# Thrashed Blue Jeans **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 24, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220 "2010-01-24T12:19:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/1 "2010-01-24T12:19:45Z")
Do you hold onto seriously thrashed blue jeans? Are they patched/repaired? Have you ever deliberately damaged a pair of jeans? ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/2 "2010-01-24T13:07:30Z")
No to all your questions. (Well, I guess yes to the last - in the 70s jeans shorts were common, so I cut off a pair of jeans to make shorts. Mom was so pissed.) ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/3 "2010-01-24T15:08:38Z")
Yes, I keep them. No, I don’t repair them because they never get quite _that_ bad. And no, I’ve never intentionally damaged a pair because of fashion. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/4 "2010-01-24T16:43:35Z")
I don’t have any ‘seriously thrashed’ jeans, but I’d keep them. I have patched jeans using material from other jeans that were worn so much I didn’t wear them anymore. I have not intentionally damaged jeans. I was passing a store (Macy’s?) a few weeks ago, and I saw their ‘pre-trashed’ jeans on display. I know they’re fashionable, but it seems like cheating to me. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/5 "2010-01-24T20:45:07Z")
Back in the 60s, the most serious \*faux pas \*you could commit was to wear a new pair of jeans that still looked new. We went to great lengths making them look like we’d been wearing them for 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![maisoui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@maisoui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maisoui)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/6 "2010-01-24T23:16:43Z")
As a teenager in the mid 80’s, I dumped bleach in batches on an old pair of jeans and left it there until the colour was gone. They looked great (at least I thought so) until several washes later when the weakened fabric started to fall apart. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/7 "2010-01-25T02:41:10Z")
There are $120 jeans in the mall in far worse shape than any jeans of my own that I’d still wear. I really don’t get this or distressed furniture. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/8 "2010-01-26T00:44:21Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > Back in the 60s, the most serious \*faux pas \*you could commit was to wear a new pair of jeans that still looked new. We went to great lengths making them look like we’d been wearing them for 20 years. In the early 60s, I’ve heard that regular old indigo Levi’s were disdained; you were supposed to wear white, or sand colored, grey or what have you, but not classic indigo. I wonder if this was the beginning of that trend? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/9 "2010-01-26T00:46:11Z")
No, I have a couple of “old looking” jeans and I reserve those for doing errands in. I only wear out my nicer pairs. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/10 "2010-01-26T20:51:00Z")
I have 20 year old jeans (Levis) with holy knees, I still wear them during the summer since they’re still in style and all. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/11 "2010-01-26T20:53:52Z")
> [@maisoui](#): > > As a teenager in the mid 80’s, I dumped bleach in batches on an old pair of jeans and left it there until the colour was gone. They looked great (at least I thought so) until several washes later when the weakened fabric started to fall apart. I used to buy acid-washed Levis (probably my most egregious sin admitted to on the Dope), and I remember they used to wear out pretty fast, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gesturing\_Mildly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/65b543/32.png) [@Gesturing\_Mildly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gesturing_Mildly)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2010, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thrashed-blue-jeans/526220/12 "2010-01-26T21:03:56Z")
I have a pair that my dad wore out naturally. I also have a pair that I took a cheese grater to. They look awesome, and only cost me $15, instead of the $60 they would have cost pre-thrashed.