How much do jeans cost?

[QUOTE=earthbound]
I don’t feel particularly compelled to explain to someone who’s chomping at the bit to be dismissive.

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Oh, the irony.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
It makes more sense to me for a normal person to spend far, far more on a pair of jeans than they would on much of anything else due to the amount of wear that the jeans can absorb and the long lifespan of the garment.

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See, I think that’s odd reasoning because while you may wear jeans more often, where you wear them is most likely to be private: in your home, or garden, or camping, or at the grocery store. If you have a limited clothing budget, you want to have your best looking clothes be the ones people you want to impress–at work or socially–actually see you in. And for most people, that isn’t their jeans.

[QUOTE=Manda JO]
See, I think that’s odd reasoning because while you may wear jeans more often, where you wear them is most likely to be private: in your home, or garden, or camping, or at the grocery store. If you have a limited clothing budget, you want to have your best looking clothes be the ones people you want to impress–at work or socially–actually see you in. And for most people, that isn’t their jeans.
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That’s the crux of it. In bigger cities, a large number of people are wearing jeans in more and more social situations. That’s why it is becoming increasingly common for folks to drop over $100 or $200 on them. In places/circles where that still is outside the norm, people tend to spend less money on jeans.

For the record, I completely understand both sides of the coin.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
It makes more sense to me for a normal person to spend far, far more on a pair of jeans than they would on much of anything else due to the amount of wear that the jeans can absorb and the long lifespan of the garment.

I don’t actually like the Imperials at all, but they were an easy reference point due to the relatively high quality of construction/finishing/etc. Part of their cost is also due to the fact that they are imported from Japan.

It’s difficult to put much effort into any discussion of style or aesthetics here because it will quickly be shouted down and rolleyed by people who’ve taken an active disinterest. It’s how the forum skews, whatever. I’ve been reading it for about a decade, I understand these things. It’s unfortunate, but it’s understandable given a number of common threads.
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I don’t doubt you’re right in many ways, but honestly most people don’t care about the differences in construction and finishing. They just want a pair of jeans that looks decent for a decent price. If $50 jeans look 60% as good as $300 jeans, that’s a good deal, IMO.

There are also people who swear you need a $100 Monster HDMI cable for your HDTV rather than a $20 Blue Jean’s cable (lol), people that want to spend $2,000 on a computer when a $600 computer would perform just as well, and people that buy a $45,000 SUV to drive alone to work when a $15,000 Honda Civic would do the job better. It’s your money, do what you want with it, but I personally like saving money when there’s no compromise in performance.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
There is no use arguing with people whose minds are made up. You are zealously against luxury items and don’t understand the concept of associated costs of production/marketing. I think 90% of people look like hell. There is no need for us to agree. The concept of “average, everyday Joes” really does rub me the wrong way, though I suppose I might not be welcomed at the proverbial Applebee’s salad bar either.
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The problem is you haven’t explained WHY any jeans are a luxury item. What makes them so special? I love luxury items, but I’m not going to spend a fortune on something that isn’t objectively any better than a lower cost item of the same type.

I live in jeans and I’ve had a lot of them… Diesel, Seven, Levis, Gap, Mavi, John Varvatos, Polo, Paper, Buffalo, AG, Versace, and Roy off the top of my head. Jeans are a strange thing a super expensive pair can be uncomfortable and look bad on you and a cheap pair can look and feel great, and vice versa. Right now my go to pair are Diesel they cost $178. I also sell jeans that no longer fit or I no longer like on ebay. I get about 25 - 50% of what I paid for them back. I even sold a pair I bought 10 years ago for a profit.

[QUOTE=earthbound]

It’s difficult to put much effort into any discussion of style or aesthetics here because it will quickly be shouted down and rolleyed by people who’ve taken an active disinterest. It’s how the forum skews, whatever. I’ve been reading it for about a decade, I understand these things. It’s unfortunate, but it’s understandable given a number of common threads.
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Please–you can do better then this. I am in an artistic field (architecture) and I am laughing at your twisting in the wind here. I can justify the aesthetic of my profession–surely you can. I agree at some point it becomes purely academic and opinion, but if there is a qualitative difference surely you can outline it. The difference between two books or two movies ‘can’ be shown where one is worth more then the other. Now I am not saying that an $80 pair of jeans isn’t better then a $8 pair, that, is at least something I could be convinced of. But for you to come in here smugly and state that $500 to $1000 pair of jeans is better with the piss-poor arguments you have put forward is an embarrassment to the design field.

Put up or shut up. If I came into an Architecture post and said that my design was worth ten times what someone paid for I had better be prepared to prove my point. Prove your point.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
It’s difficult to put much effort into any discussion of style or aesthetics here because it will quickly be shouted down and rolleyed by people who’ve taken an active disinterest.
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So you’re not even going to try to explain to us why your opnions about jeans are right and just stick with the “because I said so”.

I’ll be sure to not pay any attention to you in any other thread as well as this one.

