This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure for more information.
It’s all over the Internet. Nordstrom is selling dirty jeans for $425. $425 for dirty jeans?! Are you sh*tting me? I heard of fake news, fake IDs, and even fake food. But now we have fake clothing?
A company called PRPS manufactures the jeans. They’re 100% cotton with a “caked-on muddy coating that shows you’re not afraid to get down and dirty,” according to the item’s description at shopnordstrom.com.
Down and dirty?
Are we back in the 70s? Gonna do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight with KC & the Sunshine Band?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve said to Mr. Groovy that if Martians invade our planet they’ll take one look at our society, go back in their spaceships, and fly the heck out of here.
Is this dirty jeans thing absurd? I think so. Mr. Groovy thinks so. And apparently Mike Rowe thinks so. In fact, the host of “Dirty Jobs” on the Discovery Channel seems quite offended. He wrote a post on his website called Jeans made to look like you Work Hard so you don’t have to. He called the jeans “[s]omething to foster the illusion of work. The illusion of effort. Or perhaps, for those who actually buy them, the illusion of sanity.” He says further, “They’re a costume for wealthy people who see work as ironic—not iconic.”
I’ve seen some really funny comments on social media about the dirty jeans:
These are perhaps the best jeans I’ve ever owned. Perfectly match my stick on calluses.
Now that I’m unemployed I can still look employed with minimal effort.
They fit like freedom, smell like America and wear like steel.
These jeans are built Ford-tough for the hipster who is built Prius-weak.
Gotta love being able to look like I have fed the pigs, helped deliver a calf, and get the tractor unstuck without ever having to leave my BMW.
OK, let’s suppose you were crazy enough to spend $425 on any pair of jeans, let alone these jeans—where would you wear them? If you frequent any home, office, or even a coffee shop that provides seating with upholstery, someone’s going to run after you and beg you not to sit down. Or let’s say you join the line at the post office or supermarket. Well, the people surrounding you will start to grimace. Because looking at that fake dirt on your clothing they will expect you to stink!
How do you wash these jeans? How would you even KNOW when they’re dirty? Why even bother washing them when the fake dirt is supposed to stay on even when laundered? And what exactly does the manufacturer use to “dirtify” them? I shudder to think of the chemicals.
Years ago, I bought a pair of wrinkle free cotton chinos. I believe they were the Dockers brand but made for women. It was wintertime in New York City and I took a walk to my brother’s apartment, which was exactly 50 blocks from mine. I went up First Avenue which is nice and hilly and on that particular day I wore my new wrinkle free pants. When I used his bathroom after arriving, I noticed my legs were all blotchy red from my knees up to my thighs. I didn’t think much of it because it was very cold outside and I wasn’t wearing many layers. I assumed my skin was just chafed.
The next time I wore the pants was in the spring and my legs got all blotchy again after a few hours. I phoned Dockers when I returned home and said “I don’t want to sound like a lunatic but have you heard of anyone having a reaction to these pants?” And the customer service rep told me she had. It wasn’t common but it wasn’t news to them. They treated the pants with chemicals to keep them wrinkle free and I probably was allergic. They allowed me to return the pants for a full refund.
Since the dirty jeans got me thinking about chemicals I decided to Google wrinkle free clothing. And I found this article from the New York Times about formaldehyde use in wrinkle free clothing (and other household items like sheets and pillow cases). Although many manufacturers do not use formaldehyde now (including Dockers), there are no industry regulations on the chemicals used in clothing. There are only voluntary industry guidelines. And no one is saying what the faux mud on the dirty jeans consists of. All I know is if I’m paying $425 for a pair of jeans they better be soft and they certainly better not give me a rash.
I know I’m preaching to the choir and that none of our readers would ever buy a $425 pair of jeans, dirty or otherwise. But just in case you decide to go mashugana, Mr. Groovy and I are offering to turn you into a fashionista. Send us your jeans. Any jeans you like. Plus a check for $200. And we’ll cut them up into a pair of stylishly ripped jeans. We’ll even top Nordstom—Nordstrom is offering free shipping on their dirty jeans—we’ll give you free shipping and throw in a pair of scissors and a diagram, so that you can make your own jeans the next time you’re in the market.
OK, you may be wavering on this. I get it. And I’ll admit that stylishly ripped jeans don’t have quite the same prestige as dirty jeans. But our jeans have one HUGE advantage—Mr. Groovy is the prototype!
