Heartbreak comes in many forms, but losing a good pair of jeans? That's the stuff of true tragedy. It starts with a torn belt loop or a tiny breach in the inseam. But pretty soon, you've blown out a knee or lost a crucial button. And before you've steeled yourself against that most lamentable of fashion fatalities, you find yourself face to face with the ultimate death knell of denim — the hole in the crotch.
For 19-year-old Kristin Bogush, it was death by Swarov-ski, when the coveted crystals on the back pocket of her designer jeans began to fall off, one brand-name fleck at a time.
"They were really cute, so I was kind of bummed," Bogush says sadly. "I totally loved them."
It's hard to love and lose, especially when it comes to that bond between a proverbial Brooke Shields and her proverbial Calvins. But there was something about these particular losses that hit Bogush a little, ahem, below the belt.
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The pair had cost her close to $200. And she had owned them for less than two months.
For all its magical derrière-flattering properties, it would seem that the Achilles' heel of premium denim is that it sometimes lacks the one quality upon which jeans have staked their legacy — durability.
The premium-denim market has been going strong for years, ever since the fashion-sense- endowed discovered the superior fit, the drool-worthy distressing and the hint of exclusivity that comes with whatever's scrawled across the back pocket. Jeans lovers had found paradise, and it cost $179, plus tailoring.
"If you just try it, you'll know why," says Lisa Watrous, manager of the Sacramento boutique Dara Denim. "It's kind of like diamonds. Once you get a diamond, you want another one."
It's true that denim has traveled a long way from its steer-wranglin' days. But if we're still dealing with the same basic fabric and the same basic idea, why so many broken hearts and belt loops?
Retail and apparel industry analyst Jennifer Black is willing to take a guess.
"If they're too tight and they've got any distressed places on them, they're going to be ripping and falling apart," she says from her office in Lake Oswego, Ore.
Indeed, consider what went into creating a perfectly distressed pair sold at Sacramento boutique Barby K. In order to secure their omigod-these-are-so-cute status, the three-digit jeans had to be dry-aged, cured, brushed, painted, exposed to natural sunlight and oxidized in a vacuum chamber.
"There's a huge process involved," says owner Barby Vasilj.
Shawna Keilholz, owner of Class Act Resale Boutique in Tucson, agreed that a combination of distressing and constant wear can take a toll. However, it's not impossible to find gently used pairs at a resale bargain. As of Thursday, she had two pairs of 7 For All Mankind, in addition to several other premium jeans.
Tucsonan Michelle Garrard's favorite pair of Citizens of Humanity have held up well since she bought them two or three years ago — and came by their distressed look the old-fashioned way.
"When I fell, there's a big hole in the knee. Then, I accidentally spilled bleach. I think that makes them cooler. It shows I didn't just go out and buy ripped jeans," the 25-year-old says. "They've been with me, and they tell a story. They look good, and I want to keep them."
Ivy Knipe, 24, figures she's worn her People 4 Peace jeans twice a week since she bought them about two years ago for about $230. They've held up better than the Joe's Jeans she paid $150 for about a year and a half ago (and also wears twice a week). She attributes the difference in durability to the denim — the Joe's Jeans are lighter and more comfortable, but now have a hole in the knee, and the inseam is starting to wear.
To prolong the life spans of her jeans, Knipe, who works at Zoe Boutique in Tucson and is an aspiring writer and dedicated fashionista, refrains from throwing them in the wash after each wearing. "I'm the kind of girl that wears dirty jeans," she laughed.
Vasilj of Barby K offered the same advice for special care: Wash them sparingly and eschew the dryer. When it comes to getting that longer-lasting pair, she also suggests looking for a certain amount of stretch in the fabric, making sure you can move comfortably.
Bottom line, she says, if you buy jeans with that perfect little hole in the thigh, you need to remember that the hole is probably going to get bigger.
"They're cotton at the end of the day," she says. "No matter how much money you pay, jeans are meant to distress in some form or another."
● Ivy Knipe, a 24-year-old student who works at Zoe Boutique, modeled her worn-in designer jeans for us.
What kind of jeans: People 4 Peace (pictured above, left)
She's had them: Two years
She wears them, on average: Twice a week
Cost: About $230
What kind of jeans: Joe's Jeans (pictured above, right)
She's had them: About a year and a half
She wears them, on average: Twice a week
Cost: $150
