Trend Alert: Non-Stretch Jeans Are Good for You. Here's How to Buy, Wear, and Take Care of Them

All the fashion guys I know have been waxing poetic about rigid, non-stretch jeans for years—but, as a woman, I've always felt there's little incentive to give up my stretchy, comfy denim for a pair of stiff, hard pants. Until now.

Late last week, I stopped by the Levi's Made & Crafted and Levi's Vintage Clothing showroom to see my friend, creative director Miles Johnson, who full-on sold me on rigid jeans. He says that non-stretch jeans may seem scary, but at the end of the day, they're way more flattering, won't wear out as fast, and provide a much more customized fit in the long run.

Here's what we talked about:

Danica: Miles. Do women actually want rigid jeans?

Miles: Not at the moment, but they should!

Danica: Let's talk about this. Men are obsessed with the idea of rigid jeans. What's up with that? Why don't guys like stretch jeans?

Miles: I think some guys like stretch jeans, but they don't want to know they're stretch.

Danica: It has to be secret?

Miles: Guys just want comfy. But then I think there's an experience that you get from wearing a rigid jean that you will not get from wearing stretch. It's one of those things that happens over time—they mold to the shape of your body.

Danica: But women are different from men. Women have more squidgy parts, so wearing a harder jean is a different experience for a woman, right?

Miles: It's a different experience, but we've got 141 years of making jeans behind us, so it puts us at an advantage point as understanding to how to take a really stiff fabric like denim and be able to craft it into a fit that really works for women to begin with. And, actually, I'm always talking about the 501—because it's really the heart and soul of the brand, but there are so many of those 501 fits that are so amazing on women, and what with the whole "boyfriend" thing that's going on at the moment. I think there's so much in taking on this boyish feeling of rigid denim—and it doesn't have to be really heavy rigid denim, I think you can do a 9- or 10-ounce denim.