The drawback here is that it leaves behind loose ends which require an overlock stitch to stop the thread unravelling. This brings us to the million dollar question surrounding expensive jeans.
Jeans made in third world countries such as China will have much lower costs given the wages are generally non-conforming to standards.
Get a different perspective on what to wear, what to buy and how to live better from experts whose opinions count. Skip to content. So, if you are looking for the highest quality denim, skip the selvedge. We did. But, that is not an indication of quality. So, there goes the idea that selvedge is always expensive or quality. Japan does have some amazing quality textiles, but they are by no means the gold standard - There is Italy, Turkey, and even the USA.
Check out the denim area PremierVision trade show if you want to learn more about all the amazing luxury and eco-friendly denim mills all over the world. If brands are not sharing where their denim is coming from, there is probably a reason for that. Legally, they do not have to disclose this information. But, they are most likely sourcing from more undesirable fast fashion countries like China, India, and Bangladesh if they are keeping you in the dark. Sadly, made in America denim may become a thing of the past since Cone Denim announced its closure at the end of They are transparent that their denim is from Cone Mills one of the most prestigious denim suppliers in the world.
Cone is hard to beat when it comes to quality. The short answer is nope. Refinery got one thing right, kind of. But this is more coincidence then rule. Vertical factories mean they do everything under one roof. In the case of Madewell, the fabric is coming from the USA. So, they are not using a verticle factory. Manufacuteres specialize in one or two things usually. Refinery, and consumers, in general, want to believe that made in the United States means higher prices due to higher labor costs.
And, that made in Italy, means the best workmanship. To start there are sweatshops all over the world, from our own backyards in LA , to Italy , to China. While Citizens are making their final product in Los Angeles, they are most likely importing super cheap fabrics to make them. So what is better quality? Cheap materials put together in America, or high-quality American made materials put together cheaply overseas?
The author of the Refinery article mentions stitch count as being an important indicator of quality. Referring to "high stitch count" and "medium stitch count"… what does that even mean?
Those terms of subjective. And, not really used in the industry. When we talk about denim design we use SPI, stitches per inch, as the Teen Vogue video also mentions. A hard number of how many stitches are literally in an inch of fabric. In things like silks, and fine fabrics SPI definitely matters. And, just for the record, higher isn't always better, there is such a thing as too high SPI.
But, in denim SPI is pretty uniform. You can see in the photo below that all three brands use the same size thread and stitch density. So, I wouldn't worry too much about SPI. What is more important than SPI that both sources forgot to mention when determining denim quality is how the seams are finished. Are they "flat felled" with a clean finish? Or do they have merrowing made with a serger or overlock machine? The secret is to look inside your jeans. High-quality denim will use a flat felled machine a special machine that not all factories have and have a clean finish.
Brands save money by sewing garments with a regular seam and then finishing the raw edges with merrowing on an overlock machine. Flat felled seams are more expensive because they require special machines and more time-consuming work. Brands have figured out that seams are one of the easiest ways to save money that customers don't seam to realize. Get it, seem, seam to realize. This is the only pair with flat felled clean seams. Personally, I want to love Madewell denim so badly.
They have great quality denim at a great price. But, I have never been able to buy a pair of their jeans without one of the legs twisting. This can happen because sewers receive payment by the piece. So, they rush to get as many pieces done as possible.
Madewell is able to offer high-quality denim at a competitive price point most likely because they save money on their sewing labor costs. When factory workers sew a pair of jeans in a factory they start at one ankle, work their way to the middle then continue to down the second leg to the other ankle.
What happens is that because they are rushing they start to pull the fabric through the machine to try and make it go faster.
As they rush the top layer of fabric goes through the machine slower. By the end, the top and bottom layer are no longer in alignment. The workers then need to stretch the top layer of fabric to meet the bottom. This uneven stretch sewn into the fabric is what causes jeans to twist. And, twisting drives me crazy.
