The Great Frontier of Compromise Pants
If you want something between a hard pant and a soft pant, step right this way!
Earlier this year, as part of Back Row’s nascent product-testing vertical “Back Row Labs,” I tried sweatpants jeans. Popularized by rag & bone, these pants — essentially sweats that have the image of jeans printed on them with eery accuracy — lie somewhere between soft and hard. They are compromise pants: a compromise between sweatpants and the uncomfortable basic trousers and jeans that fashion beat reporters will be writing advice columns about until the human race goes extinct.
This, as I said in my annual predictions post earlier this year, is the new frontier of dressing. Think about it: jeans have betrayed us. They dig, they pinch, they can make sitting feel like punishment. No wonder athleisure took over. Now, we want to feel like we’re in sweats all the time — but not look it.
When I was testing sweatpants jeans, I ordered a slew of the compromise pants that kept getting advertised to me on social media. I mentioned in my earlier story that the Gap ones were astonishingly not horrid. Ahead, you can look and judge for yourself.
In reviewing these pants I was looking mainly for two things:
Are they comfortable? There’s no point in a compromise pant if not.
Can you dress them both up and down? The ideal compromise pant, to me, can maybe even go to the office. That is, if you work in a creative field or tech company or whatever. I’ve never been a corporate lawyer or had to work in an office that was super shift dress-y. If you do, please report back on whether or not your workplace would, in this post-pandemic age, accept a compromise pant.
Here we go.
Pros:
It blows my mind how you can dress these up. If your workplace accepts a sandblasted jean, I think your coworkers would have no idea these are not, in fact, jeans, particularly if you wear a dressier shoe.
They have real pockets, not pocket illustrations, like the other sweatpants jeans.
The cut, for a wide-leg compromise pant, is great.
Cons:
Since these are high-wasted and have a zip/button closure, they weren’t quite as comfortable as elastic-waist options.
Price: $238. Not cheap, but worth it if you wear them a lot.
Pros:
These are harder to dress up than the Sofie, but you could force it.
Comfort. They’re more sweatpants than jeans and they feel like it.
My kids were fascinated by the pocket images.
Cons:
People are more likely to know you’re wearing sweats, which make these less of a great party trick.
Price. Still up there, at $188.
Pros:
If I hadn’t been researching compromise pants, I never would have bought these — but I found them charming.
This is a great summer denim option if you don’t live somewhere hot.
Cons:
Not cheap, at $128.
Fit wasn’t great for me.
Pros:
I thought these looked really bad on the Gap website. But once I tried them on, they were extremely soft and comfortable — not sweatpants technically, but interchangeable. Zac Posen should maybe put aside that Studio line that no one asked for and put some work into the website assets.
Price: $59.
Functional back pockets that aren’t just a mirage.
Cons:
If your coworkers wear sweats to the office, sure, you can probably pull these off, but it’s a lot harder to dress these up.
Pros:
If you’re looking for an editorial sweatpant (admittedly, a very specific need) these are great. (I was not looking for an editorial sweatpant.)
They come with a matching sweatshirt that I did not order, but I recognize this is a cute look for someone who is not me.
Cons:
These give sweats more than jeans. Cos has seldom steered me wrong (you might say I “stan” Cos), but I liked these the least of all the pants I tried for this story. They are very wide — think Gumby wide.
Price. If i’m spending $99 on sweatpants I need to love them.
Pros:
These elastic-waist Enza Costa jeans were advertised to me on Instagram and I was prepared to absolutely hate them. Again, I was pleasantly surprised.
They were loose and more comfortable than many jeans I own, and could be dressed up or down. If you wore a long shirt, no one would know about your secret elastic waistband. So you can really stick it to your office dress code.
Cons:
A bit pricey (but they’re currently on sale for $207).
The fit seems rather specific so they might not work for everyone.
Pros
I never felt tempted to get into culottes when they had their renaissance circa what, 2016? Of all the pants I tried, these drawstring jeans from Cos both confused my husband the most and were my favorite of this bunch.
They dress up or down, and they’re ridiculously comfortable because legs are basically big enough to fit a Christmas tree.
You could probably wear them to work at TikTok, but not at MicKinsey. They seem ideal for a weekend or date night (you’re welcome, husband). I loved them!
Cons
Kind of pricey at $120.
In Conclusion…
What this experiment taught me is that we should all try things we wouldn’t normally buy. Now I know that I might actually like barrel-leg pants and drawstring denim.
If compromise pants are not for you and you just want regular jeans. I also love these and these wide-leg styles by American Eagle (a great buy at $45 and $25 right now, respectively), these by Ayr, and these by rag & bone.
Loose Threads
Radhika Jones will step down as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair this spring. Anna Wintour reportedly cried at the meeting where Jones told her staff. Jones’s salary was, the New York Post claims, seven figures — but the next person to have the job won’t earn that. So, who should replace her? Wrong answers only. (Graydon Carter.)
Trump’s tariffs will impact the fashion industry badly, as previously predicted in Back Row. Axios has a good overview of what this means for the clothes you buy: 97 percent of the apparel and shoes the U.S. buys are made in other countries, while China and Vietnam make 28.7 percent and 25.4 percent, respectively. Imports from Vietnam will face a 46 percent tariff, and those from China, 34 percent. Yahoo! Finance has the reaction from financial analysts, concluding the tariffs “make apparel stocks like Nike uninvestable.” (Way harsh, Tai.) The thinking behind tariffs is that companies will make goods in the U.S. rather than outsourcing that labor — the only problem is, there’s no appetite to bring clothing manufacturing here, so American consumers will be left to pay higher prices.
Are Swedish beauty brands becoming more of A Thing in the U.S.? They keep landing in my inbox. For instance, Under Your Skin, which promises to be “hormone-safe.” One of their most popular products is “density drops.”
Meghan Markle’s foodstuffs sold out in under an hour. (It’s unclear how many of each product she made, but the As Ever Instagram noted “limited quantities for each seasonal drop.”) I so wanted to try something — a crepe mix, a flower sprinkle, a cookie — even the tea! Now I’ll have to continue eating my avocado toast in its sad, flower sprinkle-less state. That Jenni Kayne sweater is still available, though!
Business of Fashion reports that designer sneaker sales are flagging. An expert “attributed the decline to stretched consumers and shoppers choosing functional sneakers by sportswear brands rather than designer styles.” This seems completely unsurprising. Designer sneakers can easily cost $1,200, which is hard to justify as it is — plus, they had been an entry-point for aspirational shoppers, but luxury brands don’t seem to care much about them anymore.
No one asked for the Gap Studio line -- but honestly the line and Zac's overall influence on the brand are the most excited I've heard anyone be about Gap in 25 years. I felt like Brooks Brothers absolutely squandered the opportunity with him and I was worried this would be another case, especially given the mismatch in target demographics. (Adore his work, but how does red carpet translate to khakis?)
But... in my (engineering!) office, on tiktok, at the ballet in SF, people who are not fashion people are talking about Zac Posen at Gap in a way I haven't heard creative directors discussed before, outside of fashion circles. It was a smart move and he seems to be thriving; I'm glad for him and honestly for the brand. The product is good and the quality feels great, I honestly don't know how they're doing some of it at the price point they are.
designer sneakers are one of the biggest grifts out there! like you can spend around $200 on an actual stylish comfortable pair of functional sneakers.