Jeans

Skinny, straight, mom and wide-leg jeans:

the difference lies in how the leg falls from the knee down and how high the waistband sits. A skinny follows the leg to the ankle. A straight leg drops in one line from the hip. The mom jean takes that straight leg, raises the waist to the navel and leaves room through the seat, which is why it sits best with a tucked or cropped top. Wide-leg and flare jeans open out from the thigh or the knee and only look right when the hem just clears the floor in the shoes you will wear, so buy them long. If you are expecting, jeans with an elastic panel over the bump are under maternity wear, and denim minis and midis are with the skirts.

Colombian butt-lift jeans and the size they really are:

Guatemala is one of the bigger export markets for Colombian denim, and its butt-lifting cut has a following of its own. It is built differently from an American jean: a high waist, a lot of elastane, a curved seam across the back that lifts the seat, and either wide back pockets or none at all. Some add a shaping band inside the waistband, a built-in girdle that holds the stomach in. Colombian labels such as Kabuky and B’Violet number their sizes from 6 to 16, and a Colombian 8 fits roughly like a US 3 or 4, not a US 8. Go by waist and hip, and expect the pair to look a size too small on the hanger. That construction is what the price pays for. An everyday skinny or flare from a mall chain sits around Q200 to Q250 new, while an original Colombian pair runs about Q450 to Q600. The premium lives in the stretch and the shaping, so a used Colombian pair is worth close to its new price only while the fabric still snaps back; once the seat has bagged, it is just another pair of jeans. Pairs sold as Colombian-style and made elsewhere cost far less, and a genuine one carries a label saying it was made in Colombia and the brand’s own tags inside.

Inner thighs, elastane and the Levi’s red tab:

a used pair shows its age in the same places every time. Turn it inside out and look at the crotch and inner thighs, where rubbing thins the denim until it splits; a patch there rarely lasts. All-cotton rigid denim stiffens and then lasts for years; stretch denim is comfortable from day one, and its elastane is the first thing to go. Pull a section gently and hold it to the light. Small white threads poking out of the weave, or knees and seat that stay baggy after you let go, mean the elastane has failed and will not come back. Ask, too, whether the hem has been taken up. On Levi’s, a brand that gets copied often, the red tab sits on the right back pocket, the double-arc stitching runs across both back pockets and the waist button is stamped with the name. A plain button or a tab on the wrong side gives a copy away.

The measurements a buyer needs from your jeans:

lay them out buttoned and measure the waist straight across, the hip, the front rise and the inseam, in centimetres. Give the size exactly as the label prints it and say which system it is, because a 10 means something different on a Colombian pair than on an American one. Photograph the front, the back pockets worn if you can, the size label and the inner thighs, and say how much stretch the denim has and whether the hem has been shortened. A buyer travelling in from Jutiapa or San Marcos cannot try a butt-lifting pair on before she sets out, so the hip measurement and a photo of the seat are what decide whether she makes the trip.