Denim you despise?

[Jay-]

I'm sure there have been a million thread here about your favourite denim brands...but are there any denim brands out there that you despise?

Personally, I despise any denim that was designed with a certain body type in mind. I'm a big guy with an athletic physiqe, and I have musclular legs because I use to be a hockey player / down hill ski racer, so very often when I try on a pair of jeans that's supposed to be my size, either I can't it on past my calfs or thighs.

[LA Guy]

Why would you despise a denim brand just because they don't fit your style? I personally same my dislike for those brands that I find poorly designed and/or constructed. Cheap Mondays get the brunt of my contempt. So they are $65. There are plenty of $65 jeans out there of much better quality. Geez, go to a real punk store, and nearly all the jeans will sell for under $50. Cheap Mondays seemed geared towards the fashionhead used to $200+ jeans and $150 hoodies (I'll freely admit, I routinely pay these prices). The CM brand seems to ride purely on their supposedly cheapness and their juvenile controversial image. Paper Denim, which used to be rather distinctive and for several seasons, was well designed, although always beset by production inconsistency, is now pure garbage selling at $100-$150 riding on a name that is now grealy tarnished.

[Superstar]

Why would you despise a denim brand just because they don't fit your style? I personally same my dislike for those brands that I find poorly designed and/or constructed. Cheap Mondays get the brunt of my contempt. So they are $65. There are plenty of $65 jeans out there of much better quality.

Which jeans are you refering to here ?

[stadsvandringar]

Nah, I would say lame, mass-produced jeans by banana republic (or really anything by banana republic for that matter), armani exchange and the like are pretty annoying.

More annoying still are those jeans with the fake "fade" down the front. Some of those were pretty bad. I'm kinda sad that trend's on the way out actually. It's fun seeing people look silly.

[LA Guy]

Why would you despise a denim brand just because they don't fit your style? I personally same my dislike for those brands that I find poorly designed and/or constructed. Cheap Mondays get the brunt of my contempt. So they are $65. There are plenty of $65 jeans out there of much better quality.

Which jeans are you refering to here ?

Well, the GAP, for one. GAP jeans actually have decent construction, especially for the price (their volume drives production costs way down - capital costs are essentially nil compared to most brands.) The H&M Sliq are a fraction of the the price of CMs, and the construction level is comparable. Levis are doing skinny jeans now, and not just at the Capital E level.

[Superstar]

Vice versa I like Cheap Mondays better because of the nice slim cuts they have going on. I reckon' Cheap Monday is an okay, 2nd class denim not rootin' for it as superb but its reasonable IMO.

[Double D]

Well, the GAP, for one. GAP jeans actually have decent construction, especially for the price (their volume drives production costs way down - capital costs are essentially nil compared to most brands.)

You're having a laugh. I've never known anyone I've lived with not to trash their Gap jeans, particularly the crotch, within a few months. One of my best friends eats Gap jeans just by kneeling down playing on his PS2 and putting his glasses case in his back pocket.

[dnarnya]

i dislike denim brands that force exclusiveness so it makes getting my hands on a pair difficult... i understand motive behind it, of course.

[LA Guy]

You're having a laugh. I've never known anyone I've lived with not to trash their Gap jeans, particularly the crotch, within a few months. One of my best friends eats Gap jeans just by kneeling down playing on his PS2 and putting his glasses case in his back pocket.

That's anecdotal evidence. By the same token, I know people who have lived in GAP jeans for years, and never complained about the quality (earlier pieces from the 1969 line seem to have been very good value for the money) and people who have blown out their CM jeans on the second or third wear.

Durability does not necessarily equate with quality in case. Rogan jeans are the most obvious example. They are reasonably well constructed, made of decent denim, and have a very distinctive look, but fall apart easily because of the treatment processes used combined with the inherently lightweight denim.

Anyway, my main beef with CM is the juvenile imagery and symbolism they use, not their crap quality, although that does compound my hate

[Dogfarm]

As far as gap goes I give them a mixed bag I think they are decent for the price I have easily had 3-5 years of wear out of any gap jeans (in rotation) I have owned (while I wore that style of jean) and my longest last pair just got retired this summer they were 1998 carpenter jean, and the crotch was not blown out and I did actually use them for carpentry.

As far as my most despised denim brands. I hate rock and republic - the back pocket makes me cringe when i see it on guys, on girls it is not so bad. I also dislike mavi, and diesel.

[implicit]

for me it's really an extension of how i feel about pretty much everything: i hate anything that's made poorly and/or without concern for its function.

[Dogfarm]

Let's try and keep this post on task if we can, be specific.

