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Every Skinny Jean Question You've Ever Asked, Answered

Every Skinny Jean Question You've Ever Asked, Answered

Chris Mogni
Product Research

I used to hate shopping for pants. Why? I hate buzzwords and marketing lingo like “skinny fit” or “slim fit”. They never made sense to me and never helped me find pants I wanted to wear.

A while ago, I gave up.

I stopped trying on dozens of jeans every time I went shopping, just to be disappointed with how they fit. I wanted to find a perfect pair of skinny jeans. My partner, Marie, had the exact same problem.

We are both trained as scientists, so we did what we know best: we turned shopping into a science.

We started measuring every skinny jean we came across. Once our friends caught onto our experiment, they had all sorts of questions for us.

At this point, I think we’ve figured out everything there is to know about skinny jeans. We’ve probably answered more questions for our friends than I would have liked to.

That’s why I put together this post. This is everything I’ve learned about skinny jeans from measuring over one thousand pairs of jeans from dozens of brands.

What does skinny fit mean?

Pants labelled skinny fit are the narrowest pants a brand makes.

Buy beware, though: skinny fit means different things to different brands.

Confused? Here’s what’s going on.

No two brands have the exact same customers. Brands know this. That’s why brands make pants that are perfect for their customer.

Every customer has a different body shape. That means brands need to make pants that fit most of their customers’ body shapes really well.

What’s that have to do with skinny jeans? It means every brand’s skinny jeans fit differently because they’re meant for different types of people.
Sure, on average skinny jeans are narrower than most jeans.

However, two skinny jeans can fit completely differently. Look at our comparison of Kato “The Needle” Skinny jeans (in blue) versus Levi’s 510 Skinny Fit (outlined in black), both available on Amazon.

Notice how different they are? Sure, they’re both skinny, but their shapes work best for completely different customers.

Where did skinny jeans come from?

Elio Fiorucci invented the modern skinny jean in the 1970s.

The story goes that, on the beach in Spain, Elio Fiorucci noticed that women’s jeans looked better when they got wet in the water. The jeans clung to their bodies. That gave Elio the idea to make jeans that always looked like that.

Elio Fiorucci created the skinny jean by adding stretchy material like Lycra to his own line of jeans.

As a side note, Elio Fiorucci also had other big contributions to the fashion world, like popularizing animal print clothing.

Are skinny jeans tight in the waist?

If your skinny jeans are tight, you’re either wearing the wrong size or the wrong brand entirely.

Yes, skinny jeans should hug your body. That’s the style you’re buying with skinny jeans. Skinny jeans should never be tight around your waist.

Like I said in my answer to “what does skinny fit mean?”, every skinny fit jean fits differently because it fits one body shape better than others.

There’s a skinny jean out there for almost anybody. If you’re wearing one that is too tight, then it’s the wrong skinny jean for you.

Do skinny jeans stretch?

Generally, yes.

All jeans stretch because the cotton in your pants loosens over time to better fit your body.

Almost all skinny jeans have added stretch so you can move in them. See our next question and answer for more on this.

Be careful, though. Some upper end denim brands create “skinny jeans” that are 100% cotton and fit looser than most jeans.

For example, Super Guy from Naked and Famous comes in 100% cotton in some colors and is a lot more relaxed than a regular skinny jean.

Why? Cotton doesn’t give you enough wiggle room if it’s too close to your body.

Why do skinny jeans stretch?

Skinny jeans stretch so you can move in them.

Traditional jeans have extra room in the leg and around your hips. That way, you can move freely in them without feeling tight.

Skinny jeans don’t have that extra room between your body and the pants. That’s just the skinny jean style. To make sure you can still move in your jeans and feel comfortable, brands add stretchy material to the jeans.

How do skinny jeans stretch?

Skinny jeans have added stretch material that helps them stretch as soon as you put them on.

The material in most skinny jeans is a blend of cotton and elastane or lycra. Elastane or lycra is what you find in spandex. All you need is a little bit of it to make the jeans hug your body comfortably.

