Jeans and advanced online shopping

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Jeans and advanced online shopping

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Loved the post today about jeans, and how many kinds there are, and how easy they are to match with anything.

I have a problem when I shop for jeans online, and that is that I need 0% polyester in my jeans and pants. And it is blended into so many things. (It makes my legs get a rash.)

Using the material filter set to cotton doesn't work, because it can still be blended with polyester. There seems to be no way to filter that out, and what I do instead is just focus on tried-and-true brands that are likely to have cotton/spandex blends, like Levis.

I am wondering if anyone knows a way to filter out polyester in searches. It would be nice to be able to diversify the stores I go to. Or if not, if you know specific brands (affordable, $100 or less), that is good, too.

To open up the conversation more, does anyone have any advanced tricks they use to speed up online shopping in general?

11 months ago

Shopping

14 replies

Latest reply was from Carol

Dee

Veteran

Maybe typing in “100% cotton jeans” in your search might help you with filtering an option that wont have polyester in them.

11 months ago

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Dee--that's true, but I have tried that. Pretty sure all the 100% ones are pretty high end. Because most of the budget-friendly ones are 98% cotton/2% spandex, or something like that (which I will wear.)

11 months ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

How about searching using cotton + spandex jeans and see what you get? It's true that doesn't rule out polyester, but....

More generally, for online shopping, and this might (eventually) help with your jeans search, too -- I tend to look a a few key brands that match my aesthetic/ fit/ price point and other requirements. So I'm not searching everywhere and all over, but only those few brands that have worked out pretty well for me in the past.

I just did a quick look at it seems that Madewel and Gap both have jeans with cotton/ elastane only (mostly cotton). So you could start there for medium price range denim. Old Navy has some styles in all cotton or cotton with a bit of spandex but most seem to have some poly content.

I confess that despite doing so much shopping online, I don't think I have the best strategies for doing it! Buying, trying, sending back is pretty much it. ;). But I *do* look at fabric composition if this is important to me (and it usually is!) and they always list those details. Occasionally (rarely, really) you will get the item and it won't be as described in terms of fabric composition.

My jeans come from a range of places and and price points and none have polyester in them. Some are all-cotton, some have a bit of spandex/ elastane, and one has tencel.

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11 months ago

Je Ne Sais Pas

Active Member

You may want to look at MANGO. All of their jeans are below 100 USD, and a few of them are 100 cotton. Check these two:

https://shop.mango.com/us/wome......html?c=TO

I think the others are cotton-elastane blends.

Hi everyone! I hail from Barcelona and I am new to the forum, longtime YLF reader, just signed up to chime in this question

11 months ago

Brooklyn

Veteran

ASOS and H&M have lots of 100% cotton jeans, very reasonably priced. I only tend to look at baggy or wide leg styles however. I think it might be harder to find skinny or slim fit jeans in 100% cotton.

11 months ago

Jules

Veteran

I don’t have search tips but will back up Suz that Gap, On (and probably BR which might be in price range on sale) often have some 99% cotton jeans. I wasn’t sure if elastane/spandex were a problem too? I also don’t like polyester in my denim! Especially when jeans were skinny, as soon as the weather warmed up I could not stand polyester.

11 months ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Lots of good suggestions!

Another vote for the Gap! Especially affordable on discount day

11 months ago

Jenni NZ

Veteran

Umm- elastane is made from polyurethane or polyester. So how come you can wear that if you don’t feel you can wear polyester?

11 months ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Jenni, I can't speak for Carol, but I can tell you my own experience. The jeans that have 1% to 2% elastane/ spandex are hotter to wear than 100% cotton jeans...but of course the stretch makes them more comfortable, as a rule. But jeans that include a larger proportion of polyester in the weave of the fabric are both warmer and have a different texture against the skin. Sometimes they hold their shape a bit better than all cotton jeans (which for some people is a plus) and they might be more durable or fade proof (though I'm not sure about that.) What I do know is they feel different to the hand and on the body. I can imagine that if one is sensitive to a fabric, the higher the proportion, the more likely you'd feel that sensitivity.

Speaking for myself, I have that feeling about acrylic in sweaters. I might be able to wear a sweater with less than 5% acrylic, but I would be wary about buying it and probably would steer clear unless it was spectacular in every other way. And if the percentage were any higher, I'd walk away for sure. I know I quite simply cannot bear acrylic against my body and will not wear it. I will be unbearably hot and uncomfortable in it (or cold if the temps are really cold) and so it will be a useless purchase.

11 months ago

judy

Veteran

Not only typing exactly what you want into google...100 percent cotton denim jeans women, say...but also hitting "images" on the bar above instead of "all" helps me out a lot when I am looking for clothes because it's just easier for me to see all the pictures.

11 months ago

Kate

Veteran

The Uniqlo U line often has 100% cotton jeans.

11 months ago

phoebe

Active Member

Hi Je Ne Sais Pas, nice tip and strong start!

10 months ago

Je Ne Sais Pas

Active Member

Thank you!!!

10 months ago

Carol

(website)

Veteran

Everyone--thanks for all the tips. I learned some new things, and and especially some brands that might work, that I haven't tried before.

Jenni--I really don't know. I didn't know spandex was made from polyester, but it does go through a chemical process to change it. So I don't know--maybe that's it.

Suz--thanks for your thoughts on this issue--it very well may be that there's only 2% in there, as opposed to 30% or 75%, like you said. I actually really do have trouble picturing the 100% cotton jeans as comfortable, because they sounds stiff. I guess that's what we were all wearing 30 years ago (but I did not have belt loop trouble back then!)

I love all your photos, and I really love those jogger-style jeans. I could see those being comfortable if they were 100% cotton. I'll go click on it now, and see.

10 months ago

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