Having jeans that twist is a red flag. It can indicate that your denim came from a factory that does not have a focus on quality or ethics. In the world of zippers - YKK is the gold standard. When you see YKK stamped into your zipper you know you are buying quality. All of the buttons are engraved with the companies name and logo. This means they are not buying generic market buttons - they are sourcing them themselves, hopefully transparently.
Refinery and Teen Vogue both say that finishes like wash and distressing effect price - Not always. As you can see I have selected 1 style with barely any wash, just a light rinse, and 1 style totally faded - both at the same price point. The type of wash is not affecting these garments price points. As you can see I have selected 1 style with barely any finishing and distressing and 1 style with a lot of rips and sanding- each at the same price point.
Distressed or not, each of these brands is able to maintain the same price point. Expert Tip: More washing and distressing actually lowers the quality of the fabric. The heavier the denim, usually the more stable it will be and it will last longer. So looking at these two jeans, this one is actually raw, meaning that it's never hit water. It's never been washed and it will shrink once you do.
This actually has been washed, it's been rinsed only, so it still stays nice and dark. If you look around the seams, you'll see a little halo basically where the indigo is actually chipped off. Oh, I see that. Yeah, so that's a representation that it's been washed and dried. For a pair of jeans that's raw denim, I know there's like the wife's tale of, you know, you can't really wash it, you have to throw it in the freezer.
Denim expert, like, what are the truths behind raw denim? How can you wash them? This jean, you shouldn't wash. You should wear it in as long as you can, so that it breaks into your body. The true denim purists actually don't wash it and they put it in the freezer. So it is true. It is a wife's tale. I hear it doesn't do anything. If you actually get to the washing point, then you would just wash it inside-out on cold and hang dry it, don't put it in the dryer.
For all of those reasons, I'm gonna bet that this is a more expensive jean. Here goes. All right, let's take a look at the other one. I'm gonna guess this one is a little bit more affordable. Let's take a look. Let's see. All right, it's not a bad price. It's pretty much half the price, about. This is kind of, like, your high-end experience. Your purist jean, yes. With all that in mind, let's talk about your jeans. What have you learned? Okay, I feel like I've learned a lot.
The first thing that comes to mind is, ta-dah. Just like that jean. Also, there's no elasticity. I don't have any give in it, so I'm gonna go with raw, no elasticity. From there, I would say the next thing is it's heavy. I feel every step I'm taking. So again, I'm going to zone as opposed to the 80 zone. Looks like it. And then last but not least, just like the wash, there is no gradient of color at the very end.
It looks raw. For all those reasons, I'm gonna go more towards the luxury, high-end side. What do you think? How do you feel? I'm with you. I think so. All right. The big reveal. That is up there, yeah. So I think some of that comes from obviously selvage. A lot of it is the style detail also. And the cuffs. The cuff is reversed. That's probably Japanese denim. No wash, so it's rigid. A nice, heavy weight. I mean, I have both.
The expensive selvage, rigid jeans and then I've got the casual ones that I wear on the weekend. So the first thing that I look at with a boyfriend jean is the overall construction.
A really good way to tell if something is better quality is if you look at actually the stitch detailing. Everyone should have a few pairs of the basics: a good pair of dark wash jeans, a skinny, maybe even a ripped pair, depending on your style. But, it's just as fun to spice up your wardrobe with some more unusual cuts, washes, or patterns.
They offer sizes 23 to I am usually size down a size or two when I shop there, so if you're new to the brand I'd recommend trying on a few sizes in-store to see which you like best. But, regardless of size, I always find their pairs to be comfortable. They wear in well, not showing scuffs or holes for a long time if at all. Another great way to save some money and feel a little better about your shopping trip. Everyone's experience will be different, and maybe the jeans that you feel best in are best for your budget too.
I often like to go for budget pairs myself when I'm choosing trend-driven pieces. Subscribe to our newsletter. You can purchase syndication rights to this story here. Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting.
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