How much is a little? As little as 1% elastane can make a pair of pants stretch up to 20% their normal size!

Do skinny jeans get looser over time?

Yes. In fact, all jeans get looser over time, but skinny jeans can get even looser than normal jeans.

Why’s that? Read on to the next question!

Why do my skinny jeans get loose?

The fibers in skinny jean material break down the more you wear and wash them.

All jeans stretch a bit with more wear. Over time, the cotton fibers in jeans break down. That’s why jeans fit you better over time: the cotton gets more relaxed in the spots that your body tugs on.

Skinny jeans are a bit different than most other jeans. That’s because skinny jeans have added stretch. That added stretch breaks down over time.

Why? Two main reasons:

  1. Washing your jeans harms the added stretch material. Skinny pants have elastane in them. Elastane makes the jeans stretch. When you wash your jeans, the elastane gets weaker. That means that the jeans can stay stretched, which makes them fit looser over time.

  2. Wearing jeans that stretch too much for your body shape. Some skinny jeans have lots of added stretch material. That makes it so almost anyone can fit in them. The problem is that this makes it easier to stretch the pants more than they should. That makes the stretchy material weaker over time, which makes them stay looser than they should.

How do I find the perfect pair of skinny jeans?

Find a brand making pants that are good for your body shape.

Every brand targets a different type of customer. Every type of customer has a different body shape. If you’ve found a brand that works well for you, try to find others that make pants with a similar shape. In fact, that’s exactly how our pant search works.

Don’t waste your time with brands that make pants that aren’t a good shape for you. Why’s that? They’ll fit too tight or too loose on you, no matter what size you buy.

What skinny jeans are good for small ankles?

For men, the Uniqlo Ultra Stretch Skinny Fit jeans have the smallest leg opening that we’ve measured.

Most men’s skinny jeans hover around 12.75” to 13” in the leg opening on a size 32. Uniqlo’s measures at 12.5”. Not much smaller, but one of the smallest you’ll find.

For women, Levi’s 710, Levi’s 720, and Levi’s Mile High Skinny tie for smallest leg opening. All available on Amazon.

Women’s skinny pants have bigger variation in leg openings than men’s. On average, they’re around 10.25” on a size 4. The three Levi’s with the smallest are a whole inch smaller at 9.25”.

I can't fit into "skinny jeans" because I have big thighs. What should I do?

Try a different brand! Some skinny jeans are better if you have big thighs. In fact, the thighs on skinny jeans vary wildly between brands.

For men, try Kato’s “Needle” Skinny. The average skinny jean in a size 32 has a 22.5” thigh. Kato’s skinny jeans are a whole inch bigger around the thigh, at 23.5”.

For women, try Levi’s Wedgie Skinny. It fits more like a classic skinny cut women’s jean used to. The average size 4 women’s skinny jean thigh measures at 19”. Levi’s Wedgie Skinny is an astounding 3” bigger at 22”.

On the other hand, you can always try a wider fit jean. Slim jeans come in a wider variety of styles for men than skinny jeans. For example, Levi’s recently released their 531 Athletic Slim that looks like a slim jean but has a ton of extra room around the thighs.

(All products linked available on Amazon!)

When are skinny jeans too skinny?

Skinny jeans are too skinny if they feel tight.

Yes, skinny jeans are supposed to hug your body. No, skinny jeans should not make you feel like you’re losing blood to your toes.

If your skinny jeans feel tight, try to size up or buy from a different brand.

Beyond that, buying skinny jeans is up to your own personal style. If you don’t think they look tight and they don’t feel tight, then they’re absolutely fine to wear.

Can only skinny people wear skinny jeans?

No. Skinny jeans made for people of all sizes. Not just skinny people.

The “skinny” in “skinny fit” describes the style of the pants, not the type of person who should wear the pants.

For example, plenty of plus-size brands make skinny jeans for women. In men’s jeans, many brands offer size beyond the average 32 in skinny jeans. Levi’s 510 only goes up to a 38, but Old Navy and Gap offer skinny jeans that are size 40+.

