Blue Jeans

I’ve needed some new blue jeans for about a year now, but I just haven’t had the time to go shopping for them. Two of my four pairs of jeans have shrunk enough in the length to start to be embarrassingly short. So I took an hour to go try on some jeans.

I’ve worn Levi’s jeans all my life. I don’t think I have ever worn any other brand name jeans. I’m the kind of guy who sticks with what works; Levi’s have always held up well for me, and when I need a new pair, I can just get the same type and size as my old pairs.

My old pairs were size 34, but they were too short, and getting a little too small. I blame the smallness on shrinkage of the jeans, but Cowgrit suggests it might me enlargement of the wearer. I wore size 32 waist in high school, and I was skinny then. I like to think I’ve just “grown up” a little since. Two sizes bigger is not too bad for 20 years of aging.

So I went into a few stores to look for Levi’s jeans. At first, I stood staring at the shelves of jeans for several minutes, in shock at the 439 different styles. Come on! They’re blue jeans. How many different styles do people need? But, of course, out of all the choices, I couldn’t find the style that I’ve been wearing. I ended up having to try on six or eight pairs to find the new style and size that fit comfortably.

The size I need is 35. The 34s are just a little too tight for comfort, and the 36s are just a little too loose for comfort. But to add annoyance to confusion, it turns out there is no size 35 in Levi’s jeans. The sizes go: 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 38. . . . Why do they start skipping after size 34? It’s like they said, “If you’re over 30 years old, you only grow in two inch spurts.”

So I had to settle for size 36 jeans, and just wear a belt. I’m conflicted now: if I work to loose an inch off my waist, the jeans will fit worse, but if I eat more and become a couch potato, I can “grow” into them. Hmm. One way requires attention and work, the other way is easier.

I looked around for more size 36 jeans in the style I liked. I like having several jeans of the same style and color. On a day I’m going to wear jeans, I want to be able to pull out the pants and pull out a shirt without having to think about whether they match or not. I don’t usually have black jeans, or white jeans, or anything other than basic blue jeans. Blue jeans go with anything. And I can usually tell the age of my jeans by noting how light the blue is: dark blue means new, light blue means old.

But, of course, blue jeans don’t just come in a standard blue. There’s dark blue, medium blue, light blue, dirty blue, and gray blue. And unfortunately, most of the size 36 jeans were sold out. I ended up with three different colors of the style. I got medium blue, light blue, and gray blue. The dirty blue just looked, well dirty. They looked like they should smell bad, so I avoided them.

Anyway, I have three more pairs of jeans, now. I’m going to throw out my too-small pairs, and I’ll try to get over my color matching phobia. Maybe these variations of blue will still work with most any shirts.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com