There I am, facing myself head-on in the mirror at the changing room of yet another M& in Manchester city centre, slipping on my seventh pair of jeans of the day. Legs burning. Sanity ebbing away faster than the intentionally shredded hems on the pair of jeans I’ve just refused to buy.
But desperate times call for desperate measures – and I am desperate to find out once and for all what jeans are actually worth buying on the British high street, and which are not. This mission was not something I’d decided to embark on myself, it should be said. It began with a text from Jamie. Or, more specifically, a photo of his crotch.
Let’s just clarify: not as weird as it sounds. Jamie had experienced a bit of a blowout during a meeting with an important client whilst sat on his office chair, and upon pulling his trousers aside to assess the damage, thought I might like to see it. “£185 just shot,” he wrote. “Look into something decent on the high street for me that won’t rob me of all my worldly possessions or split when I sit down.”
So began my mission.
Twelve stores, thirty-four pairs of jeans and enough time spent in changing rooms to give any self-respecting adult extra sandy thighs.
All for the noble pursuit of answering one question: are there any decent jeans on the British high street in 2025? And if there are, where can we get them?
Before we dive into the good, the bad and the downright ugly of my high street denim drudgery, we need to define exactly what qualifies as “decent” denim. For me there are four key areas: fabric, construction, fit and longevity.
I’m not expecting knock-off Sugarcults here – denim woven by Enlightened monks on rollerskates at the expense of an entire North Korean villiage – but £50 jeans should last longer than three wears, not fade after two washes, and not rip at the seams the first time you bend down to tie your shoes.
I did too when S told me their denim was worth trying. Then I tried them and nearly cried when I came out the other side with a whopping great bag for life. M&S denim has really come on in recent years, in my opinion.
Particularly their Selvedge range. Fabric-wise they’re 99% cotton 1% elastane, which gives you just enough stretch to move comfortably without losing that all-important structure. The indigo pair I’ve slithered half-naked into the M&S changing room have a really nice weight to them too – weighing in at around 13oz, they feel like denim but not quite so heavy that you’d struggle to breathe if you tried them on with a sweatshirt.
The construction is where M& really impress.
Chain-stitched hem and pocket edging, bartack stitching at points of stress and using to sewing details you’d normally expect to find on jeans at least double the price. They’re not the cheapest high street option at £65 a pop, but they’re built to last which means you’ll get significantly more wears out of them than your average Paige-does-Oasis-distressed-disaster.
Fit wise they’re pretty great too – particularly their straight cut. It’s classic, but not quite as wide as some straight fits can be; with plenty of room in the thigh area if you’re like me and actually work out sometimes, but not so billowy that you look like you’re wearing your dad’s jeans from the 90s.
Speaking of dads: Jamie took one look at me in the brand new jeans and refused to believe they were from M&S. “But dad goes there” obviously being his biggest objection to my surprise discovery. SoS bought a pair to test. Results pending.
Another unlikely inclusion but seriously guys, their selvedge denim is 💯. If you’ve somehow been living under a rock and haven’t heard of their famed Japanese denim, you can expect Japanese craftsmanship at a price that won’t make you feel like you’re robbing someone. Their regular fit selvedge jeans are a dream – they’re cut straight with no weird tapering like you often find on high street denim that makes your calves look like you’re supporting the local dairy industry.
They sell tapered but trust me when I say you do not need it.
Fabric-wise they tick all the right boxes. They’ve got that dry hand feel that promises to break-in beautifully with wear, picking up personality as you go. I’ve had a pair for close to three years now and they’ve faded in all the right places – honeycomb patterns on my knees from sitting too many times at the desk I hate, the all too obvious wallet tan on my back pocket and whiskers down the inside of my thighs.
Jeandevout internet types will understand the excessive excitement I get over whiskers. They’re lived through daily wears for a week straight with barely any colour loss, which is impressive considering the care instructions insist you only wash them every six months.
And by slim they actually mean slim – don’t be deceived by the pictures on the website if you’re wondering whether you’ll look like The Mandarin. They’re slim.
Last but not least in my surprise revelations: Arket. H&M’s more mature sibling had a couple of stand out pairs in their collection; namely their Regular Jeans in rigid denim.
At £77 these were by far the highest priced denim I tried but they also came closest to what I consider premium denim. They’re 100% cotton with zero stretch so they’ll likely take a few wears to break in and feel comfortable, but that’s half the fun of buying raw denim that’s supposed to mould to your body like a second skin. Wear them too soon and they’ll bite ya back.
This isn’t a bad thing if you’re into that sort of thing – I love getting a new pair of jeans and feeling like I’ve been defeated by a napkin for a week until they soften up.
Construction wise they’re really great too; copper rivets, chain stitched waistband, selvedge outseam and a cut that’s modern without being trendy – there are no embellishments here that’ll look silly next season. It’s a timeless cut that just so happens to include jeans, which is refreshing for once. My only criticism is they don’t offer shorts, which is a crime.
I will be buying every length possible when winter is over just so I have enough pairs to last me through both seasons.
But they’ve upped their game recently with a Premium Denim range that genuinely merits your attention if you’re stuck on a budget. For £45.99 you can get some 100% cotton slim fit jeans with reasonably good construction and an actually nice weight to the fabric.
Granted, they won’t last you years of weekly wears like some of the other options on this list. But equally, they won’t autumn apart after a month like some jeans I could name.
I’d estimate you’ll get around a year and a half of rotation before the fading or general wear becomes apparent, which isn’t amazing but isn’t bad considering Zara’s typical price point. The slim fit is brilliant – it suits every body type I’ve tried them on, from Jamie’s slender frame to my lardy legs. They taper slightly from knee to ankle which creates a silhouette that looks equally as good with trainers as it does boots.
Warning though: buy a white sofa with your new Zara jeans at your peril.
My whites still haven’t recovered from the first time I sat down after buying a new pair. Speaking of peril: I almost left Next off this list entirely. Their denim offering isn’t great – it’s okay.
And yet through diligent scouring of their frankly uninspiring website I found a couple of diamonds in the rough.
If I’m honest I didn’t think they’d be any good.
My experiences with Next denim prior to this hideous expedition can be summed up by this pair I bought to wear on a desperate camping trip in 2017. Fast forward 48 hours and I discovered a hole of undetermined origin spreading at an alarming rate from my crotch. It was beyond repair, which still upsets me to this day.
Next jeans. Never forget.
Fast forward three years and Not Next jeans have improved considerably. Give them a chance if you need something cheap that you won’t mind throwing away after a few months.
They won’t last like their M&S counterparts but at a tenth of the price it’s hard to complain.
RIP Topman denim.
You’ll be remembered fondly by no one. River Island were similarly disappointing; with jeans that looked promising hanging from the hanger but became instantly worthless once they graced my lupine form.
The fabric is thin, stitching is already showing at the seams and they seemed to be cut with absolutely no real human in mind.
Tight in the calf and baggy at the knee; these sad excuses for denim tried and failed at flattering me or anyone I saw them on. And at £45 a pair you simply can’t justify buying jeans this bad.
So there we have it guys. The current state of play for British high street jeans as it stands in 2025.
Are there any hidden gems? Hell yeah. Are you gonna get the love-worn patina of an Iron Heart or Blackhorse?
Nope. But you weren’t trying to, were you? What we’ve compiled here is a list of perfectly decent jeans that won’t desert you after three wears, come in a range of fits to suit most body types and won’t break the bank.
Oh and you might just find your mum already has a pair of them hanging up in her cupboard at home. Enjoy!
