I Asked Tasteful People About the Best Jeans Under $150

Straight-Legs

“You can’t beat the quality for the price” when it comes to Uniqlo’s denim, says archivist Lauren Vaccaro — and that’s especially true of Uniqlo U by designers Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran. This is the new version of a style Vaccaro’s had for years and wears nearly every day. “I’m still riding the high-rise wave against the tide of low-rise styles,” she says. It helps that, unlike other high-waisted jeans, they’re more forgiving. “I sometimes find if jeans don’t have a bit of give, I never reach for them because they feel too restrictive,” she says. “I haven’t found another pair by another brand that is as comfortable as these.” (Helpfully, their size hasn’t changed over the years, either — she keeps them in good condition by hang-drying.)

You can’t go wrong with our longtime best-overall women’s jeans, either. Everyone from Bird founder Jennifer Mankins to former Madewell creative director Joyce Lee and Dianna Cohen, founder of Crown Affair, wears Wedgies. I think Wedgies are a middle ground between non-stretch and stretch denim, if you’re someone who doesn’t want to pick a side completely. Thanks to the 99 percent cotton and one percent elastane, I’ve found they’re a little more accommodating than the 501s in your first few wears. You can get them in different inseam lengths (26, 28, and 30 inches) — compared to one length Levi’s often offers in many of its jeans (like the default Ribcage length is 27 inches).

If you’re tall, you might want to go with the Wrangler Cowboy Cut Slim Fit Jean, which is available in even more inseams than Levi’s Wedgies: including 30, 32, 34, 36, and 38 inches. In 2019, now-deputy editor Simone Kitchens described the jean as “something fresh out of A.P.C.” Or even preserved ’70s deadstock. And while, in her experience, new Levi’s don’t look exactly like vintage Levi’s, these Wranglers “ease into a comfortable, thrift-store-faded patina.” Plus, they do “good things all around” her butt and waist. As the jeans’ sizes are odd-numbered, Kitchens’s advice is to go the next size up from your usual one (i.e., a seven if you’re a size six). Our senior editor Winnie Yang, who’s usually a size two, went with a size five, and “that’s probably why they’re so comfortable.” She adds, “I was so surprised by how not uncomfortable they were that I even pulled on the legs a bit to check if they felt like they had any elastane in them.”

Kate Snyder, the brand-marketing manager at Loeffler Randall, recently stopped by Cos and found the Reprise. Snyder describes it as “a straight-leg pair that rises just to the belly button and hugs my butt respectfully, colored in a perfect light blue that doesn’t come close to touching ugly acid wash.” Initially, Snyder didn’t trust that the jeans were 100 percent cotton as they didn’t feel tight on. But they are indeed 100 percent pure, unadulterated cotton, and run true to size. “I feel sexy in them but still myself,” she adds.

Loose and Baggy

Since last October, our managing editor, Kelsie Schrader, has been wearing these. “They are close to the only pair I wear anymore,” she says. Schrader had a hard time finding jeans that weren’t tight through the butt (“I’m a runner, biker, etc., so have accordingly sized thighs,” she explains) and tried a number of pairs in different sizes during a Banana Republic sale, and “almost none worked.” Except a mid-rise, medium-wash version of the 90s Loose Jean. They still fit the same way as the day they arrived. (She had the waist taken in after sizing up.) From her experience of trying the light, medium, dark, and white washes: Light fit exactly as her original medium pair, while dark didn’t fit her no matter the size, and white was a little too tight in the same size.

Similarly, Abercrombie’s Curve Love Low Rise Ultra Loose Jean convinced our junior writer Bella Druckman to give low-rise a try. “I haven’t looked back since,” she says. “I’ve napped in them, flown in them, and taken ferries in them.” Every time she leaves the city, she brings a pair along. That said, it requires a few tries to get this right fit: “I’ve learned that sizing varies wildly by wash.” A dark-blue wash fits slightly smaller, while the khaki fits her more like a mid-rise in the size up, for instance.

Druckman never would’ve thought one of her favorite pairs of jeans would be from Edikted — a store on Soho’s Tween Row — “yet here we are,” she says. But the Raelynns “are flattering and don’t have any glaring design-sewing imperfections” that you may find in jeans at this similar price point. “More substantial than some of the other under-$100 jeans” she has (including a pair of the aforementioned low-rise ’90s Loose Jeans), she describes them as “canvaslike.” Again, she warns “sizing varies slightly by wash.” Edikted sent her the black-wash pair to try first, and Druckman then went for blue wash herself. Even though both pairs were in the same size, the blue wash is “slightly tighter” — so consider “trying a couple sizes if you’re in between sizes.”

Levi’s Baggy Dads are wider in the leg than Wedgies or Ribcages, and both writer Jo Rosenthal and brand consultant Katie Stone have multiple pairs of the style. “Everything but the waist is baggy,” Rosenthal says. She sized up, and there wasn’t a noticeable difference in the waist measurement from her usual size. Like Rosenthal, Stone finds them easy to wear. “They feel like home to me,” Stone says. “I don’t even consider having them on as ‘wearing jeans’; they’re in a different category of their own.”

Wide-Legs

“I like my denim to accentuate my figure. That means a high waist and hiding the midsection,” says Anne Whiting, a writer and communications strategist. This pair does the trick. “I think there’s something about the name Spanx that also placebo invokes that these are supporting-contouring my figure,” she says. But they really are leg-elongating and waist-snatching. Unlike your average pair of jeans, these don’t have a zipper or front pockets, so you pull them over your hips and thighs (as you would a Spanx girdle). “Sleekness comes at its cost,” she says. “I’d rather have smooth lines and just use the square back pocket.”