What brand(s) do you hate and why?

I know we all hate poor construction and design that does not think of function. ( or at least we all should)

[machineo]

gap gets a thumbs up from me. i paid 80$ for a 1969 bootcut back in 2000 and until the crotch blew in 2004 they were beauties. best prewashed ive owned.

what deserves hate? jeans that come with the blown knees and the random 'authentic' rips, tears etc everywhere, mostly accredited to brands like american eagle, hollister, and so on. and guys who pair those with a blazer. it got pretty annoying wearing my 4 year old gaps and people asking me if i bought mine with the knees and hems gone.

Bape/BBC denim really ticks me off too. $4xx for low quality denim with a dog painted on the crotch? come on.

[toufu]

gap gets a thumbs up from me. i paid 80$ for a 1969 bootcut back in 2000 and until the crotch blew in 2004 they were beauties. best prewashed ive owned.

what deserves hate? jeans that come with the blown knees and the random 'authentic' rips, tears etc everywhere, mostly accredited to brands like american eagle, hollister, and so on. and guys who pair those with a blazer. it got pretty annoying wearing my 4 year old gaps and people asking me if i bought mine with the knees and hems gone.

Bape/BBC denim really ticks me off too. $4xx for low quality denim with a dog painted on the crotch? come on.

agreed.

i hate the diacock evisu's...wouldn't wear em if i got em for free...prolly just use the denim and make wallets or something ...naww...ebay:D

[Aramyr]

Just about everything in various "washes" or that is predistressed, as well as any denim with ludicrous embroidery/painting on it. Even more annoying when a quality pair of jeans is mucked up with that stuff.

[ikidomari]

I have to say, I like gap. haven't given me any problems so far. The morrisons at least, because the denim is sturdy.

I don't like rock and republic, true religion, on guys. The back pockets and everything looks so bad, excessively trendy, maybe emasculating. diesel's back pocket stitching kinda pisses me off, as they sometimes have nice denim jeans. Most of the denim on places like DrJays.com piss me off too. Stupid streetwear.

[Kasper]

since getting addicted to this site, i found that my i now find that about 99% of the jeans i see ppl wearing are absolutely horrible looking. like today, my friend just got some awful heavily distressed jeans and everyone was liking them and i was like, this is just plain wrong, your jeans are disgusting (also had to "try" to explain to 2 girl friends of mine that 7 jeans were of really poor quality, not an easy task...). what i hate the most:

energie : can't understand, piss poor quality, soooo light denim and horrible wash

Rock and Republic: it's fucking posh spice's line for christ sake, whenever the fuck did she become even remotely fashionable

True religion : the washes and back pocket are just horrible...

and so many others...

[toufu]

since getting addicted to this site, i found that my i now find that about 99% of the jeans i see ppl wearing are absolutely horrible looking. like today, my friend just got some awful heavily distressed jeans and everyone was liking them and i was like, this is just plain wrong, your jeans are disgusting (also had to "try" to explain to 2 girl friends of mine that 7 jeans were of really poor quality, not an easy task...). what i hate the most:

energie : can't understand, piss poor quality, soooo light denim and horrible wash

Rock and Republic: it's fucking posh spice's line for christ sake, whenever the fuck did she become even remotely fashionable

True religion : the washes and back pocket are just horrible...

and so many others...

true that, *sigh...girls think 7's are fuking the king of the crop wen it comes to denim...i don't even bother

[homi29]

true that, *sigh...girls think 7's are fuking the king of the crop wen it comes to denim...i don't even bother

they do make girls asses look nice though

i agree most people's taste in denim is weak, but thats their imperative

i hate rock and republic and true religion , energie, gas jeans ? , i also never liekd diesel

not so much because their denim sucked, but because of their eurotrash image

[sneakeraddict]

i dislike denim brands that force exclusiveness so it makes getting my hands on a pair difficult...

I agree. Sort of the denim equivalent of trying to buy Spruce W/H

In terms of denim I 'despise', well I wouldnt go so far as despise, but I really dislike denim cuts that are 'fashion' cuts, and have no bearing on the true spirit of original jeans.... So in my opinion, that includes those awful ball-breakers and calf-constrictors people have been wearing in the past two years, anything mega-loose like FUBU with cartoon characters all over them in the 90s, and any blokes wearing those uber-lowrise J-Lo style jeans.

Basically anything not a repro cut.

[Roulette]

I hate 7 for all mankind, true religion, and guess jeans.

