I bought my first legitimately expensive pair of jeans – whatever “expensive” meant when I was a teenager – during my second year at university. Months of penny-pinching self-imposed frugality after weeks of saving money from my retail job at the local bookstore allowed me to splurge on my new-found income. Instant noodles for dinner and the occasional beer if I was really “needed” to drink, was my mantra for as long as I could postpone that gratifying feeling of buying things.
Six months, a couple of pounds, and $200 later (“which is like, two million pounds to you,” I explained to the patient clerk at a small Japanese-inspired boutique in Manchester), I walked out having purchased the best-fitting jeans I’d ever tried on, promised they would “literally change your life, mate” and internally debating whether I’d just spent the majority of my net worth on a pair of trousers. They turned out to be worth it. I ended up wearing those jeans for seven years.
School, university, sixth year – pretty much every single day – until natural fading had created precisely the sort of personalised wear patterns and fades that denim snobs insist happen. They finally died when the crotch tore irreparably as I bent down to pick up something on the floor during a meeting with a potential advertiser (*cough*notawi*s cough* proud).
I cried when I had to throw them away.
Since then, I’ve developed what friends have euphemistically described as “a research interest” and my girlfriend calls “a ridiculous obsession” with understanding where the balance lies between price and quality when it comes to jeans. I’ve tried pairs that cost £20 and ones that cost more than my first car. I’ve visited denim mills in Okayama and Lancashire and watched pairs being constructed on traditional shuttle looms as students Instagrammed nearby.
I’ve spent way too much time arguing over chain-stitched vs bar-tacked hems with bewildered shop assistants across the world. So. I’ve done the homework (yes, terribly denimpun intended) so that you don’t have to.
Here’s what I learned about whether expensive jeans are worth buying, where you hit diminishing returns, and how to spot the difference between real quality and savvy marketing. THE HIGH STREET £20-£150 Lets start at the bottom. Unfairly so, in many ways.
The high street has really come on in leaps and bounds over the last decade. Where there was once utter rubbish ten or fifteen years ago, now we have Uniqlo. It’s selvedge denim skirts around the £40-50 mark and is actually really good for the price.
The denim is a nice weight (none of this dreaded, sheerness-at-distance stuff) and while the sewing isn’t fancy, it’s good enough to last a good couple of years of wear. I have a pair that doubles as my gardening jeans – despite being well into their third year of being pulled through mud, bleach baths, and general abuse – they still look great because they’ve been properly beaten while they were still soft and allowed to wear in naturally. The next step up gives you your high street standard brands – your Levi’s, your Lee, your Wranglers.
Levi’s 501s will forever be the stalwart by which we measure all other jeans, for better or worse. Available from about £90-110 if you time it for a sale, they’re… fine. They’re just fine.
They’re not as good as they once were – Levi’s have been cutting quality corners for years as their manufacturing plants hop around the world – but they’re still perfectly serviceable jeans that will last you a long time if cared for properly. Their 501 Vintage line ups the quality a touch with some slightly nicer denim and construction touches that feel like a callback to their glory years. Levi’s really shine when they start pushing their more premium jeans, however.
Their “Made & Crafted” line along with their “Levi’s Vintage Clothing” run use hugely superior materials and construction techniques. The only issue at this point is price. £150-250+ starts tiptoeing into what most people would call “designer territory”. Are they worth it?
If you’re invested enough in denimhead minutiae and want historically accurate recreations of old vintage models, then sure, go nuts. They’re great jeans. If you’re happy with a well-fitting pair that just look like nice jeans though, you’ll find better value elsewhere.
The most exciting development in the mid-tier price range has been smaller, denim focused brands starting to produce really good jeans at prices that don’t require taking out a second mortgage. Jeans in the £120-180 range from Nudie (£120), Hiut Denim (Wales, £155-£230), Blackhorse Lane (London, ~£200). Not cheap, but offering the same quality materials and construction you’d find at much higher price points.
It’s this latter group that I think represent the sweet spot of the market. You’re getting almost all of what makes expensive jeans good (high quality denim, considered construction, obsessive attention to detail) without the insane overhead that comes with being a major brand that funds international marketing campaigns and fills entire shows during fashion week. You also have owners/operators who are legitimately obsessed with denim in a way that translates into how their companies operate and the products they produce.
THE DESIGNER MIDDLE MARKET £150-£500+ Ok, now we’re getting into the hard stuff. Your Diesels, your Nudies, your Edwin’s, your Acne Studios. This entire segment is tricky to review because for the most part, you’re paying for design, not material quality.
Now don’t get me wrong, design IS important. If you find a brand that just fits you phenomenally well, then fantastic – by all means go and spend a little extra to get the things you love. My issue is that far too many brands in this price range are charging hugely inflated prices for things you can get elsewhere for a fraction of the cost.
