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edhitchon1993 t1_jaoi89r wrote

Reply to comment by ___PM_ME_YOUR_FEET_ in Is there any hard evidence (not anecdotal) that "high quality" clothes actually last longer than their cheap counterparts? by bingworm

There are objective measures, but your requirements are different to my requirements and so you'll need to build on your experience to know what these are.

It's not quite guessing to take a known good item (I use my Rapanui t-shirts as a yardstick) and compare that to unknown goods to make a suitably assessment.

I wear moleskin trousers because I find them very hard wearing and their water resistant and tight weave qualities are good for cycling. An objective measure I use is to buy 250gsm or above fabric, it makes for heavy trousers but it suits my needs. If I were somewhere hot that measure would be useless because they would be too insulative to be fit for purpose, I'd be looking at lighter weight fabrics and need to find my own metrics.

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___PM_ME_YOUR_FEET_ t1_jaojrrx wrote

Ok but if the requirement is durability or “shelf life” so to speak…like what do you look at to guage quality and durability? Heavy vs light for different climates is much easier to assess so I’m not worried about that. I’m saying like, what do you look at to guage whether or not a piece of clothing is likely to fall apart after 3 dozen washes vs something that is likely to last many years? For example, I go through jeans like nobodys business. I’ve tried spending more for “quality name brands” and choose jeans that feel really thick and solid and go with what feels high quality, but they just fall apart and I’m tired of spending $60+ per pair of jeans every 4-6 months.

So what are the objective metrics I can look at to determine what is better quality and will last longer?

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edhitchon1993 t1_jaoqz0m wrote

Sorry, I gave up on denim as I found it too susceptible to thorns and I grew tired of darning, although it is a very forgiving fabric to repair.

You'll be looking for a higher weight fabric and a high number of stitches per inch, but I don't know what numbers those should be.

If your wearing through in particular areas because your body shape isn't what jeans are designed around (I cycle so really struggle with thigh fit) you might benefit from buying a size up and getting them tailored to your actual shape.

I've been lead to believe that denim is particularly sensitive about how it's washed so you might want to look at that aspect too.

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___PM_ME_YOUR_FEET_ t1_jaovg8h wrote

But where do you get the info about fabric weight and stitches per inch? I could figure out which numbers suit me if I new where to find the numbers in the first place. I could just test higher vs lower numbers and find what lasts, but I don’t know how to get that information.

It’s not my body shape. I do alot of welding/grinding and mechanical work so my clothes take a beating, but more than anything, it seems my jeans always fail in the pockets. The worst is when they start coming apart right in the corner of the back pocket, leaving me with a hole in the butt of my pants, cause then I literally can’t wear them anymore lol.

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edhitchon1993 t1_jaowkf5 wrote

Ask an expert. I got talking to a tailor in a beer tent which is how I stumbled into moleskins.

Welding and grinding are going to put a lot of strain on any material, I wear overclothes when I am metal working these days for that reason.

Arse pockets failing isn't something I have had with denim, but I've holed some chinos that way, for work clothes (actually for general wear to be honest) you can often darn holes like that pretty invisibily.

Sorry I can't be more helpful.

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___PM_ME_YOUR_FEET_ t1_jap1yvm wrote

All good, just sounded like you maybe had something with the stitches per inch and whatnot. I appreciate you responding though.

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CaptainSwaggerJagger t1_jas1cx0 wrote

Out of interest, have you watched project farms video on jeans? He does extensive testing on products (usually tools) but he did jeans recently and one test was which pair had the greatest resistance to back pockets tearing off and not all ripped a hole in the trousers when the pocket failed

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___PM_ME_YOUR_FEET_ t1_jasaapb wrote

No but that’s a great idea, I honestly never thought of that! I’ve seen a couple of his vids but never even thought to seek him out for this. I’ll have to look into that, thanks!

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AlwaysQueso t1_japxf17 wrote

I would start internet searching “textiles for jeans”, “textiles for work pants”; “traditional textiles fabrics for workwear”. You’re likely to get apparel design resources / leads on the type of fabric and what characteristics a manufacturer of workwear is looking for and then you could narrow down brands.

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