[Konfucius]

what deserves hate? jeans that come with the blown knees and the random 'authentic' rips, tears etc everywhere, mostly accredited to brands like american eagle, hollister, and so on. and guys who pair those with a blazer. it got pretty annoying wearing my 4 year old gaps and people asking me if i bought mine with the knees and hems gone.

why so much hate on anything that's not raw and/or dry? Although AE/hollister is infact garbage.

[Double D]

I forgot to mention that it's definitely cheaper for me to pick up a pair of Cheap Monday than Gap jeans, but that's just us Brits getting screwed again.

Anyhow, my main beef with Gap is their sizing... just like many other American companies, they assume that to have a 26/28 inch waist you have to be SHORT. Gap only stock a 28/30 in their Morrison selvage, and American Eagle do make a points of stocking a 26 inch waist, but only in a presumably boy's 28 inch leg. Most British high street retailers at least stock (usually a singular) 28/32 in each line of jeans they supply.

On the other hand, Cheap Monday will happily provide me with a 26 inch waist pair of jeans in a 32 or 34 inch inseam, or even down to a 25 if I wanted the stretch jeans not to sag round my thighs. Only other companies who do similar sizing in this field that I've found thus far are Skull and Ande Whall.

[Double D]

why so much hate on anything that's not raw and/or dry? Although AE/hollister is infact garbage.

Hollister is a million times worse than it's parent line A&F. A&F at least now do darker washes, straight legs and relatively minimal distressing (unless you want the destroyed lines, that is), wheras Hollister have produced some seriously stupid pieces, with 6 inches of distress zigzagging right down both legs and apparently 5 bottles of orange dye poured liberally on top.

[airportlobbytx]

I wouldn't say I despise them, but Nudies irritate me. The cuts are great, and many of the washes (and the drys) are nice, but the branding is just overblown, from the stitching to the pocket shapes. Not to mention, the pricing blows. I have a feeling that in a few years Nudie will be seen in pretty much the same light Paper and Diesel are now - as good for what they were, but dated nevertheless.

[123ok]

nudie, tiger, jlindebergh and some of cheap mondays

dont really like the imperial backpockets either..

[machineo]

since getting addicted to this site, i found that my i now find that about 99% of the jeans i see ppl wearing are absolutely horrible looking. like today, my friend just got some awful heavily distressed jeans and everyone was liking them and i was like, this is just plain wrong, your jeans are disgusting (also had to "try" to explain to 2 girl friends of mine that 7 jeans were of really poor quality, not an easy task...). what i hate the most:

energie : can't understand, piss poor quality, soooo light denim and horrible wash

Rock and Republic: it's fucking posh spice's line for christ sake, whenever the fuck did she become even remotely fashionable

True religion : the washes and back pocket are just horrible...

and so many others...

its pretty damn hard trying to explain the sf taste in denim to other people who dont know. some people really like their jeans to be real soft and faded, its weird. and its especially hard to keep a conversation going with streetwear guys who buy 20$ jeans, 80$ shirt and a 200$+ hoodie, when im spending 175 on jeans, 8 on a shirt and soon to be 125 on a sugarcane belt.

i got annoyed when my friend ripped on me on hearing i was gonna pick up an american apparel hoodie. "its so cheap and plain" what the fuck

[tangerine]

I love all denim, there is no denim I despise, but I truly don't get gangbanger-style wearing your jeans with the waist at mid thigh. I mean, seeing people try to walk like that looks stupid to me.

I don't ever say that to their faces, though.

[Cynlix]

I don't like True Religion & 7 just because all of the people at my school thing theyre hot stuff for wearing them.

[LA Guy]

Actually, despite the hate, Seven jeans are pretty well constructed. No, they don't use small batch, hand dyed selvedge Zimbabwe denim, but they fit most women a whole lot better than any other company's jeans. Women are actually generally less brand conscious than men, and there is a reason I've heard women from Hong Kong to London to Madrid to LA to NYC wax on about Seven. And the stitching and hardware is actually pretty good. And the original seven squiggle is actually a very interesting piece of typography. After Jerome Dahan left the company to start up Citizens, they went sort of crazy with the back pocket designs, but the original squiggle was both eye catching *and* subtle, from the shape to the stitching color (always designed to complement the color of the jeans - the original colors were a brown orange and a pale yellow, iirc.)

As for hating Diesel, well, there's no arguing with tastes, but the designs are generally both well-conceived and executed - the construction is better than pretty much every company out there, the denim is used is at least good, and the Martelli washhouse is pretty much *the* original wash house for high end denim jeans.

Um, back on topic - I despise BDg jeans - the construction generally sucks, the denim is generally crap, and the rip offs of other companies' designs are poor shadows of the originals.