Mr. Groovy’s Stylishly Ripped Jeans
Yes, this is Mr. Groovy’s fashion statement. And he made it the old fashioned way. He EARNED IT. (Don’t worry, he hasn’t abandoned retirement. But I’ve been keeping him busy with a lot of home improvement projects.)
Love the KC & the Sunshine band reference! They don’t make music like they used to! 😉
I remember wearing acid washed jeans in the 80’s. The music was awesome from that decade…some of the fashion, not so much.
I wear Wrangler jeans from Wal-Mart now and don’t need to take out a loan.
Thanks WLM, you’re the first one to mention KC & the Sunshine band! I noticed you mentioned in your bio on your website that you like 80s music. We have that in common as well as our interest in personal finance.
My sixteen year old son woke my wife and I up one morning by singing Uptown Girl by Billy Joel! Yes! This boy knows good music! 🙂
After reading this post, I checked it out…the mud is fake and isn’t supposed to wash off. Just wanted to let you know so you could get yourself a pair. LOL
LOL, I’m heading out to Nordstrom right now! Thanks for stopping by, Claudia.
At $249.99 you might have stumbled upon a lucrative business model, Harmony. Maybe Emily, Tania, you, and I can form a company. — Jeans by 4Chicks. Between the kid stains and the North Carolina red soil we could make a killing.
Thanks for your comment!
Haha – saw these the other day and just laughed at the ridiculousness. It beats crying – out of sadness that there are actually people who are going to spend their money on this crap.
Hope you don’t get too upset, but I’m thinking about stealing your business idea. If people send us some jeans, we will “kidify” them with all sorts of stains like spaghetti sauce, grape juice, mustard, chocolate, etc. All for the unreasonable price of $249.99 (because people won’t think it’s high end fashion unless we charge an exorbitant price).
I just ripped holes on both knees of my jeans today playing with the kids. And I’ve got a bit of rug burn too.
Much more meaningful when it comes the real way. Great to know that Mr. Groovy and I have the same fashion sense 🙂
Do you mean like NO fashion sense? (Me neither. You should see how I dress.) Just so you know, Mr. G always wears a baseball cap, too.
Thanks for commenting, Chris.
Oh man, that’s ridiculous. All my kid’s pants are dirty and ripped up. I’m just waiting for hot weather because he’ll outgrow these pants by next winter. No point buying new pants.
Exactly. I can’t even imagine how often you have to buy him new clothes. Our neighbors have 2 sons that grow so quickly, at times we don’t recognize them.
Thanks for stopping by, Joe!
My word. Give me half that amount and my boys will fix you up a pair of jeans for you in no time. Real mud too!
It could be a good way for them to fund their Roth IRAs, LOL. I don’t know what the manufacturer and Nordstrom were thinking.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Tania.
Just Nuts!
For some reason this reminded me you were land shopping. How is that going? Did you find the one yet?
It’s slow going. So far we haven’t seen anything close to what we’re looking for. Thanks for asking, Amy.
This reminds me of the grunge look of the early 90’s. I had a pair of holey jeans, caused from wear and tear. My fiancé was horrified when I wore them! I retorted that they were very fashionable, but at least I came by mine through honest labor.
I never understood that whole grunge thing but I can relate to your fiance because I was horrified by Mr. Groovy. We were driving to his parents for Easter and as I was dozing off, out of the corner of my eye I saw his holey jeans with his naked knee sticking out — the very ones in this post. I said PLEASE tell me you brought another pair of pants with you. Luckily he did or we would have been making a pit stop at Kohl’s.
Thanks for your comment, Lizzy.
$425.00 never happen with me! I dress in jeans after it stay below 25 degrees for a week or more. I wear jean shorts the rest of the year. Pocket t shirts year round. I do not feel the need to impress anybody in semi retirement. I’ve been collecting a pension since June 2010. I love swimming 6 days a week and playing cards,reading and travel on my own terms. I do home maintenance when weather allows. No worries and reason to hurry.
Never happen with me either. I can’t even buy fruit that’s overpriced! I find it offensive.
No reason to worry or hurry — sounds like you’re living the life, Craig. Thanks for commenting.
I’m quietly shreaking with laughter at the absurdity of these jeans and the absolute fools who would seriously contemplate buying them. I’m sorry but I’ve just gained a whole new respect for those Congo Dandys. At least they ended up looking pretty snappy………in their own unique sort of a way. Lol
The Congo Dandy’s did look pretty snappy, and CLEAN, although orange is not my favorite color on a man!
Thanks for stopping by, Martin.
