# Where did that dumb low-pants fashion come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 18, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383 "2004-11-18T00:23:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/1 "2004-11-18T00:23:26Z")
You all know it, it’s been around for about 10 years and is still lingering for some reason. The pants-worn-below-the-butt fashion for young men. What I want to know is how it started. I know it’s supposed to be vaguely ghetto/rap, but why and wherefore? DangerDad said he heard that it was a jail style, for …_ahem_…easy access, but we both have a hard time believing that. Snopes reveals nothing on that story. So, why and how did the style start? Why is it supposed to look tough, as opposed to “oops, my pants are falling down” or something? Someone please explain. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/2 "2004-11-18T00:31:19Z")
I have two theories. 1. It started with the skater crowd, who just wanted pants that they could beat to death and didn’t want to spend a lot of cash on them. So they would buy jeans from the Salvation Army or Goodwill, and if they fit, they fit, but more often than not, they didn’t. The baginess also provided roominess so that they could do their tricks. 2. Inner-city youth who were more concerned with the label on the pocket than the cut of the cloth. This also provided room to stash and conceal items. Just guesses, though. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/3 "2004-11-18T00:33:38Z")
It comes from prison. I don’t have a cite either. You don’t get to choose your own size or wear a belt in prison, hence the low rider look. ---
**Author:** ![Sharky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Sharky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sharky)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/4 "2004-11-18T00:35:10Z")
I’ve always heard that it started out with gangbanger wannabees trying to look like they had been to jail. Apparently inmates are not allowed to have a belt in jail, therefore their pants sag. ---
**Author:** ![Ghanima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Ghanima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ghanima)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/5 "2004-11-18T00:43:45Z")
Marky-Mark - the Good Vibrations video. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/6 "2004-11-18T00:48:17Z")
I’d heard the same jail theory - no belts or shoelaces, and the clothing is one size fits no one. And darned if the hoodlums on the street are wearing no shoelaces, or shoelaces untied and wide open, as well as pants big enough to stash a poodle in. I remember back in the old days of Marky Mark, there was the underwear (boxers) showing above the waistband, but his pants weren’t 20 sizes too big. I think he started doing it when he was modeling for Calven Klein, didn’t he? At least that made sense - he was selling underwear. The pants were baggy, and hung low, but I see pants around now with each leg the width of a skirt. ---
**Author:** ![look\_hergo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85e7bf/32.png) [@look\_hergo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_hergo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/7 "2004-11-18T02:09:58Z")
I heard it originated in the gangs because often the kids came from poor families and had to wear hand-me-downs from older brothers or their fathers. Rather than be ashamed of their situation, they embraced it as fashion, an identifying mark of their social set. Other kids wanting to look tough or fit in with a group at school started copying the baggy look. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/8 "2004-11-18T02:36:19Z")
I think the Plumber’s Union started it. ---
**Author:** ![Roches](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc8723/32.png) [@Roches](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roches)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/10 "2004-11-18T07:10:48Z")
Very wide legs are something totally different; it’s not a hip-hop thing. Most people wear clothing of a certain type either because they think it looks good or because they want to identify with a group. They may not even be aware that a particular style originated in prison (if in fact it did). Actually, with the way hip-hop tends to mythologize things to make them seem harder and more urban, I wouldn’t be surprised if the sagging-pants thing didn’t originate in prison at all, and doesn’t have anything to do with carrying guns or stealing. (Such explanations may also arise from people who make the conclusion that since some hip-hop lyrics refer to crimes, everyone who wears clothes of that style must be criminal.) Of the explanations so far, I think the one that makes the most sense is that it arose from poor inner-city children having to wear their older siblings’ clothes – I’ve heard that one before. Baggy clothes, in general, are comfortable and offer certain other advantages. People who wear them are not necessarily criminals. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/11 "2004-11-18T11:39:56Z")
What I never understood about the baggy style is that it looks like it would be near impossible to run in them; the crotch appears to hang between the knees. In any urban situation, the inability to run (from danger) would seem dangerous in and of itself. Granted I’ve never tried on a pair; so I may be totally wrong about the running thing. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/12 "2004-11-18T12:22:13Z")
> [@BwanaBob](#): > > …it would be near impossible to run in them; the crotch appears to hang between the knees…In any urban situation, the inability to run (from danger) would seem dangerous in and of itself. Maybe that’s what makes them cool! Look, I don’t EVEN HAVE to run from the cops! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/13 "2004-11-18T13:16:44Z")
Baggy pants are also excellent for shoplifting…you can stash lots of CDs, frozen chickens, etc., in them! ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/14 "2004-11-18T13:19:21Z")
Sorry to hijack, but is the one pants leg hiked up still popular in your area? What’s the deal with that? We used to do it as kids so the pants leg wouldn’t get caught in the bike chain, but whenever I see it now, there is no bike anywhere near the corner the dude is hanging out on. ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/15 "2004-11-18T13:58:15Z")
I’ve heard it called jailin’, and it is supposed to be an imitation of jail-house fashions. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-that-dumb-low-pants-fashion-come-from/275383/16 "2004-11-18T14:18:36Z")
I blame the whole baggy pants thing on Michael Jordan, who insisted on[wearing a pair of North Carolina team shorts under his Chicago Bulls shorts](http://www.nba.com/history/players/jordan_bio.html), necessitating a baggier cut. The style spread throughout the NBA, thence to the schoolyards of urban America, and pretty soon every kid with pretensions of hip was wearing britches big enough to hide a whole starting lineup.