The Arbolog |

A while back I was whining about my jeans, how they didn’t fit, and what brands I’d tried. In the comments, I mentioned I had bought a pair of Riders by Lee, pushed on TV by the fantastic Ms. Stacey London, and I said that I really didn’t like their fit. I thought they pulled in the wrong places and just weren’t for me.

About a week later, a representative from Riders by Lee contacted me. Through the magic of the internet, she had found my blog, and read my post about jeans, and then read the comments where I mentioned the brand. She asked if she could send me two pairs of jeans, because Riders by Lee was just so confident that they could fit any woman with a good pair of jeans for a retail price of less than $20.

“Hey, I’m game,” I thought. “But don’t expect me to write about how awesome they are just because you sent me free jeans. I gave her my measurements, my wish list, and told her what I didn’t like about the pair I bought.

I bought a pair of Riders by Lee about a month ago. They are a 12 Petite and the inseam is good. They are a nice dark denim which I like. The first few wears were great – but here is my complaint: the zipper flap stretches out rather than the tummy panel slimming me so you can see the zipper and I constantly get asked if my zipper is low. I think this is one of those situations where the fabric is going to pull where there is the least resistance, and in this case, that’s the fabric of the zipper flap. I’m not sure if this is an indicator that I need to go up to a size 14 or not, but I tried on a 14 and the waist was swimming on me and gaped badly at the back, so I stuck with the 12. I tend to muffin top out of these (and other) jeans as well – but that’s likely a “Jen’s body construction” issue rather than a “garment construction issue” because that happens on most pants…

The representative sent me two pairs of jeans – one a dark wash in a 11/12 medium length, and the other a super light wash in a “slender stretch” fit, in a size 12 petite.

Here’s me in a regular pair of jeans I just happened to be wearing:

Regular Joe-Schmoe Jeans

Here’s me in the light wash slender stretch jeans:

Light Wash Slender Stretch

And finally, here’s me in the dark wash jeans:

Dark Wash Bootcut

The short review? If I could amalgamate the features of these two pairs of jeans into one super pair, I might be on the road to jean bliss. I feel like I’m close. Super close.

Both pairs retail for $19.95 at most mass retailers like Wal-mart and K-mart (and try Zellers, too),  feature a slightly wider waistband, and are a “medium rise”. Both are touted as a bootcut although the lighter pair feels more skinny than that. Both are a pretty standard 5 pocket jean design, nothing fancy, no crazy bling on the butt or anything. The leg length of the lighter pair is perfect for me, but I prefer the cut of the dark pair to the “slender stretch” lighter pair. To make them both perfect I need to: dye the lighter pair something darker – black maybe – and get the darker pair hemmed (which I’d normally do myself but my sewing machine is in storage while we try and sell our house).

I muffin top out of both pairs, but I’ve come to the realization that no jean is going to make up for the fact that I need to get off my butt and start doing some serious cardio. Sure, the right cut of jeans can make a huge difference to hide things like c-section scars (and the question mark that is my belly) and they can sure accent features that are still pretty decent, like bottoms, and help make your legs look longer, but absolutely no pair of jeans is going to solve the dilemma of too much jiggly skin to fit in the clothing.

I like them, I think the retail price is decent, and quite honestly, any jean company that is so confident they can fit “anyone” that they will track down little old me and send me two pairs impresses me. I’ll probably buy another pair of these again. And that, my friends, says a lot.

Next up on the quest to find Jen’s Perfect Jeans: the $110 pair of custom trouser jeans I’ve paid to have made. I want to know – are $20 jeans as good a fit as a custom pair can be, AND, is it worth waiting 4 weeks? I should receive them in two weeks or so.