LANDS’ END MEN'S TRADITIONAL FIT COLORED DENIM JEANS

I was caught up in the first wave of the ‘Casual Friday’ tide in the late 1990s. The big-name international bank where I worked wanted to let its tightly-wound hair down a little, to show how hip it was, and a cool place to work, being that it was young and dynamic and, you know, hip and all. One day a week, at least. So they jumped all over Casual Friday. Which meant that all of us worker bees jumped all over the Banana Republics, Lord & Taylors, and Bloomingdales, and even the Casual Males and Men’s Wearhouses within a day’s hike of our pads. We showed how casually empowered we were by doing exactly what the boards of directors intended us to: patronize men’s casual departments all over the city. Chinos, and polos, and loafers, and colored socks. Ralph Lauren never had it so good.

Hip as everybody was feeling, though, there was a strict no-jeans policy. Technically, it was a ‘no blue jeans’ policy. All my jeans were black anyway, so I thought about it a little while before deciding I better not. My jeans were worn, faded, had rough spots where the denim was coming undone; you know, they were jeans, man. Not for the office, not in front of the dress-shoes-on-the-beach-wearing, eyebrow-curling-in-disapproval types. So jeans were a no-go. Or so I thought.

Some of my jeans, man were Lands’ End. They’re good, tough, and (now) broken in. Solid, but nothing too special. I bought them online (I know!), so after that I got a catalog in the mail about once every three weeks. I leafed through and tossed them, usually without much thought. Then came that casual feeling, and I started looking a little more closely to see if there was anything in the catalog I could use. That’s when I noticed the colored denim jeans. They were cut like jeans, and looked like they were dyed all the way through. It seemed they didn’t have contrasting stitching, either - another trick for staying under the jeans radar. I went on to their website, where I could zoom in on the photo, and lucky me, no contrasting stitching! So, denim that didn’t look like denim, but jeans that felt like jeans. I ordered a pair the same size as my jeans, man jeans. They worked out just great; came Casual Friday, nobody said a word. Or maybe nobody cared.

Turns out, they’re such great jeans, so comfortable, so deep black, so fast to break in, it’s the only kind I wear. To bookstores, for coffee, the movies, the Met; I even wear them hiking in the rocky hills of the Hudson River Valley, and they hold up as well as any others.

Now that’s what I call jeans, man.

HISTORY

Lands’ End started in 1963. By the 1980s, they shifted from mainly sailing gear to mainly clothing, including 'preppie' styles. Presumably jeans followed suit (get it? Followed ‘suit’!).

STANDOUT FEATURE/WHAT MAKES IT GREAT

Look like new, feel like broken-in.

CHEAP?

Yes, cheaper than Gap jeans.

VALUE (GREATNESS/PRICE RATIO)

$40 for jeans better than $100 Banana Republics? I give it a rating of OFS (out-effing-standing).

CATCH

You have to buy before you try.

BONUS

Lands’ End lets you pick your inseam (length) in quarter-inch increments, no extra charge.

FUNNY FACT

According to the Lands’ End website, the misplaced apostrophe in the company name was originally a typo that went on all their stationery and signage, but they couldn’t afford to order replacements, so they just went with it. Musta worked.

REALLY HIDDEN?

Yes – nobody knows about these.

HOW TO GET THEM

Order from the Lands’ End website. Some Sears stores (I know!) might have them, but without the quarter-inch inseam increments.

AVAILABLE IN BLACK?

Yes.