Dungarees

Last year, I bought some new dungarees. I wanted them to last a long time...and they might have, were it not for an accidental run in the dryer, taking four inches off the waist, and bringing the hems up to mid ankle...oops.

So I needed some new jeans. I don't wear jeans as often as I used to, when they were the absolute only trews youd find me wearing. But I do wear them often enough, especially in Winter, that I missed them when they were gone.

I like my jeans dark, rigid, and classically cut. I have no time for fashionable brands or trendy washes. As far as I'm concerned there are now and have only ever been three brands: Levi's, Lee and Wrangler. My last batch were Levi's, Lee jumped the shark along time ago, and my recent batch are Wrangler's.

You know, the old fashioned kind with the big "W" on the back pockets. Note the rivets on those pockets, a nice little detail that Levi's lacks.

True I prefer a button fly, but I can live with a zipper. After just a small bit of looking, I found these on sale for $20.99 a pair at Shepler's, a Kansas based reatiler of western wear, real cowboy stuff. In my last post about jeans, I said they should be porchased in a store that also sells power tools. Alternatively, you can get them from a plce that sells official Pro Rodeo gear.

In fact, these are Pro Rodeo gear. Can you believe this tag on the pocket? The cowboy painting leaves me speechless, and the multiple 1970's era fonts are pretty cool too. Makes me feel like I got some real jeans, somehow.

Being an East Coast-er, I prefer my jeans with tweed and sweaters.

Worn with a vintage brown check tweed jacket, striped tie with embroidered ducks, brand new Land's End blue oxford (not a bad roll on that collar, is it?), and a cheap brown cotton v-neck from (gasp!) Old Navy. (C'mon, one cheap commodity every now and again won't kill you.)

And I've always been a sucker for crisp dark jeans with shiny brown dress shoes. They ain't half bad with Bean boots, either.

I know that APC is a really hot brand right now. I've seen those jeans, I have friends who own them. They really are nice, but they also cost about $150. For jeans? That's plain foolish. Besides, thier website only offers jeans up to a 31 inch waist. I know, they are available larger, but seriously, 31 inches? These jeans are cut the same, from similar rigid denim produced in the U.S.A. The first time I wore them, someone (who knows) even asked if they were APC. He was shocked when I said they were Wrangler. The only two slight differences I can really find is that these have a zipper fly, and lack selvedge at the seam...minor details, in my book.

Jeans are inherently American. APC's are French. These Wranglers are made of American cloth, but assembled in Mexico. That's less than pefect, I know, but when you consider the fact that Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California are full of Mexicans wearing these very jeans to work on ranches and farms, it helps take a bit of the sting off. Or something. I'd love to buy exclusively U.S. products, with the occasional British or Italian piece, but until we get rid of big box retailers, who push small business out of the way, and start making things that are available to all of us, not just rich single people with no kids, I'm going to have to settle for what I can get. It's either not or walk around naked sometimes.

Conclusion: these jeans are great. At $20.99, on sale, they were a deal, but full reatil is only $24.99, still a bargain. And Shepler's is a fun site, plus they shipped to my house in less than a week. Highly recommended.