Lifestyle

Is It All in the Jeans?

For $600, you could purchase three mini iPods, pay for a month’s rent outside of Manhattan, or buy a round trip ticket to Paris and have money left over. For an extra $35, you could buy a pair of jeans.

These $635 jeans, sold at Atrium at 644 Broadway in New York City, are from the Japanese designer denim line called Evisu. Because Evisu jeans are often issued in limited quantities, they have developed a cult following, becoming a collector’s item worldwide. Yuki Hayashi, 25, an assistant manager at Atrium, attributed the high cost to higher quality. “The material is good — they use high-quality Japanese denim,” she said.

Fashionistas now spend as much on their denim as on their Manolos as jeans become the acceptable attire of choice at an increasing number of places, from offices to evenings out to formal events. “Designer jeans are practical and stylish now that people wear jeans everywhere. You don’t just wear them to work outdoors anymore,” said Rebecca Lipstock, 22, the merchandise editor at “Marie Claire” magazine.

Along with Evisu, there are a myriad of designer denim brands to choose from: Citizens of Humanity, Earnest Sewn, Rock and Republic, Habitual, Diesel, Blue Cult, Salt, Paper Denim and Cloth, Seven for All Mankind and more, with prices ranging from $100 to well over $200. What separates these pricey jeans from any pair you could buy at the Gap?

“The more details jeans have, the more expensive they are. Hand-washed denim is also really expensive,” Hayashi said. For example, all Evisu jeans are made from vintage denim on old-fashioned shuttle looms and special sewing machines that are no longer produced. It is details and materials such as these that drive up the cost to “many times the price of normal jeans,” according to the Evisu Web site.

Lipstock agreed that superior denim quality along with improved fit and cut contributed to increased prices. “Designer denim brands fit better than less expensive ones — it’s really the way they are cut,” she said. “A lot of them fit more like a pair of pants. And the stretch they have in the jeans really fit a woman’s body.”

Consumers seem more than willing to shell out big money in the never-ending quest for the perfect pair of jeans. Laura Schlueter, 23, who was shopping at Atrium recently, said she would spend $180 on jeans. “I’d pay that much for the style and if they fit well,” she explained, while thumbing through stacks of jeans.

Hayashi said she would spend up to $300 for a great pair of jeans. Lorraine Bruno, a salesperson at the Urban Outfitters store in SoHo, voiced a similar opinion. “I’d pay $100 to $130 if I really liked them,” she said.

At Canal Jean Company at 718 Broadway, prices for denim top out at around $120 for a pair of Buffalo jeans. “The expensive jeans do sell, but not as much as the lower-priced ones because people are still looking for a bargain,” said Louis Davila, 40, a salesperson at Canal.

But even bargain hunters are likely to splurge on a pair of designer jeans nowadays. “When the really expensive brands like Sevens first came out, only a few people had them. But now everyone wears designer denim, and there’s much more of a demand,” said Lipstock, who confessed to owning 10 pairs of Seven for All Mankind jeans.

Men are also warming to the trend. Davila said he purchased a pair of Versace jeans a couple of years ago. “Men have to pay more if we want a better fit,” he said, adding that the choices in denim for men were lacking compared to the vast array of brands, cuts and washes available for women. And how much were those Versace denims? “Close to $500. I actually only wore them four or five times,” he admitted. “It was for the cut and quality of material!”