Disenchantment (Consumer)
Call me crazy, but I actually like jeans from the Gap. Or I used to... which is what this post is about.
A number of years ago, the Gap came out with these stretch bootcut jeans that were GREAT. I immediately bought a selection of them. I liked the length (on me, tended to be slightly long, even in regular; but also came in tall). I liked where the waist fell. I had decided that I love bootcut and that all my pants henceforth must be bootcut. (I have always, always loathed tapered-ankle pants. Loathe. The 80s weren't good to me.) And the stretch fabric was fabulous -- reasonably heavy and sturdy-feeling, but with just a little bit of stretchiness for comfort.
A year or so later when I decided that I needed a new pair of sandblast jeans in a slightly-larger size, all this was still true.
A couple of years after that, I branched out, and bought some more jeans from Gap that were more flare than bootcut, a little; that were a bit lower-rise, maybe. In my head I considered those "fashion" jeans, though, not "staple" jeans. So I was willing to put up with the fact that the stretch denim used in them was... a bit thinner, a bit less sturdy-feeling than in my previously-purchased basic, original, bootcuts.
This week, my favorite pair of basic, sandblast Gap bootcut jeans succumbed to an odd split down the seat, largely along the edge of the inner seam of the back pocket. (Odd, because that wasn't where I would have expected them to split.) What's also odd is that -- this was the larger pair I'd gone to get a few years ago, and lately they'd been kind of loose on me and I was just sort of thinking about maybe going to get a pair one size down... ergo, they didn't split because they were so tremendously overstrained. I don't even recall noticing them splitting. It was odd to take them off and find this gaping hole. Also, the "when did that happen, and for how long was I walking around today with my underwear gapingly visible?" thing.
So... fine. Am bummed, because I've now had those jeans for a sufficient number of years that they are The Perfect Softness. You know the kind I mean. But the split is in such a place that it doesn't look like there's a suave way to fix them and just go on with life. So. Go to the Gap to pick up a new pair. And here is where the subject line of this post comes into play.
Look, Gap. I realize you are all trendy and shit. In a way, I appreciate that. But my point is -- fine, debut all the trendy new jeans you like. Sometimes, I may buy them (see above). But DO NOT get rid of the STAPLES, dammit.
The upshot is that I could not, for love or money, find the GOOD kind of stretch bootcut jeans. Two options seem to be left. One is bootcut jeans, non-stretch. And the other is stretch bootcuts, but in the slightly thinner, less sturdy fabric, PLUS not in your basic jeans-color normal old sandblast any more, only in stuff like "whiskered authentic", whatever the hell that means. And maybe that's nice but it's not BASIC, which is what I want. The only classic-jeans-looking sandblast left are the non-stretch kind, which... fine. Fine. I'll go with that. But it's not the saaaaaaaame.
Is it honestly too much to ask of big, stable clothing companies that they carry some basic items, and just KEEP carrying those, in addition to whatever wacky fashionable mutant versions they want to carry in any given year?
This is, of course, I rant I have always made regarding hair-care and skin-care products. It's the same principle. I want what I want, dammit. I worked hard to find the thing that works for me. I don't want to have to do all the legwork to reinvent the wheel every couple of years. *grump*
A number of years ago, the Gap came out with these stretch bootcut jeans that were GREAT. I immediately bought a selection of them. I liked the length (on me, tended to be slightly long, even in regular; but also came in tall). I liked where the waist fell. I had decided that I love bootcut and that all my pants henceforth must be bootcut. (I have always, always loathed tapered-ankle pants. Loathe. The 80s weren't good to me.) And the stretch fabric was fabulous -- reasonably heavy and sturdy-feeling, but with just a little bit of stretchiness for comfort.
A year or so later when I decided that I needed a new pair of sandblast jeans in a slightly-larger size, all this was still true.
A couple of years after that, I branched out, and bought some more jeans from Gap that were more flare than bootcut, a little; that were a bit lower-rise, maybe. In my head I considered those "fashion" jeans, though, not "staple" jeans. So I was willing to put up with the fact that the stretch denim used in them was... a bit thinner, a bit less sturdy-feeling than in my previously-purchased basic, original, bootcuts.
This week, my favorite pair of basic, sandblast Gap bootcut jeans succumbed to an odd split down the seat, largely along the edge of the inner seam of the back pocket. (Odd, because that wasn't where I would have expected them to split.) What's also odd is that -- this was the larger pair I'd gone to get a few years ago, and lately they'd been kind of loose on me and I was just sort of thinking about maybe going to get a pair one size down... ergo, they didn't split because they were so tremendously overstrained. I don't even recall noticing them splitting. It was odd to take them off and find this gaping hole. Also, the "when did that happen, and for how long was I walking around today with my underwear gapingly visible?" thing.
So... fine. Am bummed, because I've now had those jeans for a sufficient number of years that they are The Perfect Softness. You know the kind I mean. But the split is in such a place that it doesn't look like there's a suave way to fix them and just go on with life. So. Go to the Gap to pick up a new pair. And here is where the subject line of this post comes into play.
Look, Gap. I realize you are all trendy and shit. In a way, I appreciate that. But my point is -- fine, debut all the trendy new jeans you like. Sometimes, I may buy them (see above). But DO NOT get rid of the STAPLES, dammit.
The upshot is that I could not, for love or money, find the GOOD kind of stretch bootcut jeans. Two options seem to be left. One is bootcut jeans, non-stretch. And the other is stretch bootcuts, but in the slightly thinner, less sturdy fabric, PLUS not in your basic jeans-color normal old sandblast any more, only in stuff like "whiskered authentic", whatever the hell that means. And maybe that's nice but it's not BASIC, which is what I want. The only classic-jeans-looking sandblast left are the non-stretch kind, which... fine. Fine. I'll go with that. But it's not the saaaaaaaame.
Is it honestly too much to ask of big, stable clothing companies that they carry some basic items, and just KEEP carrying those, in addition to whatever wacky fashionable mutant versions they want to carry in any given year?
This is, of course, I rant I have always made regarding hair-care and skin-care products. It's the same principle. I want what I want, dammit. I worked hard to find the thing that works for me. I don't want to have to do all the legwork to reinvent the wheel every couple of years. *grump*