Every Style of Jeans, Explained

Jeans come in roughly nine fits, and the differences all live in three places: the thigh, the knee and the hem. Skinny is tight the whole way down. Slim is close but not sprayed on. Straight runs the same width from knee to ankle. Tapered starts roomy and narrows below the knee. Relaxed and loose add room through the seat and thigh. Wide-leg and baggy keep that volume all the way to the floor. Bootcut and flare do the opposite — they nip in at the knee and open out again. Everything else you've heard of, from carpenter jeans to raw selvedge, is a detail of construction or fabric, not a fit. Get the fit right first, and the rest is preference.

The nine fits, in plain English

Skinny

Narrow through the thigh, the knee and the ankle, almost always with elastane in the denim so it moves. Typically a 12–14cm leg opening.

Works best on slim, straight builds and lean legs.
Needs a low-profile shoe — a chunky trainer looks like a boot on a stick.
Currently the least fashionable cut on this list, though it hasn't disappeared from the shops.

Slim

The safest jean in menswear. Follows the leg with about an inch of air around the thigh, then runs down to a 15–17cm opening. It's the cut most men should own in a mid or dark indigo.

Slim taper

My personal default, and the one I recommend most often. Roomier through the seat and thigh than a straight slim, then it narrows sharply from the knee down.

Flattering on athletic builds and anyone who's done a squat in the last decade.
The extra thigh room means it doesn't pull when you sit.
Pairs cleanly with trainers, Chelsea boots and derbies alike.

Straight

Consistent width from the knee to the hem, usually 18–20cm. This is the classic 501 silhouette and it's having a proper moment. Forgiving on almost every body shape.

Relaxed / loose

Generous through the seat, thigh and knee, with a gentle taper or none at all. Genuinely comfortable, and the cut most twentysomethings are buying right now.

Wide-leg

Volume from waist to floor, often 24cm and up at the hem. Balance is everything here.

Keep the top half fitted — a boxy shirt over wide jeans reads as pyjamas.
Get the length right. One break at the shoe, no more.
They need a substantial shoe underneath. A slim trainer disappears.

Baggy

Wide-leg with the volume pushed higher, into the seat and crotch. A subcultural cut, essentially — skate and hip-hop heritage. Fine if it's genuinely your wardrobe, awkward if you're wearing it to a client meeting.

Bootcut

Slim through the thigh, opening slightly from the knee to clear a boot. Practical rather than fashionable, and unfairly maligned.

Flare

Bootcut, exaggerated. A dramatic opening from the knee. Requires commitment and a certain amount of leg length.

Rise: the bit everyone ignores

Rise is the distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband, and it changes a silhouette more than the leg does.

Low rise (around 20cm): sits below the hip bone. Shortens the leg. Rare now, for good reason.
Mid rise (23–26cm): sits at the hip. The default on almost every jean sold in the UK.
High rise (28cm+): sits at the natural waist. Lengthens the leg dramatically and works beautifully with straight and wide cuts. Tuck a shirt in and the effect is obvious.

Years ago I bought a pair of raw selvedge jeans in my true waist measurement because the man in the shop told me raw denim doesn't stretch much. It stretches about two inches. I wore them belted for six months before admitting defeat. Buy raw denim snug — genuinely uncomfortable-snug — and they'll settle. Buy pre-washed stretch denim in your actual size and it'll stay there.

Fabric and finish

Raw denim: unwashed, stiff, dyed deep indigo. Fades to your body over time. Roughly 12–14oz for everyday wear.
Selvedge: woven on a shuttle loom, giving a clean self-finished edge inside the outseam. A mark of construction quality, not automatically a mark of fit.
Stretch denim: 1–3% elastane. Comfortable, but it will bag at the knee eventually. Above 3% and you're wearing jeggings.
Washes: dark indigo is the most versatile and the smartest. Mid-blue is the everyday workhorse. Light and stone washes are strictly casual. Black fades to grey unless you wash it cold and inside out.

Nine brands worth your money

High street

Uniqlo — the selvedge jeans are made with Kaihara denim from Japan, at a price that makes no sense in the best way. Their slim taper is the best sub-£50 jean in Britain.
Arket — clean, restrained cuts with almost no branding. The straight and relaxed fits are well drafted and the organic cotton denim wears in properly.
Weekday — the place to go if you want wide, loose or baggy done convincingly, and cheaply enough to experiment with a silhouette before committing.

Independent and boutique

Blackhorse Lane Ateliers — cut and sewn in Walthamstow. Free repairs for life, and they'll alter the leg for you. The most honest jean I own.
Hiut Denim Co — Cardigan, west Wales, made by people who've been making jeans for decades. Small runs, serious construction, no marketing nonsense.
Nudie Jeans — free repairs in their London stores, organic cotton throughout, and a genuinely broad fit range from tight tapers to loose straights.

Designer and luxury

A.P.C. — the New Standard is the benchmark raw denim jean. Buy it snug, wear it hard, don't wash it for six months.
Acne Studios — the house that made slim denim a designer category, and now does relaxed and wide fits with the same precision.
Officine Générale — quietly excellent Japanese denim with a French cut. Slightly high-rise, beautifully balanced, no logos anywhere.

How to actually wear them

Own one dark indigo pair with no distressing. It will get you into most restaurants.
Match volume to volume. Wide jeans, substantial shoe. Slim jeans, slim shoe.
Hem length: one gentle break, or a clean stack on wider cuts. Never a puddle.
Wash jeans rarely, cold, inside out. The fade is the point.

Stop guessing your denim size

Denim sizing is a mess. A W32 at one brand is a W34 at another, vanity sizing is rife, and raw denim behaves differently again. That's exactly why we built Tellar — the UK's leading free sizing tool, matching your body to over 1,500 brands instantly.

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Not sure how to measure? Our how to measure guide for men takes two minutes.
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The Tellar Fashion Hub

A growing library of free posts written by our stylists. Honest. Unbiased. Independent. Always free. Style advice, top picks, best brands — no sponsorship, no affiliate agenda.

Nine fits, three rises, a handful of finishes. Learn which combination suits your build, find your true size in each brand, and you'll never buy a bad pair again.