[QUOTE=Hakuna Matata]
Please–you can do better then this. I am in an artistic field (architecture) and I am laughing at your twisting in the wind here. I can justify the aesthetic of my profession–surely you can. I agree at some point it becomes purely academic and opinion, but if there is a qualitative difference surely you can outline it. The difference between two books or two movies ‘can’ be shown where one is worth more then the other. Now I am not saying that an $80 pair of jeans isn’t better then a $8 pair, that, is at least something I could be convinced of. But for you to come in here smugly and state that $500 to $1000 pair of jeans is better with the piss-poor arguments you have put forward is an embarrassment to the design field.

Put up or shut up. If I came into an Architecture post and said that my design was worth ten times what someone paid for I had better be prepared to prove my point. Prove your point.
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This was my point exactly. I can elucidate why I believe a Stradivarius is a superior instrument, why a Bosedorfer is higher quality than most, why Armani, Mercedes Benz and other high end items are better than other lower end items. It really shouldn’t be that much to ask why, objectively, $700 jeans are better than $30 jeans. Of course at some point it comes down to opinion but there also has to be some objective reason.

[QUOTE=Manda JO]
See, I think that’s odd reasoning because while you may wear jeans more often, where you wear them is most likely to be private: in your home, or garden, or camping, or at the grocery store. .
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“Gardening”?
“Camping”?
“At the grocery store”?

1947 called and wants its standards of public attire back.

For very many people, jeans are the default preferred trousers. They wear jeans unless someone mandates that they have to wear something else. I understand, of course, professional contexts are different. But outside of work or business life, why would one have to be constantly anxious about impressing anyone? Is it actually a problem if you invite friends over for dinner and they wear jeans? Or vice versa?

:smiley:

[QUOTE=nyctea scandiaca]
I think what you mean is, that look is unattractive, in your opinion. It does not look good on anyone, in your opinion.

However, that baggy jeans look is pretty much the uniform for teen and 20’s American males today and has been at least for the past 10-15 years. The companies keep making them because they sell. Whoever are buying millions of pairs of those jeans obviously think they look good and fit good, right? Or are all those millions of people just brain damaged and don’t realize how hideous they look?
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No of course not. What you say is true; baggy has been king for, I’d say, more like 18 years. Because this is what 95% of guys want, this is the typical style, and it’s the one style usually offered by the cheaper brands. For example, when I last looked at Old Navy’s website, the men’s styles began with “standard”, which was pretty baggy to begin with, compared to 501s, and went baggier from there. There are a lot of reasons for this. A big one is weight. A LOT of guys are overweight; and would not be comfortable wearing snug jeans, or tucking in their shirts (a related trend which I also think is partly based on overweight). Conversely, thin guys who wear the typical baggy fit jeans run the risk of looking like 13-year-olds wearing their older brothers’ clothes, not that this stops many of them.

The pendulum does seem to be swinging back; I’ve seen skateboarders, looking like they are about 13, wearing skinny-fit jeans.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
Additionally, the type of Levi’s that are sold at inexpensive price points (presumably the Signature series sold through mass market retailers) are made of bad fabrics in bad cuts.
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To elaborate on good and bad cuts, the differences are subtle, almost unnoticeable when you inspect a pair of jeans, but may become very noticeable when you put them on and move around in them.

One thing virtually everybody agrees on is length. You may like your jeans beyond baggy, or you may like them tight as if you were a time traveler from 1980, but virtually nobody wants high water pants (except for women wearing styles that are supposed to be like that).

An example of a bad cut is when the length seems fine when you are standing up, almost touching the floor, but hike up past your socks when you sit down. At least, it’s a bad cut for you if they do that.

[QUOTE=Antinor01]
This was my point exactly. I can elucidate why I believe a Stradivarius is a superior instrument, why a Bosedorfer is higher quality than most, why Armani, Mercedes Benz and other high end items are better than other lower end items. It really shouldn’t be that much to ask why, objectively, $700 jeans are better than $30 jeans. Of course at some point it comes down to opinion but there also has to be some objective reason.
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You might want to look into the “quality” of Armani if you’re going to take swipes.

[QUOTE=control-z]

:smiley:
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That made my morning. I laughed out loud.

And then I cried a little.

[QUOTE=winterhawk11]
Lately I’ve been buying simple basic Wrangler jeans from Target for $14.95 a pair. They’re…just jeans.
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Wranglers at Target as well…if I feel like splurging Lee for 16.95.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
You might want to look into the “quality” of Armani if you’re going to take swipes.
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Why do you continue to post in this thread?

[QUOTE=earthbound]
You might want to look into the “quality” of Armani if you’re going to take swipes.
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You might want to bring an actual cohesive argument to the thread if you are going to take your swipes.

Please stop embarrassing the design professions. You make it more difficult for those of us with actual talent.

[QUOTE=earthbound]
You might want to look into the “quality” of Armani if you’re going to take swipes.
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As the OP, please list brands of women’s jeans that have both quality and 36" inseams and what I should expect to pay for them. Or list factors that I need to look for when looking for quality (certain kinds of stitching? certain types of fabric? what I should look for in fit? what? (my guess is that Japan will not be a useful source of clothing for me.)) and what I should expect to pay for those. But merely saying I don’t know quality is not fighting my admitted ignorance on the topic.

[QUOTE=amarinth]
Aplease list brands of women’s jeans that have both quality and 36" inseams…
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36" inseams? Damn.

At 6’5", I’d be hitting on you in my single days.