A Guide to Jeans with Shorter Inseams
There’s one major limitation when it comes to buying jeans with longer inseams and getting them hemmed: you can’t just trim off the leg bottoms and restitch them like a pair of chinos. The original hems should be maintained and resewn onto your jeans because the weight of this hem will keep your pants falling in the right way and looking as they should. It’s a relatively expensive tailoring job and it doesn’t always look so great after it’s done.
So, here at Peter Manning NYC we continuously refine our denim so that as a shorter man, you can buy your jeans and just wear them. No $30 upcharge or wait times with an in-demand tailor.
Our jean inseams start at 26” which equates to a perfect fit for a range of heights. These inseams aren’t offered anywhere else in a quality denim product. You can fine tune your fit preferences to suit your personal style, but we recommend starting with jeans with just a bit of break (the amount of fabric laying over the top of your shoes). That way you can accommodate for shrinking, especially if you choose to machine dry your denim. Our team recommends washing your jeans only when really needed (in the delicate cycle!) and hanging them to dry. This combination preserves the lifespan of your jeans without being overly precious with them.
It’s not just the length
A few other brands do offer jeans with shorter inseams, but for the most part, it’s just a 28” inseam that’s offered with a very limited waist size range. In contrast, our jeans come in a full range of inseams and waist sizes and, most importantly, have been designed from the ground up to fit a ‘not-so-tall’ guy’s proportions. It’s not just cutting off the legs, the wearer of our jeans gets a redesign of the rise, the knee break and other important details. It’s like custom-tailored, but without the tailor!
Our shorter inseam jeans are not simply an afterthought tacked onto the same jean designed for taller men. When you pull on a pair of PMNYC jeans, you’ll immediately feel the difference. It’s like sliding on a really great fitting pair of shoes—your body provides instant feedback.
How do you like to wear your jeans?
While our recommendation to shoot for little or no break works for most situations, you can choose an inseam that suits your personal style. A lot of our team members like to cuff their jeans, for the look and effect of adding even more weight to the bottom of the pants. If you want to cuff your jeans, order an inseam 1” longer than your normal pants length. That way the cuff remains neat and doesn’t ride too high.
If you enjoy wearing boots and high-top sneakers, you may consider ordering jeans with an inseam that is 1” shorter than your standard length. A lot of us have jeans just to wear with boots. An inseam that falls right around the top of a boot shows off the silhouette of your boots or high-top sneakers, and you don’t get that stacked look with inseams that are longer. Remember, if you are on the shorter side, it’s crucial to keep your entire look as streamlined as possible. Even our Standard Fit jeans aren’t overly roomy.
How to measure your inseam
For years, you’ve probably assumed that your inseam is 30” because that’s the shortest inseam available from most brands. But it’s typically too long for our guys. To find your true inseam, put on a pair of jeans and cuff them to a length where the hem hits the top of your shoes. Lay them flat on the floor and measure the length from the crotch seam to the bottom of the leg. This is the inseam measurement that serves as your guide.
