How To Buy Men's Jeans That Actually Fit
Feb 10, 2013, 22:52 IST
Novita Estiti on FlickrFinding the right jeans is imperative to personal style. Antonio Centeno at Real Men Real Style recently put together a YouTube tutorial on how men can find the perfect pair of jeans. His first and most important tip? Watch out for vanity sizing. "I wear a size 32, does that mean I have a 32-inch waist?" Centeno asks. "No, that's vanity sizing and it means I have a 34 to 34.5 inch waist. It throws a wrench in everything." Vanity sizing refers to when companies label sizes smaller than they are so that customers will feel thin and buy them. While the trend started in women's sizing (a size 2 today is really closer to a size 6), it's trickled over to men's apparel, Centeno says. It also means that different brands could have very different fits. Pay attention to the rise of the jeans. The rise is the distance from the bottom of the crotch to the button. Centeno says that most men should stay away from jeans labeled "low-rise" because they make their legs seem shorter. "For most of us, especially men over the age of 30, low-rise is not a good idea," Centeno says. "What you want to go toward is more of a classic fit." Make sure the inseam is long enough. The inseam is the second number on the size of the jeans. Centeno says most men need to go higher than 32 inches. The last thing you want is buying jeans that are too short. "You can always get your jeans hemmed if they're too long," Centeno says. Finally, pay attention to the bottom of the pants. Jeans usually come in straight-leg, tapered or boot-cut varieties. Straight-leg works best for most men, Centeno says. Tapered jeans have a skinny fit that don't look good with most shoes, while boot-cut jeans flair out and look like "they're from the 1970's," Centeno says. Here's his video: