are contoured to the bum.

The truth of the matter is, at the end of the day, you want something that fits you well and looks nice on you. There is always price barrier, but from a certain price point, if you can find a jean that really fits you, makes your bum look nice and you’re comfortable in, that’s usually the best pair of jeans for you.

What would typically differentiate a $300 pair of jeans from a $100 pair?

Well, obviously if we move away from all the technical aspects of the production side, marketing and publicity play a bigger role in today’s denim world. The issue of marketing, advertising and what celebrity is wearing what, gives certain brands and products more ability to charge higher for their products because Brad Pitt, Justin Timberlake, Gwyneth Paltrow or somebody like Kate Moss is wearing them around LA or New York. This creates a brand to have star power and inevitably the product becomes in demand and we all know our Economics 101: High demand and low supply equals higher prices. This generates a product that becomes a prestigious purchase and quality and value will tend to play a smaller role. These brands are what we denim enthusiasts call “The Flavor of the Month” because the hype falls quick and before you know it a new star is wearing another new brand. Truthfully, a good-quality pair of jeans will always outlast any fad.

Why are jeans priced so differently?

They’re priced differently because there are so many components and factors that go into making a pair of jeans, for example -- especially with denim -- there are quality levels within the fabric. There is one fiber that goes in one direction and another fiber that goes in another direction; that’s called the warp and weft. Sometimes these fibers are made by regular spinning cotton and some fibers are made with a special spindle called a ring spun, which spins the cotton unevenly and gives the finished fabric more character and depth, [making it] a more expensive and more authentic procedure.
This is follwed by the cost of cutting the fabric, sewing all the pieces together, and adding the trimming (buttons, zippers, rivets, embroidery, pockets, belt loops, etc.). Even within these trimmings there are some companies that use nickel rivets and buttons, which are the cheapest, but recently one company used 18-karat gold-plated buttons to jazz up the jeans, which definitely mad a huge difference in the cost. Finally, there is the washing, which is usually the lion's share of the cost. There are so many different forms and techniques of washing denim that sometimes the washing costs more than the fabric, cut and sew together.
So every little detail adds extra cost to the manufacturing and, inevitably, the quality of the product.

Are all jeans the same quality?

No, they’re not. There are many different qualities of jeans; there are many different qualities of fabrics, of washing, of fit, of cut, etc.. The list goes on with regards to accessories, trimmings and jeans. Although at one time it used to be just the basic working-man’s pant, today [jeans have] literally become an art form.

Understanding Denim

Whether you’re a fashion lover or a fashion victim, denim has likely managed to work its way into your wardrobe. The versatility of denim has made it one of the most popular types of casual pant styles in fashion history. It seems, however, that denim’s popularity has also made it a complicated item to shop for. With multitudes of fits, colors, details, washes, labels, and prices, a pair of jeans is not simply a pair of jeans. Instead, it’s a garment with its own personality. And just like finding the right woman, finding the perfect pair of jeans takes some searching for and a whole lot of trying out.

Jarrid Adler, a jeans expert who has worked with denim and the clothing business for over 15 years, tried to make the denim shopping experience a little less worrisome for us. We had denim questions and he had denim answers. Find out what to look for in a pair of jeans, understand exactly what you’re paying for, and learn which designer labels give the biggest bang for your buck.