Thanks to an installment of Leandra Medine Cohen’s Cereal Aisle,Lizzie Noonan, a marketing consultant, learned about Massimo Dutti’s denim. Noonan had been on the hunt for a pair of dark-wash jeans and was hoping to find one that was like “Japanese raw denim minus the break-in suffering.” This pair delivered. “For how much I’ve worn them, they look almost exactly as they did when I bought them,” she says. (That was over a year ago, and she wears them at least twice a week.) “No rips, no weakening at the seams, just a slight fade in color.”The absence of a logo even “makes them look more expensive than they are.” She sized down, and they stretched perfectly — just as a 100 percent cotton jean should. Because of the mid-rise button-fly, everything feels “tucked in.” They’re the kind of jeans “that can sit on a Citi Bike seat, a boardroom chair, and a bar stool,” no problem.

Tanya Gonzalez, co-founder of Eauso Vert, appreciates that Cos denim doesn’t have any “excessive stitching or heavy branding.” Plus she says, “I don’t have to worry about my jeans losing its color if washed regularly.” Jeans from Cos generally run true to size, but Gonzalez prefers sizing up: “Not all denim is that flexible between sizing and I find that sizing up one to two sizes can be really comfortable, depending on how loose a fit you want.” The Dial is the jean she keeps coming back to now. It’s another “well-cut pair of jeans that works with everything.”

Flares and Bootcuts

Our senior editor Hilary Reid describes Mango’s Mid-Rise Flared Jeans as having a “subtle bootleg,” which “comes to about half an inch above the ground, so there’s full shoe coverage, but there’s no fabric dragging on the ground.” It’s the fit that’s especially impressed her. “They’re mid-rise with a bit of stretch, which makes them very comfortable, and despite the stretch they’re really not clingy,” she says. “I did size up one size and am glad I did — it helped make the stretch in them look less like stretchy jeans.” Plus, the full inseam (which she believes to be either 32 or 33 inches; it’s not listed online) is long enough for someone who is five-eight — as she is — or taller.

Carrollo took Wrangler’s High Rise Boots on a horseback-riding trip a few weeks ago: “I decided to wear what the real cowgirls and cowboys do and buy a pair of bootcut Wrangler jeans.” Her friend — who rides in Wranglers exclusively — helped her with the sizing. “I got the equivalent of my normal jean size and then, on her recommendation, picked the longest length,” she explains. (“You lose some pant length when your leg is bent in the saddle, and you want them to cover most of your boots.”) Carrollo rode in them for three days in a row. “Since they’re still new to me it’s hard to say how they’ll wear in the long run, but knowing how much durability a fabric needs to have for any type of horseback riding, they’re probably pretty solid,” she says. “I’ll absolutely be wearing them in my regular, non-horsey life now.” Maybe even with boots on, she says — but not necessarily cowboy boots.

Barrel-Legs

Or there’s Gap’s High Rise Barrel Jeans, which Oset Babür-Winter, founder of Prix Fixe, calls a “pretty exaggerated barrel.” “It’s definitely a jean that I could size down from my usual size in, but I like the roomier fit in the waist, and feel like it works well with the barrel cut,” she says. Plus it has a medium-high (or rather “medium-plus,” as she says) rise, if you’re not one for a super high-rise jean.

“I went through a phase where I wanted a uniform and it was all white (in retrospect I kind of looked like the cult from The Leftovers) but I never liked the casualness of blue jeans,” says Elissa Suh, film critic and writer of the Movie Pudding newsletter. Suh almost exclusively wears white denim still. These Free People jeans were gifted to her, and they’ve become a favorite over the last nine months. In “milk,” they’re the right shade of off-white (“not too bright, not too beige,” she says”). Suh was “both skeptical and intrigued as to how they would compare” to similar designer versions she’s tried. “The denim isn’t the opposite of stiff, but the silhouette holds up,” she says. “The looseness and softness of the jeans helps in this regard.” (She finds the denim to be on the lighter-weight side. “I wish there was a heavier-weight denim option so I could wear them in colder months,” she adds.)

Aisha Joshi, editor at Produce Parties and writer of the Babyteeth newsletter, hadn’t heard of the brand Náti before going to a store on Abbot Kinney in Los Angeles (only to find out it has a location down in Soho). But the Barrel Jean makes her feel like Jenna in 13 Going on 30, when “she’s kind of amazed at how she looks as a grown-up.” Joshi adds, “In some pairs of jeans I feel like I still look like a teenager, but these make me feel like I’m an actual 30-year-old.” She accidentally ended up buying them in a size too big, but that might’ve been for the best. “I’ll either roll them once or do the button-through-the-belt-loop trick to keep them higher on my body,” she says. “Or I let them sit lower on my hips and let my underwear peek out.” These are more comfortable than her other favorite jeans too. “Maybe it’s the oversize fit, but I hate feeling sucked into a pair of jeans,” she says.

Ro called in a pair of the Bay Barrel-Leg Jeans from Cos two months ago, and they’re the only pants she’s been wearing since. “The denim is lightweight and very comfortable,” she says. They also go with everything in the khaki-brown shade. But she likes to wear them with a black long-sleeve T-shirt or a red sweater in particular.