Friday, May 12, 2006

Custom Jeans - Frugal or Foolish?

Have any of you women out there ever tried to order custom pants? If yes, did you have a positive or negative experience? I know that men do it all the time, but I'm more interested in seeing if any women have done it.

I'm actually thinking about ordering a pair of custom denim jeans from Lands' End. It seems like a fairly straight forward process. You choose from a variety of styles and colors. Click on your body type, enter some measurements, tell them whether you have a full, average or flat tummy, posterior or thighs. And voila! You'll get your new, custom jeans in the mail in 3 to 4 weeks.

There's also a money back guarantee:

If the fit isn't "just so" the first time around, you can nip and tuck your profile accordingly and re-order a new item. We save all your information, so you can fill your order with just a few keystrokes. And, if your Lands' End Custom garment is anything less than perfect, you may exchange it, or return it and we'll reimburse you for the purchase price. Lands' End Custom is Guaranteed. Period.

And surprisingly, they're pretty reasonably priced at $54. That's a bargain when you think about what it usually costs (in terms of both time and money) to buy a decent pair of jeans. For all you men out there who don't know what I'm talking about, check out the hilarious diagram that Financial Freedumb posted last week. It totally captures my typical jean buying experience. A few years back, my friend and I spent over 3 hours at the Gap store on Michigan Ave. We were bound and determined to find a flattering pair of jeans that actually fit. I think we must've tried on at least 40 pairs of jeans in all different types of styles, sizes and colors. I wound up paying $48 for a pair of jeans that fit me fairly well. But I promptly ruined them the second time I wore them. Someone spilled hot coffee all over me, and I couldn't get the stain out. Oh well. They were button fly and a total pain to get on and off, so I didn't bother to replace them.

So, what do you think? Are custom jeans are frugal or foolish? Should I order these jeans?

3 comments:

Jose Anes said...

Ohh, I am a man and I understand the situation.
I like well fitting clothes (not as well as a woman, however).

I buy custom clothing when I do not find well fitting ones off the rack.

It is very common not to find well fitting clothing. Clothes are ussually made for wider people than my skinny build.

Money And Investing

Peachy said...

I use to buy men's jeans, because women's were never long enough with a small enough waist. But I found out men don't have a butt...so I went back to womens. Honestly I really like Victoria's Secret for jeans.

As for frugal or foolish...frugal if you wear them day in and day out.

Rebecca said...

I don't think the price is bad for a pair of new jeans, but I am usually able to find jeans at the thrift store (often for $1). The benefit to thrifting (or in-person consignment store shopping) is that you can try on jeans from more sources at once and they are usually already shrunk.

Should you choose to order the custom, I'd be interested to know if you end up happy with the fit.