Pokin' Ripped Jeans

Have you bought new holey pants for yourself? For someone else? If so, what's your rationale? Eh, one time last year in a donut shop, a woman (not in teens) walked in wearing a pair of holey-knee jeans. I almost wondered if I should slip her a few bucks so she could put them towards buying an unworn pair. Apparently, the trend of ripped jeans has been around for awhile. From "The History of Ripped Jeans", a key sentence:

"What was once a poor man's pant, now sells for anywhere between $50 - $300 and up, sometimes."

"Denim Trends 2015: Ripped Jeans For Women" shows 17 images of holey jeans on female forms from waist to hem. Furthermore, the article has links to go to additional sites. Ow, my eyes! It's hard for me to believe that holey jeans are considered mainstream fashion.

I'm not buying into the ripped jeans trend myself. I actually threw away a pair of old jeans last year. Now I wonder if I should have auctioned them off—the knees weren't holey, but the waist, inseam, and hems were frayed or threadbare. Ebay has a page that is thick with ripped jeans. "Ripped jeans, also called distressed jeans or boyfriend jeans, are actually more fashionable and popular for men and women than jeans that are brand new."

The last few years of mall walks and seeing holey jeans at Abercrombie and Fitch had made me muse that shoppers could get more serviceable jeans at Goodwill or Salvation Army—and probably pay lots less. The tipping point that inspired me to seriously consider writing about ripped jeans was recently seeing an Express Jeans video ad on the Beauty and the Beast TV series.

During a mall walk within a few days, I noted additional storefronts besides A&F that displayed ripped jeans. The idea of writing about the jeans percolated more. A followup mall walk, armed with camera, provided more opportunity to collect pix. Whew! Can hardly believe I snapped so many, which the pixstrip reflects!

As part of info and image gathering, I browsed through the previous Sunday's back to school sales print ads. I spotted a pair of ripped jeans ad for Kohl's. Can't find the ad online, but I did see a link to an Urban Outfitters website. Holey moley—"PRPS Goods & Co. Demon Slim Rip Repaired Jean $350"!

Stores that seemed to be staying off the ripped jeans bandwagon, at least in storefront windows and print ads were JCPenney, Macy's, Sears, Target, and The Gap. Hmmm, the journey from pre-wash to pre-rip could be a small hop. YouTube actually has videos (lots!) for DIY ripped jeans.