Why You Should Invest In Your Denim

If you are about to purchase another piece of denim from a high street or mass market brand you need to stop what you are doing and read this post.

Denim is a crucial staple item in my wardrobe… I’m so invested in my denim that I’ve even figured out the best sales to buy my denim at. I’m that into it.

There are a number of differences when it comes to luxury/designer denim in comparison to high street or mass market. I’m going to take you through my personal list for why I invest in my denim.

Pro #1: Lifespan

We all went through a phase when we bought ALL our denim on sale from Hollister or Abercrombie and Fitch and justified it as “ok” when the pieces fell apart after a month because they were cheap.

It is 100% NOT OK for denim (supposedly a sturdy fabric) to fall apart after a month. It’s not ok for a number of reasons.

First: Denim is incredibly taxing on the environment. Out of the most common fabrics, denim requires the MOST WATER in its creation process out of any other fabric. So just remember that every time you throw out a pair of cheap jeans within a relatively short period of time that you’ve waster however many hundreds of gallons of water it took to create them.

Second: Demin should be a sturdy long lasting fabric. It was made as a workwear piece (note. not office wear, but actual work gear) so it was made to last. If the jeans you are buying aren’t made to last, then why are you buying them?

Third: One nice, good fitting, classic pair of jeans can be a timeless wardrobe staple. You only need one

 Pro #2: Cost Effectiveness

I know this is a slightly crazy concept but hear me out. My favourite pair of jeans (Citizens of Humanity Rocket Sculpt) are about $300 Canadian not on sale. I usually buy them during the Holt Renfrew Seasonal Sales for 40-60% off. Meaning I could get a pair from $100-$175 Canadian, depending on the cut, colour, discount, season etc. For the sake of the math, we are going to pretend that I don’t get these jeans on sale.

Usually, I buy ONE pair of jeans a year MAYBE two depending on if I need to replace a staple pair. So I will in an average year spend $300 on a pair of jeans. These jeans usually last me 5 years, the darker the wash the longer they last FYI.

In the past, I’ve purchased a pair of Hollister jeans on sale for $25 CAD. Obviously with $300 you can buy 12 pairs of Hollister jeans at this sale price. However, in my experience, I’ve been able to wear these jeans for around a month because one of the following happened; they stretched out, they shrunk in the wash, the colour faded beyond recognition, or the colour transfer was so bad I couldn’t bring myself to ruin another white t-shirt.

So realistically, that would mean in a year or 12- month period I would be spending $25 a month on denim each month every month. I acknowledge that there are pieces from Hollister, Abercrombie, American Eagle etc. that do last forever. They are one-offs and most certainly not the norm.

My whole theory is that I’d rather spend $300 up front and get a number of years of wear out of this one pair of denim instead of consistently spend $25 every month or two. In the long run, my way of purchasing denim is much more cost effective.

Pro #3: Fit and Fabric

Let’s be brutally honest here… Topshop jeans run small, Guess jeans have ZERO thigh room, Forever 21 is all over the place and H&M Jeans kinda smell weird to me.

The finally pro with investing a little bit more into your denim is the consistency of fit and fabric quality. There is no discrepancy in sizing between light wash or dark wash denim, no slightly differentiated rises, none of that. Once you find your perfect fit, size and brand there is no longer any need to try on jeans. You know that that style will always work for you. I’ve bought the same jean in a different wash from Abercrombie and had to get a completely different size in the light wash because the fit was so much looser. A size should be the same size across all pieces in that “style” or “fit”.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post!

xoxo Steph