This post is from 2017 and it still rings true. If anything, jeans have gotten even more comfy. Today I’m wearing pullup stretch jeans with fleece lining — comfortable and warm. I no longer have any jeans that don’t have stretch and most don’t have zippers. I remember my teen jeans, tight but very cool!

Mom would never let me out of the house in these!

Jeans! How they’ve changed over the years!

I wear them a lot in the fall/winter. I wore them when I was a kid too only we called them dungarees. They were different.

I remember getting a new pair when I was a teenager (probably from Sears). They were stiff as a board. The snap poked your belly and you had to inhale to zip. It would take a year of washings to get comfortable.

Some of this may have been because of my genes (the other kind that goes with chromosomes). My predominant gene at the time was lust, mating or just looking hot. Looking hot takes a toll. It’s hard work and not at all comfortable.

The beat-up jean craze came about because they are so much more comfortable. If you can buy them already “broken in,” so much better (as long as they still were snug enough to strut your stuff).

Over the years manufacturers started adding a little stretch. First it was in the waistband. (No I’m not talking elastic waist Mom jeans!) Then a little here and there.

They became more comfortable. They came out in a sort of knit denim. Just like pajamas! I have a collection of jeans from skinny leg to boot cut, from more stretchy to less stretchy. Then I have a pair or two of the old style.

Thick, sturdy. You can muck a horse stall with them. They wear like iron but there is no give. They are not forgiving of a big lunch. Forget the French fries!

Damn things never wear out. Ever. Your only hope is that they shrink and get too short. Wearing any pants that are too short is not cool. (Gotta be cool!)

I grabbed a pair of those this past week. After wearing my “knit” denim for the last few weeks, they felt like Spanx. (For the record, I don’t have any Spanx so I’m not sure how they feel. I can’t stand the constriction. In addition to losing my “I want to be hot” genes, I seem to have acquired “I don’t care” genes!)

Still…I wore them all day. (I kept checking for horse stalls to muck and pigs to feed.) Then they went into the laundry with a note to self to put in the donate pile.

They are very cool looking. Some young girl whose “I want to be hot” genes are still trumping her “I gotta be comfy” genes will appreciate them. As for me, I’m back to my soft limp ones that don’t pinch, poke or chafe. And the French fries!

I wonder what the age is for trading out jeans and genes.