Last week a close friend died. I had known him for several years and we were molded as one. He had traveled with me to Ukraine to adopt my youngest son, he was there through up and downs in my weight and made my rear end look really good. My friend was my favorite pair of jeans. Now I’m on a mission to find a replacement friend, however I find that jeans are no longer made of the tough 100% cotton of their forefathers, they now have percentages of spandex and some mystery elastic blended into the fabric. I admit I have a few pair of these not quite denim jeans but they aren’t the same. I pour my blubber into them in the morning but by mid-day the crotch is hanging, there are pouches on my knees and I’m pulling them up every five minutes. These pseudo-jeans never look quite right in texture and unlike jeans of old that just got better with age they look worse.
A long internet search revealed that there are a few places to purchase 100% cotton jeans, but the styles lack much to be desired, most resembling something my 92 year old grandmother wears or caters to the horseback riding crowd. In desperation I ordered a pair of the “riding jean” in hopes that even if they are a little more fit for a game of barrel pick-up they’ll hug my curves in the same way my old friend did. Alas these jeans were of the super high waist variety and that feature was accentuated by the fact I’m only 5’1”. They were returned.
Mourning the loss of REAL jeans I went ahead and purchased a couple of pair of fake jeans and move on, still hoping to find some 100% cotton jeans. Good fortune smiled on me. I was in the Salvation Army store with my Mother-in-law when she came to visit for Thanksgiving. I was poking around at the knick-knacks on the top of the jean shelf and happened to see a pair of jeans the same brand as my close friend. I investigated further and found they were 100% cotton AND they were in my size, even with a short leg length! Needless to say I snatched them up, I didn’t care what the price was going to be, though they were marked at $5. I went to pay and discovered they were having some sort of clearance and I got them for $3.
I can’t say these jeans are my new friend yet. They are a little snug in the hips, they aren’t the same heavy weight denim and they have that fake whiskering on the legs. I do wear them though and think I will have to look at the Salvation Army jeans more often.
WINNIE'S LITTER Just a little blog of the ins and outs and ups and downs in the life of a mom.
4 comments:
Ouch. Trying to find a new brand of jean is like a painful root canal. Seriously. And you pay just about the same as the root canal too, rooting out all the crappy brands.
I like Eddie Bauer jeans--they have a slight mix of denim/i-don't-know-what, but they stay the same shape better than most. But what I like, you may not and vice versa.
Godspeed on your quest, Winnie. My advice is stay away from the likes of Kohls and Penneys--them is some baadddd old lady jeans.
Old Navy used to make some jeans like what you are talking about... a lot of their jeans are those crappy ones that even my size 4s end up looking baggy at the end of the day. LL Bean has those real thick denim jeans too. I got some for Christmas from someone a few years ago.
@ Lin, your right. I honestly think I'd rather bathing suit shop than jeans shop. The prices are AWFUL. The jeans I found at salvation army the price runs somewhere in the $100 range! Ouch! Even they are way too expensive new I was so determined to buy another pair like the old I was willing to pay that much and then discovered they no longer make 100% cotton jeans either and still get over $100 a pair.
@Mama - I haven't been in Old Navy in a coon's age. I got kind of disgusted with the quality verses the price of their stuff.
@ both of you - I looked at both LL Bean and Lands Ends and the styles seemed a little old lady to me. Maybe they look better in person.
I've mourned the death of favorite pairs of jeans, too. I feel your pain!
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