One of the most difficult things of having an online vintage shop is having to say goodbye to items that I will probably never see again. You would be surprised how much I grow attached to certain things, and when they sell a little part of me dies. However, one item will always be in the shop, especially around summertime and that is the tried and true, high waist denim cut off shorts.
Denim never gets old, and even when it is actually old, it looks even better than when it was new. That is why used/vintage denim is the best way to go. These already worn in jeans are typically very soft and comfortable. They even are little frayed in certain areas... but we are talking genuine fray from use, not the chain store frayed denim where you pay $50 for jeans that have holes already.
Best of all, vintage denim shorts are almost always high waisted, which can be quite flattering to most figures.
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There are two denim brands that I'm always in search of... Levis and Wrangler. These two vintage brands go back a while and have a solid place in our fashion history. Each brand has certain advantages and fits.
LEVIS
Levis are as American as apple pie, but unfortunately now they are made elsewhere. BUT, they're still made well, and now they are coming out with some new branding that caters back to their original rough and wear charm of the 1960s and beyond.
Levis denim shorts are great because they fray well and usually have a really nice texture. The washes are always right on point and most of all they are usually pretty comfortable.
One thing to watch out for is the diaper effect. Old Levis jeans/shorts from the 1980s and 1990s are super tight on the waist and balloon out on the hips. This creates a weird diaper effect when worn as shorts. They can also really hug the butt crack sometimes which is quite uncomfortable and embarrassing. When buying Levis cut offs, check to see that your waist and hip measurements match.
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| Find this pair of Levis and more in the shop! |
WRANGLER
Wrangler is the slightly lesser known American denim brand. But in some ways I feel like it's a bit better than Levis.
Since opening the shop I have realized that Wrangler denim is slightly stretchier which makes for a better fit that most Levis shorts. Wrangler hugs the hips nicely without being to tight. Plus, you can find vintage Wranglers in all sorts of crazy colors.
