# Jeans and their buttons?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 18, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027 "2004-06-18T13:05:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Neptune79](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Neptune79](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune79)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027/1 "2004-06-18T13:05:58Z")

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Where does the whole thing about girls jeans having their buttons on the left hand side and guys jeans having their buttons on the right hand side come from?  
Why not the other way round?

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**Author:** ![quiltguy154](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/ad7895/32.png) [@quiltguy154](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quiltguy154)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027/2 "2004-06-18T13:54:08Z")

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The question of sided-ness, in reference to male/female clothing, has long been debated. One thought is that women of a certain class were dressed by their maids, and since most people are right handed the buttons on the clothing were sewn on the left of the garment[making it the right-hand side to the maid] making it easier for the maid. Men, who routinely dressed themselves, had the buttons on the right side. Sounds good, a bit elitist, but hey, who knows. If true, I’d suggest than jeans manufacturers continued the tradition.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027/3 "2004-06-18T14:22:34Z")

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It’s to make it easier to get your girl’s pants off.

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**Author:** ![gfloyd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d2c977/32.png) [@gfloyd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gfloyd)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027/4 "2004-06-18T17:03:54Z")

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Actually, jeans are one of the few articles of women’s clothing then tends to button as men’s clothing does. That can be a bitch when trying to get dressed in a hurry and threading the belt in in the wrong direction because that was how my shirt buttoned (I’m rarely awake while dressing).

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**Author:** ![leenmi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f1d935/32.png) [@leenmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leenmi)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2004, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jeans-and-their-buttons/251027/5 "2004-06-18T17:32:46Z")

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> [@quiltguy154](#):
>
> The question of sided-ness, in reference to male/female clothing, has long been debated. One thought is that women of a certain class were dressed by their maids, and since most people are right handed the buttons on the clothing were sewn on the left of the garment[making it the right-hand side to the maid] making it easier for the maid. Men, who routinely dressed themselves, had the buttons on the right side. Sounds good, a bit elitist, but hey, who knows. If true, I’d suggest than jeans manufacturers continued the tradition.

I’d never heard that one. I’ve always heard that sided-ness came about because clothes that had the buttons on the left could interfere when drawing a sword or a weapon. When right-handed people drew from the left, the weapon sometimes snagged. Buttons on the right meant there was less chance of snagging. The tradition just carried along now that there is no need for it.