But it all looks the same, right? Cool jeans are cool jeans. Except it’s not true.
Take Diesel for instance. Expect to spend anywhere from £150-£300 on a pair of Diesel jeans. Are they 3-6 times better than those Japanese selvedge jeans from Uniqlo?
Of course not. You’re paying for brand positioning, their schtick as a denim company (“Dark is Beautiful”) and huge margins to cover their ginormous global retail presence. The denim itself isn’t anything to write home about, and the construction is perfectly serviceable but nothing to get excited about.
The vast majority of designer, fashion-forward jeans are the same. Overblown prices for something that’s at worst “fine” and at best “above average”. That being said.
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There are brands in this price range that absolutely do justify the extra dollars with material quality. But to be honest, you have to leave Europe to find them. Japan’s “big three” of denim (Momotaro, Iron Heart, and The Flat Head) all produce jeans in this price range that are exceptional.
Custom denim woven on vintage shuttle looms to the brand’s specification, obsessive attention to details that normal people will never notice let alone care about (hand-felled seams, tucked-in belt loops, raised back pockets…) It’s genuinely incredible stuff. And you know what? They are worth £300-400.
If those sorts of details matter to you. And then of course we have “luxury” designer jeans. Tom Ford, Balmains, Saint Laurent – we’re now talking £600-£1,000+ for a pair of jeans.
Don’t do it. Seriously. Don’t buy into that hype.
You are not getting 2-3x better quality than the jeans we talked about above. What you are getting is fashion, experience, and prestige. You’re buying into brand and being able to say “Look at these jeans I can afford!” They’ll be well made – most luxury designers work with top tier manufacturers in Japan to produce their garments, so you’re not paying for better sewing as much as you are for who makes them – but not “luxury” well.
Not by a long shot. SO WHERE DOES THE TRUE VALUE LIE? Okay guys.
I’ve foisted countless hours (likely unhealthy) onto you in order to educate you on this topic. Allow me to end this absurdly lengthy article with a quick summary. Under £50: You’re looking at Uniqlo selvedge.
It’s the best thing out there at that price point by miles. £100-£150: Good place to start. Nudie, Edwin, Lee 101 are all fantastic for the price. Cheque out US brands like Tellason and Rogue Territory if you can find them on sale.
Keep an eye out for Levi’s “premium” lines as they tend to go on sale quite a bit. £150-£250: The sweet spot of “buy it for life” jeans. Blackhorse Lane, Hiut Denim, Iron Heart (on sale), Japan Blue. These brands make jeans that will last you 10+ years of normal wear if you look after them.
Over £250: Diminishing returns seriously start to hit. Sure, those £400 Iron Hearts are probably twice as well put together as the £200 Japan Blues I mentioned above. But not twice as good.
You’re now paying for personal preference and branding more than anything else. TLDR: THERE ARE NO BAD JEANS Alright, one more. The thing I didn’t mention above is what happens after you buy the jeans.
This is where brands like Nudie, Hiut Denim, and Blackhorse Lane really start to shine. Nudie offer free repairs for life. Hiut denim do the same.
Blackhorse Lane will repair your jeans for a small fee for as long as you own them. When you spread that cost over 10+ years of wear they suddenly become much better value than buying £50 jeans every other year. Washing is also key.
Sure, the denim snobs will tell you you should never wash your jeans, just spot clean them and freeze them to kill bacteria. Don’t listen to them. Wash your jeans.
When they’re dirty, put them in the washing machine turned to “gentle”, inside out with a small amount of detergent. Hang them up to dry rather than tossing them in the dryer. They’ll last longer and you won’t smell like you spend your days dumpster diving your local skips.
Fit. Fit is absolutely, 100% everything when it comes to jeans. No amount of fancy sewing or fancy denim will make a bad-fitting pair of jeans look good.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help in a denim shop.
A good denim shop will help you find the perfect fit. Try on lots of sizes and styles.
Denim stretches as you wear it, so they should always fit snugger when new but not uncomfortably. TLDR: AWAIT THE SECONDHAND MARKET The final tip I’ll leave you all with is one that most denim obsessives won’t tell you – wait for the secondhand market. Yes, that ludicrously expensive pair of Japanese jeans you’re eyeing up?
Chances are someone will buy it, wear it for a few months to realise they picked the wrong size/colour or decide “this raw denim thing isn’t for me”, and then sell it on eBay/Grailed for half the price you’d pay new. I’ve snagged £300 jeans for £80 this way more times than I care to admit, with barely a crease to show for their wear. There you have it.
I hope you learned something. Regardless of what brand, what price point, or what style of jeans you end up going for – just remember that they’re supposed to be fun. Don’t let people ruin your enjoyment of jeans by being snobby or obsessive.
There’s a world of denim out there and chances are you haven’t even scratched the surface.