Do skinny jeans look bad on skinny people?

This type of question really depends on your own style and your own taste.

Here’s what skinny jeans do: they make your legs look smaller. Is that a good thing? It depends.

If you want to balance out your body, then skinny jeans can help some skinny people do that. Who, though? Those of us with smaller torsos.

Your body can roughly be cut into two parts: your torso and your legs. If your torso, the area that all your limbs attach to, is short, then your legs look bigger than they actually are.


Skinny jeans can help by making them appear smaller, which balances your body’s look. Is this the right thing to do? Again, that depends on what makes you feel comfortable.

Can short people wear skinny jeans?

Again, it all boils down to your personal style and taste. Short men definitely can wear skinny jeans, and many look good wearing them too.

Here’s what I can tell you: skinny jeans tend to make your legs look smaller. That can be a good thing if you’re trying to balance a small torso (see our answer to the question above). That’s true even if you’re short.

Do skinny jeans hurt your crotch?

Skinny jeans should never hurt your crotch if they fit right.

Why would skinny jeans hurt your crotch? That only happens if the pant rise is too small for your body shape.

What’s a pant rise? That’s how high the pants sit on your belly. If the rise is too short, then the pants might pull around your crotch. You can try sizing up to fix this problem. Usually, though, the problem is that the brand’s pants simply aren’t a good shape for you.

How do skinny jeans differ from...

Jeggings vs Skinny

Jeggings are lighter than jeans and typically have less cotton than skinny pants. They have less cotton because the fabric they’re made of is more similar to leggings than traditional denim.

Otherwise, jeggings look similar to skinny fit jeans: they both look like denim pants, and they both hug your body closely.

Supper skinny vs Skinny

Super skinny jeans are a type of skinny jean. The “super” in super skinny means the pants hug your body even closer than a normal skinny jean.

The biggest difference is in the leg opening. The leg opening on most skinny jeans leaves some room between your ankle and the pant. Super skinny jeans, on the other hand, closely hug your ankles.

Unlike jeggings, super skinny jeans are about as heavy as skinny jeans.

Slim fit vs Skinny fit

Within a brand, slim fit jeans are wider than skinny jeans everywhere -- in the hips and throughout the leg.

Look at the difference between Levi’s 510 skinny jeans (outlined in black) and Levi’s 511 slim jeans (filled on top in blue).

The 511’s are 1.75” bigger than the Levi’s 510 in the hips, thighs, knee, and leg opening. That’s how Levi’s makes the slim pants wider -- extra space everywhere.

Buyer beware: like skinny pants, the way slim pants fit depends on the brand. That means that slim fit pants in one brand might fit like skinny fit pants in another brand.

(All links from Amazon)

Slim Straight fit vs Skinny fit

Within a brand, slim straight fit jeans are wider than skinny fit jeans. They’re even wider than that brand’s slim pants are from knee to ankle.

Slim fit and skinny fit pants are more narrow at the leg opening than at the knee.

Slim straight pants are different: the leg opening is nearly as big as the knee.

Regular fit vs Skinny fit

Within a brand, regular fit is wider everywhere than skinny fit. It’s even wider than slim fit jeans.

Regular fit is the traditional jean fit. Regular fit jeans have two to three inches of wiggle room around your hips and thighs. There are many ways they can fit below the knee -- they can be tapered, straight, or boot cut.

How’s that compare to skinny jeans? Take Levi’s 514 Straight Fit vs Levi’s 510 Skinny Fit.

There’s an extra 2.5” in the hips and thighs on the 514’s compared to the 510’s. That extra room lets you move around in a regular fit jean without the added stretch a skinny fit jean has.

(All links from Amazon)

Cigarette fit vs Skinny fit

Cigarette jeans fit like slim straight jeans: they are overall wider than skinny fit jeans. They also don’t taper from knee to leg opening like skinny jeans do.

Are skinny jeans tapered fit?

