You probably know this, but what’s en vogue does change with the times. Back in the day, most American-made jeans were crafted with a higher waist, a looser and more voluminous pant leg, and high-quality, substantial and sturdy denim that tends to not have a lot of, if any, stretch to it. You may find with vintage jeans you’ll go up an inch or two in your waist size because of this, so don’t freak out if you fit best in a 32” pair instead of your usual 30” (and even if you have gained two inches around your waist overnight? Whatever. You rock.). It’s par the course for your vintage pair to fit like a glove against the hips and loosen out (potentially a lot) in the legs because, well, that’s the style that was ‘in’ those days. But it’s also what’s in now, because vintage denim is forever.

Here at AP we do our best to source the finest vintage jeans we can find in as many sizes and styles as possible. We’ve got straight-leg pairs, slightly flared pairs, tapered-ankle pairs, roomy-leg pairs and more in all washes of blue and the black-and-white spectrum, too. Inseams are important when buying pants (you don’t want your ankles to be cold) so we try to host a nice variety of inseam lengths as well, but we’d also like to take this time to say that cuffing your jeans is very in and we both fully support and practice this. Like we said, vintage denim is sturdy stuff and is, clearly, built to last. Whilst all were (gently) worn in a past life, our jeans do sometimes require a bit of breaking in, but we’re confident you can handle that.

Like most things in life, finding the perfect pair of vintage jeans is often achieved through trial and error. If you’re able, we highly recommend coming down to the shop to slip into some jeans of ours in person (you can come in and try on any that you see online!). We love to help people find their dream pair or at least guide them in that direction as best we can, so get your butts down here. Seriously.

This guide is a starting point to match your measurements with our denim. Measurements are not taken from the original tag as most of our denim has been washed and dried by the previous owner, so those measurements aren't always accurate. We measure all denim on a flat surface. When you take your own measurements, it is best to use a flexible measuring tape. 

1. WAIST: Measure your natural waist line. This is the area right above your hips and close to your belly button, not the smallest part of your torso. Wrap the measuring tape around your body comfortably, not too tight and not too loose. This is the best measurement to take first since our jeans are titled online with the waist measurement. You can come back and measure your waist again once you find out the rise of the denim to ensure a proper fit.

2. RISE: This measurement will let you know approximately how high the denim will sit around your waist. If you find a pair of jeans listed on our website that matches your waist, the next measurement to try is the rise, which will be listed in the product description. Starting between your legs and measure up towards your belly button, this measurement is from the intersection of the inseam and zipper seam to the top of the waist. You can determine approximately how high the denim will rise around your waist and you can even double check the waist measurement at this point.

3. INSEAM: This measurement will be from the intersection of seams between your legs down to the pant leg hem. It will let you know how long the jeans are. We recommend cuffing or cutting the bottom hem to your desired length if the original length is more material than you want to cuff.

4. LEG OPENING: This measurement will let you know the circumference of the leg opening. Only listed when leg opening has an unusual size.

Lastly, our all sales final policy doesn't allow returns or exchanges so if you're ordering online, please keep this in mind.

Now, go find that dream pair by starting here: DENIM