Thanks, Laurie! Baloney, indeed (although I think Miss Mazuma has some more choice words in mind).
Definitely, what Rick doesn’t know won’t hurt him!
I don’t remember ever spending more than $40 for a pair of jeans and the norm for me now is under $30. And the way kids grow and wear things out? Hand-me-downs make total sense.
You go, girl!! I agree with Mike Rowe. What a bunch of baloney!! My kids occasionally insist on buying jeans with rips in them, and Rick still refuses to believe we buy them that way. He thinks we’re putting him on. I think we’ll keep it that way. Who knows what his reaction might be if he finally faces the truth? The good news is that we don’t spend anywhere near $425 for the kids’ ripped up jeans. Target, Walmart and hand-me-downs, please. 🙂
I too am a child of the 1980’s. I remember acid washed jeans well. My parents did not pay $400 for mine. They were most likely from Kmart.
It’s odd but I don’t remember Kmart growing up at all. There probably was one in Brooklyn but not in my neighborhood. We went to department stores at the mall, army/navy stores – and I remember buying pants at the Dungaree Factory. That’s what we called them back then, not jeans.
Thanks for commenting, Dave!
I knew the day was bound to come where everyone would start copying my wardrobe. 😉 I just hope they cut me in for a slice of that $425 pie. Next they will want to copy my awesome painting cardigan. I wonder if I can patent that? Hum….
Even a tiny slice would be nice if they ever sell that pie! Stranger things have been patented, copyrighted or trademarked than a sweater. Go for it!
Thanks for stopping by Ms. M. Talk to you soon.
Yes, I read about the rock, too. And some “mom” jeans with plastic at the knees. Have you seen those? I must live under a rock because I usually never notice these silly cultural things, if that’s what you can call them.
Smart dad you have there! Thanks for stopping by. I hope all is well with you (and the hubby and soon-to-be arriving Half Penny).
Meh. This is like when Nordstrom sold a rock. I think the Balenciaga IKEA bag is even better. If people talk about their brand, that’s good news, right?
I remember when all I wanted was $100 ripped Abercrombie and Fitch jeans in middle school. My dad always told me they were too expensive for something that was essentially already broken. 😉
Did you also hear how Balenciaga copied IKEA’s .99 bag and sold it for $2,000? Yea…
I wanna find the people who did buy the $425 jeans and sell stuff to them…they’d buy anything! LOL. 😛
Good customers are so hard to find haha
Nice to see you, Lila! Again, I had to go to Mr. Google to find the Balenciaga bag. But yes, I’d say they totally stole the idea from Ikea. I’m including a link to an article that shows the bags. It also says that at first, Ikea just released a statement saying they were flattered. But subsequently they’ve come out with some humorous stuff on how to tell the difference between the bags.
UFO defense strategy. Brilliant.
Worth every penny.
I don’t want to get abducted by aliens. Do you?
If only we can get advance warning. We’d need as many earthlings wearing them as possible.
Mr. G and I have been on a kick with the show Frasier on Netflix. There’s an episode called “The Candidate” in Season 2 where the candidate Frasier and Niles are backing admits that he was abducted by aliens. Too funny.
Thanks, as always, for your support Fritz.
So is Nordstroms loving the extra attention in the vein of there is no such thing as bad publicity? Or are they horrified to see people mocking them so much?
Inquiring minds want to know…
Thanks, Kimberly. I searched to find out if Nordstrom had a comment but I haven’t found one. BUT, what I did find was Rebok’s response. They came out with a fake sweaty T-shirt!
Love my ripped jeans, but only because I’ve washed and worn them so many times they’re softer than kleenex. And there’s enough red clay here that I can get muddy jeans, no problem. I’ll even underbid you…send me jeans and $100 and I’ll drive our pickup over them in the back yard and get them the kind of muddy stain that will never come out completely.
Personally, I think I’d rather buy Unicorn Meat. After all, it’s something completely useless (but funny!) for only $15.
First Julie made me consult Mr. Google and now you, Emily? I had no idea what Unicorn Meat is but thank you for enlightening me!
You know I think you may be on to something with the red clay here. At least the color of the dirt would be pretty. But rather than you underbidding maybe we can put our heads together when Mr. Groovy and I move to your neck of the woods.
Love this post! I’m not sure who we should be more upset with…Nordstroms for selling these jeans or the people buying them for actually creating a market for them?
Thank you! I’m still not certain whether it’s totally a stunt or whether there is a real market for them. Unfortunately, I have a feeling it’s the latter.