Yes. Unless you buy a special skinny jean labelled skinny boot cut or skinny straight, all skinny jeans taper.

What’s a taper? Tapered means the pants get narrow from knee to leg opening.

Because skinny jeans hug your body everywhere and your ankle is smaller than your knee, they have to have a tapered fit.

Take caution, though. Not all taper fit jeans are skinny fit. Most jeans that are only labelled taper fit actually fit like a regular fit pant around the thighs but fit like a slim pant around the calf.

Can you get slim jeans from buying skinny jeans one size up?

No. Slim fit jeans and skinny fit jeans have completely different shapes.

Different parts of the pants change by different amounts between sizes. For example, the hips change by an inch from a men’s size 32 to a size 33, but the thighs only change by half an inch.

Slim fit pants are wider everywhere than skinny fit pants, except around the waist. That means that if you size up your skinny fit jeans so they fit like a slim fit around the hips, they won’t fit like slim jeans around the thighs or leg opening.

What are some alternatives to skinny jeans?

It depends on what you’re looking for. Are you looking for a tighter or looser fit?

If you want a fit that gives you more space everywhere but still hugs your body, pick a slim fit jean from a brand you like.

If you want a more traditional fit, go for regular fit jeans.

If skinny jeans aren’t skinny enough, see if a brand you like makes a super skinny fit.

Do skinny jeans make men look feminine?

No.

Sure, women wear more skinny jeans than men. They don’t have a choice. That doesn’t mean that skinny jeans are a feminine style.

There’s plenty of photos of guys from all walks of life who wear skinny jeans. They look like men, just like you’d expect.

Can men wear women's skinny jeans?

Yes. There are a few differences between men’s and women’s jeans though.

Women’s skinny jeans typically have more stretch than men’s skinny jeans. That’s because women have more body shapes than men. In particular, women have a wider range of hips than men do.

Brands know this, so they add more stretch so more customers with all types of hips can fit in their jeans.

Here’s a myth about skinny fit jeans: men’s skinny jeans have more room in the hips than women’s do. That’s because men’s skinny jeans have less stretch, on average.

Don’t believe me? The average difference between the hips and waistband on women’s skinny pants is 4.9”. On men’s, it’s 5.7”.

How can that be? There’s just more stretch in women’s pants because they have to fit both straight shapes and curvy shapes.

The big difference is actually in the rise -- how high the pants sit on your belly. Men’s pants have a little extra room around the crotch. It’s an anatomical difference.

That means if you’re a man buying women’s skinny jeans, go for a higher rise. Higher rise skinny jeans will have right right amount of room in the crotch for you.

Do women's skinny jeans fit men better than men's skinny jeans?

No.

Men’s skinny fit jeans have a longer rise -- where the pants sit on your belly button -- to give more room around the crotch. Women’s skinny pants do not.

How often should you wash skinny jeans?

It depends on what the jeans are made of.

Bacteria have a harder time growing on 100% cotton. That means you can wear 100% cotton jeans for months without them smelling.

Most skinny jeans have some stretchy material, however, so they aren’t made of 100% cotton.

If the jeans have 98% or more cotton, you don’t need to wash them often. You can if you want to, but you don’t have to. In fact, if you don’t wash them often, they’ll fit you better over time.

If the jeans have less than 98% cotton, you should wash them every couple times you wear them. Why? They have too much synthetic material on them that grow bacteria very quickly. Unless you want your jeans to smell bad, I recommend washing.

Why do women wear skinny jeans more than men?

First, let me say this: women don’t necessarily want to wear skinny jeans. That’s just what’s available.

There are fewer options for women because brands make stretchy skinny jeans so they can fit women of all different body shapes. Men, on the other hand, have far few body shapes than women.

Why don’t brands just make jeans for every body shape? Simple. It costs too much to do that.

On top of that, you can have the same body shape as somebody but have totally different fit preferences. If brands had to make jeans for every body shape and fit preference, they’d have hundreds of pant lines to carry in stores!

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