Photo illustration by COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin
By Mary Williams
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
Getting up in the mornings and staring at my all-too-small
closet, I have often imagined myself at the door of a vault of
clothes, picking my outfits by computer like Cher in
“Clueless.”
Imagine the power ““ any outfit I want, effortlessly mixed
and matched according to my every whim, my unique style shining
through the day’s selection.
Alas, life cannot imitate art, and I had resigned myself to a
lifetime of comfy jeans and whatever boring, everyday identity that
conveyed about me.
That is, until I heard about custom jeans.
“Amazing!” I thought. “I will no longer let
Gap, Express or J. Crew dictate my style and define my identity!
I’m free of the tyranny of nationwide retailers and on my way
to a form of self-expression through denim never before seen in the
real world.”
As I formed bad metaphors in my head about my break from the
drudgery of my Express boot cuts and Gap boy fits, I raced down to
Costa Mesa and the Levi’s Original Spin store at South Coast
Plaza.
My appointment started with a measuring, after which the fitter
handed me a pair of prototype pants to try on.
 Photo illustration by COURTNEY STEWART/Daily Bruin
Tighter here, looser there, and a few pairs later I was
satisfied.
Now on to the important stuff.
So, will it be tapered, straight, boot cut, flare or wide leg? I
went with straight and moved onto to the next trial.
Lightweight stonewash, sky, verdant, grey khaki, oyster,
corduroy plaster, corduroy-desert khaki … the list went on and
on. Most of these didn’t even sound like colors, which
disturbed me, but I selected one and finalized my choice.
In two to three weeks a pair of low cut, straight leg,
“indigo soft rigid” colored, zipper-fly jeans, custom
shaped to fit my body, will arrive at my house.
Interesting that after all that fuss I chose a relatively
ordinary pair of jeans. After all of that I might have chosen
“damaged” as my color, or gone with a flared leg
instead of the straight, but something held me back.
I’m sure that says something about my character, but
I’m not sure what.
Although jeans have the reputation of being plain, everyday,
nondescript items of clothing, they are becoming increasingly
individualized.
Ever since the 19th century, when gold miners wore the designs
of Levi Strauss, there was a sense of identity attached to the
style of pants one wore.
“The Levi’s brand has always been about your
personal self-expression,” said Danny Krause, a spokesman for
Levi Strauss & Co., in a phone interview from the
company’s San Francisco headquarters. “It’s all
about making a pair of jeans your own.
“In the ’50s and ’60s, it was all about
rebellion. People were customizing their jeans and writing
messages, cutting them and painting on them, everywhere from James
Dean to Grateful Dead concerts, and that continues today,” he
added.
But today, people don’t necessarily have to customize
their jeans by hand. Levi’s Original Spin allows shoppers to
create a pair of jeans using their own body measurements, and have
them sent to their house from the factory a few weeks later, for a
cost of $70 per pair.
The urge to alter jeans and other clothing, whether by hand or
through the factory, is often linked to members of the younger age
group searching for individuality through the clothing they
wear.
“Everybody has jeans, so it’s nice to have
uniqueness,” said Danielle Beecham, a third-year history
student.
Already many stores offer several styles of jeans. Both
men’s and women’s jeans come in boot cut, flared and
classic, among other styles.
Sometimes, though, these choices just aren’t enough.
Jeanne Yang, a fashion stylist with the Cloutier fashion agency
who has dressed movie stars including Renee Zellweger, said that
although she does not get many requests for jeans, custom clothing
in general is a method of self-expression.
“Customization is an element of style because people want
something unique,” she said.
People searching for that sense of uniqueness constitute a major
portion of Original Spin customers.
“I think a lot of people come here because they can get a
pair of jeans no one else has,” said Eileen Sampang, who
works at Original Spin in South Coast Plaza’s Levi’s
store.
Sampang said that many others who come to Original Spin are
people who have a hard time finding a pair of jeans that fit
well.
The custom jeans can be ordered with waist sizes anywhere from
23 to 46 inches, and lengths from 24 to 42 inches.
“We’re really talking to a range of different
audiences. We’re talking to youth who are looking for a way
to express themselves in a different way because they can actually
create their own pair of jeans, and we’re also looking at
people of all ages who are looking for a pair of jeans that they
can create on their own that also fit them well,” Krause
said.
The one-on-one fitting process takes less than half an hour.
“Jeans can sometimes be a difficult item of clothing to
fit, and people get tired of going to all different brands to get
that perfect fitting pair of jeans, perfect meaning whatever they
feel is perfect for their body,” Krause said.
In the San Francisco store ““ Levi’s largest ““
the process of finding the perfect jean is more high tech,
involving a three-dimensional body scanner which feeds the
shopper’s measurements into a computer.
“The body scanner tells us what prototype to pull first,
so that the measurement is a little bit closer, a little bit faster
that first time,” Krause said.
But regardless of the major advancements like custom fits, and
cycling trends like bellbottoms, people are still searching for the
jeans that fit both their body and their style.
As for me, that perfect pair will be showing up pretty soon,
brightening my smallish closet with a little spark of uninhibited
individuality.
However, no one else will notice my amazing victory over the
demons of retail, because they are, of course, just a pair of
ordinary jeans.
With reports from Sophia Whang, Daily Bruin Senior Staff.