A couple of years ago, I bought a new pair of jeans. They weren’t broken in. They hadn’t been stone-washed, tie-dyed or buffed. They were stiff and starchy when I put them on.
Two years later, they still aren’t really worn in. Yes, they are slightly softer, more comfortable and malleable. I like that.
At the same time, wearing them brings back memories of childhood and how much wearing a stiff new pair of jeans wasn’t my idea of a good time. Much better to get hand-me-downs from my older brother, with their flexibility and ease of movement.
A new pair of jeans isn’t all it’s cut out to be when you have to spend years breaking them in. That’s one of the significant reasons there are so many worn styles these days, giving you the look of having a pair being older than it seems, when really you may just want the improved feel of the fabric on your legs.
Fresh-off-the-assembly line jeans last longer, no question, so that’s one advantage to purchasing them. Another is they likely will last longer before they fall apart.
Still….. When I went back to college in the early 1980s, anti-consumerism still had legs. Students dressed down. We wore second-hand clothes. Goodwill and the Salvation Army were the stores of choice to get jeans, shirts and furnishings for your apartment.
Several of us who worked together stocking shelves and bagging groceries at the local Sentry Supermarket began Saturday morning pilgrimages to the south side of Milwaukee to find hidden gems amongst some truly ancient items of apparel.
One of my first discoveries was a punch rockish-looking 1930’s sports jacket that had the WWII Army discharge papers in it from the man who donated it. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, he was a gunner in the infantry. Wild stuff, and the coolness and historical factor made me hang onto that jacket for a long time.
Another time, we found a massive load of old school, billowy baseball pants unloaded by a sports merchandising outfit, and after the 50 cents I splurged on a pair brought attention from my baseball team, we bought out the stock and used them for our practices. We became the retro team.
The jacket and baseball pants were incredibly comfortable and created a certain type of throw-me-back style. You were hip because you were old school, wore second-hand clothes, and spent almost no money.
In a weird way though, we became over-consumers even though there was an anti-consumerism bent to our weekly expeditions to browse. Because we could afford more since everything was so cheap, you bought more.
My recognition of this occurred one night at a party when a young woman admired my second-hand shirt, and (to impress her), I took it off (there was a tee shirt on underneath) and gave it to her. I’m not sure if I got a date out of that, but it felt good gifting the shirt. Afterwards I realized how easy it was to overdo it on clothes.
Ten bucks bought ten shirts. If I had a real job, I’d buy one shirt for ten bucks.
Today, I don’t shop at Goodwill regularly (though it’s still on the occasional agenda), nor do I wear hand-me-down jeans. But sometimes I want to do both. If I chose to do either of those things, they would make life more relaxing and calming in certain ways. There’s a lot to be said for that.
Two years later, they still aren’t really worn in. Yes, they are slightly softer, more comfortable and malleable. I like that.
At the same time, wearing them brings back memories of childhood and how much wearing a stiff new pair of jeans wasn’t my idea of a good time. Much better to get hand-me-downs from my older brother, with their flexibility and ease of movement.
A new pair of jeans isn’t all it’s cut out to be when you have to spend years breaking them in. That’s one of the significant reasons there are so many worn styles these days, giving you the look of having a pair being older than it seems, when really you may just want the improved feel of the fabric on your legs.
Fresh-off-the-assembly line jeans last longer, no question, so that’s one advantage to purchasing them. Another is they likely will last longer before they fall apart.
Still….. When I went back to college in the early 1980s, anti-consumerism still had legs. Students dressed down. We wore second-hand clothes. Goodwill and the Salvation Army were the stores of choice to get jeans, shirts and furnishings for your apartment.
Several of us who worked together stocking shelves and bagging groceries at the local Sentry Supermarket began Saturday morning pilgrimages to the south side of Milwaukee to find hidden gems amongst some truly ancient items of apparel.
One of my first discoveries was a punch rockish-looking 1930’s sports jacket that had the WWII Army discharge papers in it from the man who donated it. I believe, if my memory serves me correctly, he was a gunner in the infantry. Wild stuff, and the coolness and historical factor made me hang onto that jacket for a long time.
Another time, we found a massive load of old school, billowy baseball pants unloaded by a sports merchandising outfit, and after the 50 cents I splurged on a pair brought attention from my baseball team, we bought out the stock and used them for our practices. We became the retro team.
The jacket and baseball pants were incredibly comfortable and created a certain type of throw-me-back style. You were hip because you were old school, wore second-hand clothes, and spent almost no money.
In a weird way though, we became over-consumers even though there was an anti-consumerism bent to our weekly expeditions to browse. Because we could afford more since everything was so cheap, you bought more.
My recognition of this occurred one night at a party when a young woman admired my second-hand shirt, and (to impress her), I took it off (there was a tee shirt on underneath) and gave it to her. I’m not sure if I got a date out of that, but it felt good gifting the shirt. Afterwards I realized how easy it was to overdo it on clothes.
Ten bucks bought ten shirts. If I had a real job, I’d buy one shirt for ten bucks.
Today, I don’t shop at Goodwill regularly (though it’s still on the occasional agenda), nor do I wear hand-me-down jeans. But sometimes I want to do both. If I chose to do either of those things, they would make life more relaxing and calming in certain ways. There’s a lot to be said for that.