Hey, I resent the Prius weak remark. I’ve hauled more crap in my Prius than most Ford pickup owners (think about it, how many buy a ford pickup for its status instead of utility)?
Why live the American dream, when you can buy the illusion of it.
Out here in North Cackalacky many of the F-150s are used by working men. But yes, we have our share of men who drive them to prove they’re good ole country boys. But hey, I’m just the messenger. I didn’t make the crack about the Prius myself. 😇
Thanks, Maarten.
For a long time people have been willing to pay good money to look like they worked hard. These dirty jeans are just the latest ridiculous product.
Dirty jeans, ripped jeans, faded/worn look ( more chemicals? ). Hell, even cargo pants and denim/Levis were created as clothes for the working man.
Mike Rowe nailed it: these over-the-top looks are nothing more than costumes.
Conspicuous costumes, at that. Would someone think they’d actually blend in with these jeans?
When I was in high school, khaki green army pants and carpenter pants with suspenders were extremely popular with teenage girls. We wore men’s long sleeve thermal shirts under the suspenders. However, all of these were inexpensive.
I agree, totally ridiculous. Thanks for your comment, Ty.
Ha! I hope that this fad fades quickly… and that acid washed and whiskered jeans don’t come back. And that skinny jeans and bell bottoms also go the way of the dodo. Why not just have classic boot cut dark jeans? Everyone looks good in those!
I do admire your entrepreneurism, though. Maybe you can find a way to develop it into a MLM scheme 🙂
OK, so I had to go ahead and Google whiskered jeans. I am so-o-o out of touch.
It didn’t occur to me to start an MLM scheme. Thanks for the idea! (And thanks for your comment.)
I saw the hype of these jeans and chose not to comment but being as they inspired a Mrs. Groovy post I must!! Ludicrous is the only word for this type of human stupidity. I realize this is all about publicity and hype (which is exactly what will make these jeans sell!) but the sheer ignorance is astounding. People who have the money to buy these jeans will never actually have the humility to do the type of work that it takes to create the outcome of these jeans. Ugh… I could go on and on but I fear the filth in my words would put the filth on these jeans to shame!
I love it – the filth in your words would put the filth on these jeans to shame!
Your point about humility and work is exactly what got Mike Rowe pissed off.
Thanks for gracing me with your presence today, being that you’re a RockStar and all.
Haha, my parents have the same mindset – I can hear my dad saying, “How in the h*** are ripped jeans more expensive than regular jeans! You don’t have half the material!”
Just give me some comfortable jeans without holes for less than $40 and I’m content 🙂
I buy Levis in Kohl’s when they’re under $30 or the Merona brand from Target which I really like.
Thanks for your comment, Erik!
What!?!? Those jean are art man! They are infused with hipster juju so they are like magic. I mean you can’t put a price on that! I’d totally buy them! :))))
Right? Frame them and put them in MOMA in NY!
I bet someone will buy a pair just to try to sell them on Ebay in 10 years. Good luck with that.
Thanks for stopping by, Tonya.
Oh, Nordstrom, why? This has just gotten ridiculous. I’m assuming they just needed to do something new and “edgy” and this was it. I would have loved to have been in the product design meeting. 🙂
Hell, I can buy these at Goodwill for 50 cents!
Thanks Mrs. PP. I’d love to be a fly on the wall in that product design meeting if you were there!
I looked more closely at the Nordstrom website and they have a category under men’s jeans for “ripped and destroyed”. A few pair of vintage jeans come close to looking dirty but not like the $425 pair.
Neiman Marcus sells distressed jeans described as “dirty wash”. These cost $525.
I’m a 80’s kid. I still DIY acid wash my jeans. 🙂 I don’t think I ever spend $425 on any type of clothing. That’s my wardrobe budget for several years. $425 for fake dirty jeans is insanity.
All you do is bleach them right? I don’t think I’ve ever worn a pair of acid jeans.
I see you and Mr. Groovy have the same clothing budget. Thanks for commenting!
I’m flashing back to the 80s. Don’t you remember when they sold pre ripped jeans because ripped jeans were all the rage. I thought it was nuts then… still do.
Oh yes, all the rage and expensive. They’re still fashionable today although I see many pairs with lace and other fabrics behind the torn spots. I’ve hand sewn some ripped jeans myself to make them wearable with lace patches. But that’s because I’m trying to get additional wear out of them without looking like a dork, not because I want to be fashionable. Thanks for commenting FTF.