Most faded jeans are not actually faded. They are distressed, which is a different thing entirely and rarely a good one. What we are looking for is the kind of wash that looks like the jeans have lived a little, not like they have been attacked with sandpaper in a factory. That specific blue, somewhere between indigo and pale, is one of the hardest things to find done well at any price point.

The cut matters as much as the wash. A great fade on a bad fit is still a bad pair of jeans. We have been looking closely at options where the two things work together, where the wash is considered rather than gratuitous and the cut sits properly through the seat and thigh without going full workwear.

These are jeans that work with a white shirt on a warm evening as easily as they do with a heavyweight sweatshirt on a Sunday. That kind of range is rare and worth paying attention to.