Patched! ‘I’ve tried but no jeans work for my body - please help’
Patched helps with the dilemma of uncomfortable, fraying, unsustainable jeans. With an expert mending and style advisor. Enough of trying to fit in a broken fashion system!
Hello and welcome to Patched.
Patched is a members-only series where people can ask me a fashion (or fashion-adjacent) question that's bothering them, and I will reply with a short letter from an anti-capitalist perspective.
Got a question? Email me: DearPatched@proton.me
The title Patched is a reminder that at this critical time we need repair and regeneration as well as analysis. I will keep unpicking and unravelling the fashion industry but Patched makes space to explore mending - finding solutions to both personal and structural problems.
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Body, planet, denim jeans…
Dear Patched,
I'm writing in my biggest struggle and frustration: Jeans!
Over the years I've struggled with weight fluctuation, weight gain, body image issues and I feel like I'm finally in a place where I'm less harsh to my poor body and let it do what it needs to do.
The problem is my thighs destroy jeans. I've done patching, mending and re-enforcement but I cannot get a pair of jeans to last over 12 months. I've paid good money for relatively sustainable jeans, I've scoured the charity shops for high-street pairs, I've bought supposedly more durable vintage heavier denim. Yet all these approaches come with their own issues.
The charity shop high-street jeans barely last months and I feel like I'm constantly producing waste. The vintage jeans often don't fit properly because my unique, and wonderful in its own right, body doesn't look great in the boxy shapes they come in so I don't wear them. It's the elastic that make jeans fit me, but it also makes them un-recyclable. The expensive sustainable jeans are usually great but not much more durable and I can't afford to replace them every 12 months.
Should I rethink my style and give up on jeans? Wear more dresses? Experiment till I find something that feels more gentle to people and planet?
I feel really stuck. Thanks for reading my rant.
Yours, Wendy.
Dear Wendy,
You have summed up the disappointment of jeans so well. And thank you for doing so because these honest conversations are so important for understanding the painful nature of trying to conform to a broken fashion system.
Since you have already tried so many solutions, I thought an expert witness was in order. I reached out to Sarah Klymkiw - who I first met many years ago in a repair cafe - she is a clothing repair aficionado and author of the superb book Fashion Conscious.
Sarah wrote back to say: “I empathise with the writer of this letter as someone who has been on a similar journey with body and jeans. I haven’t worn jeans for most of my adult life and I don’t miss them in my wardrobe at all.”
According to Sarah, the crotch and thighs of jeans are “a common mend” and while patching will extend the use of the garment it will not prevent the wear from happening again.
I love this quote from Sarah which I hope will take some of the stress out of how you are feeling: “All clothes wear through love and use, particularly in areas of friction such as the crotch, knees and pockets. It's unavoidable.”
Sarah says it is less about the durability of the fabric and more about how the garment is used and how often it is worn. If you wear one pair of jeans daily, or wear them occasionally but for walking or cycling, then they will quickly wear through.
Sarah suggested the possibility of having a pair of vintage heavy-weight denim jeans altered by a tailor to get the shape and fit that you want. She also emphasised that rotation of garments is key to longevity. If you find a pair of jeans you really like, can you make a pledge to rotate them – just wear them once a week, or for special occasions?
It occurred to me that if you find a pair that fit in a charity shop, you’ll likely find the style name as well as the brand and size on the label and can track down an identical second-hand pair online to help with rotation. This won’t solve the long term issue though - jeans will keep being frustrating.
There was also a reminder from Sarah to patch as much as you want to, but then reuse the denim by transforming it for a creative project or cut it into squares and to put in your mending bag for the next time you need to mend something.
Now we come to the question: To ditch or not to ditch?
On the question of whether to give them up altogether, here are some wise words from Sarah which I hope will bring both comfort and food for thought:
“If the issue with jeans, or other legged garments for that matter, poses a threat to the work a person has done to finally feel confident in their body and in accepting of how unique and beautiful they are in their own individual way, then I would suggest abandoning finding the perfect pair of jeans (if in fact these even exist) and focusing on experimenting with wearing clothes that continue to build on that feeling of being fabulous in their body.”
I think Sarah is absolutely right. Our bodies need compassion and love as they work every second to keep us alive and carry us through the world. Sometimes to be compassionate we have to listen to the lesson that years of wrestling so hard with jeans is telling us: 1) Capitalism has truly made clothing systems both stupid and painful; 2) That’s not our fault.
It seems like you have a hard fought, but exciting and powerful, opportunity to choose love over jeans.
All my solidarity, Tansy.
50% OFF:
Thank you to everyone who has supported my work by buying stickers. I am now doing a 50% off sale for stickers and postcards to hopefully help more people ditch Black Friday and embrace pride in second-hand and homemade gifts instead. Use the code WINTER24 at the checkout.
Please feel free to forward the checkout discount code to your pals: WINTER24
I have also added Foot Work to my store, AND a signed book bundle of The Anti-Capitalist Book Of Fashion and Foot Work for £20.
And finally: I have joined Bluesky. Please come say hi 👋
See you next time for an important and exclusive guest post.