Blue jeans are California’s foremost
contribution to world fashion. Some
question whether San Francisco’s Levi Strauss was the first person to make
clothing from denim. It is beyond dispute,
however, that his Levi Straus & Company was the first mass-producer of blue
jeans.
Today, Californians continue to
design and manufacture some of the world’s best jeans. Sadly, Levi’s jeans are have succumbed to the
maladies that brand success brings – ever-poorer-quality products spawned by
ever-shoddier workmanship and inferior materials. But a host of stellar Californian denim
designers have stepped into the resulting void, including the following.

Citizens of Humanity: LA-based Citizens
of Humanity makes well-cut, well-stitched jeans for urban wear. I
have found them to be an ephemeral pleasure -- the fabric is
manufactured to drape right, not to last. For the year or two
that I can wear them, however, COH jeans look and feel like they were made
just for me.
7
For All Mankind: Los Angeles-based 7 For All Mankind makes
the jeans that Hollywood stars are wearing in paparazzi photographs. They don't sell selvage, so I no longer buy their jeans. But I used to wear 7FAM quite a bit -- their denim is comfortable, and their cuts are slim.
AG Jeans: Los Angeles-based AG Jeans is a designer-jeans maker that's bending over backwards to cater to folks -- like myself -- who want to believe that some of the $180 that they're spending on a pair of jeans is going to making the world a better place. I do not own any AG Jeans -- I'm still far from buying all of the Brave Star jeans that I want. But my wife's worn AG Jeans for years. They look good on her, and they've held up well.
Chrome: When I lived in the real Bay Area (i.e., the Bay Area in which you can see the Golden Gate and/or Bay Bridge with minimal effort), Chrome was the most ubiquitous brand of messenger bags and backpacks. Now, they've expanded their line to include everything a bike-messenger-type urbanite needs for day-to-day living, including jeans.
AG Jeans: Los Angeles-based AG Jeans is a designer-jeans maker that's bending over backwards to cater to folks -- like myself -- who want to believe that some of the $180 that they're spending on a pair of jeans is going to making the world a better place. I do not own any AG Jeans -- I'm still far from buying all of the Brave Star jeans that I want. But my wife's worn AG Jeans for years. They look good on her, and they've held up well.
Chrome: When I lived in the real Bay Area (i.e., the Bay Area in which you can see the Golden Gate and/or Bay Bridge with minimal effort), Chrome was the most ubiquitous brand of messenger bags and backpacks. Now, they've expanded their line to include everything a bike-messenger-type urbanite needs for day-to-day living, including jeans.
Patagonia: With Ventura-based Patagonia, you
get what you pay for. What you pay is a
lot. What you get is exactly what you
want. Patagonia’s gear and clothing
looks great, it works perfectly, and it is manufactured as ethically and
sustainably as reasonably possible. I do not yet own Patagonia
jeans. But I do own a broad cross-section
Patagonia clothing and gear, all of which may very well last me forever.
Mountain Hardwear: Richmond-based Mountain Hardware
has been my go-to supplier for camping-and-backpacking clothing and gear for
more than a decade. They also make
jeans, which probably are of high quality, and which look nice, in an
a-backpacking-company-made-this sort of way.
Volcom: Orange County-based Volcom is a
one-stop shop for skater/surfer/snowboarder fashion, from jeans to board shorts
to two-piece suits. Because they target
skaters – who shred clothes quickly, no matter how high quality – I did not
expect Volcom to put much effort into the second-thing-to-go elements of
clothing construction. After all, why
double-stitch a garment that’s going to be rags within weeks regardless? But I was pleasantly surprised. A few years back, I bought a Volcom
button-up. It was a good purchase. The
shirt had a clean silhouette, but with slightly skewed seams that bent people’s
eyes just enough to prevent them from looking past me. And – because I do not lead a
tear-through-fabric lifestyle – it lasted for years.
DSTLD: Los Angeles-based DSTLD is an online-only, direct-to-consumer designer and seller of jeans.
American Apparel: So here's the thing about Los Angeles-based AA: It's well made, and it looks great on the people who it looks great on. For everyone else, AA seems designed specifically to highlight the ways in which it does not look great on them. Don't know which category you fall into? Well, the folks around you do. Ask someone you trust if you're one of the people who AA designs its clothes to fit. If the answer is yes, then lucky you -- you have a one-stop shop for relatively inexpensive, ethically manufactured, long-lasting basics. If the answer is no, walk away from this brand forever.
DSTLD: Los Angeles-based DSTLD is an online-only, direct-to-consumer designer and seller of jeans.
American Apparel: So here's the thing about Los Angeles-based AA: It's well made, and it looks great on the people who it looks great on. For everyone else, AA seems designed specifically to highlight the ways in which it does not look great on them. Don't know which category you fall into? Well, the folks around you do. Ask someone you trust if you're one of the people who AA designs its clothes to fit. If the answer is yes, then lucky you -- you have a one-stop shop for relatively inexpensive, ethically manufactured, long-lasting basics. If the answer is no, walk away from this brand forever.
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