Work wear a new fashion trend
Construction workers in awe over expensive jeans aimed to reflect the working man
Those jeans laying at the bottom of your laundry basket after you tended to your garden could fetch you more than $800. The best part is you don’t even need to wash it. Just slap on an Acne Studios tag to it, and you are good to go.
Swedish-based fashion brand Acne Studios sells expensive ripped jeans and paint-splattered jeans that are simulated to look dirty and worn. These pants fall in the workwear-inspired category of fashion.
Mike Winham works in construction near Gottingen Street in Halifax.
“Fashion has been getting out of hand these days,” Winham said as he looked at the photo collection of Acne Studio jeans provided by The Chronicle Herald. Pointing at a picture he said, “my wife makes me throw my work pants out when they get to this state.”
Winham took another look at the pants from Acne Studio and their starting price of $820 and chuckled to himself.
“Come see what these kids are wearing these days,” he said to co-workers, holding up the pictures of the pants, leading to synchronized “ooh’s,” puzzled “aah’s” and confused faces.
Six construction workers who spoke to The Chronicle Herald all tried to showcase their best fashion pose while modelling their daily work jeans.
“Heck, my work pants today look cleaner than these brand new $930 ones,” said Dylan Allen Marques. As someone working in construction, he said, “I’d do anything not to wear jeans, least of all ripped, dirty jeans on the daily.”
‘I’LL SELL THEM MY OLD JEANS’
He was shocked that people spend money to achieve a look that for him is a result of the work he does.
“Tell me, who are the people wearing these jeans? I’ll sell them my old jeans for half the price.”
An article in Highsnobiety, a global fashion and lifestyle media brand, uses the words, “the rugged charm of workwear,” to describe this style.
The article said the trend represents the American hiphop scene of the 1990s and the new generation of Japanese workwear, where sweat is the seal of hard work. It typifies a growing craving to rekindle the romance of manual jobs as a fashion aesthetic.
Marques and Winham at the construction site were still bewildered that people would spend money to wear clothes they cannot wait to change out of after the workday.
“I think it is because these individuals have never worked outdoors, this is new for them,” Winham said.
“They want to dress like us, and we want to dress like them.” He looked at the photos of the pants and continued, “but not like the ones wearing these clothes.”
He said even though he was laughing, “it is disgusting to think that they are willing to spend someone from our crew’s entire month’s salary on pants that we throw out.”
ALL ABOUT THE LOOK
Over at retailer Simons in the Halifax Shopping Centre, teenagers from St. Agnes Junior High School visit the mall during their break and browse through the collection in the store.
High school student Cassidy Mchugh said she would wear the style if she wanted to get “Insta famous.”
“People want to know that you get the trends, and they follow you,” she said.
Mchugh believes that being a part of the trend is like your ticket to gaining traction on social media.
Suman Premkumar, a sales associate in the store, said, “We do not have all the Acne Studio pieces in store, but the demand is there ... I have had five per cent of the customers (who ask for pieces) bring screenshots of ripped jeans and ask me if we can get them in stock.
“Kylie (Jenner) wore them and now everyone wants to have them. She is a real trendsetter,” Premkumar said.
“I feel it is weird to buy clothes that look dirty, but who am I to judge.
“I think twice even before shopping at Dollarama, but I guess when you have that kind of money lying around, you run out of nice things to buy.”