Ksenia Schnaider Reworked Wide Jeans Medium Wash

These are made from jeans that already existed. That is the whole house in one garment: Ksenia Schnaider works by taking apart denim that has already been made, worn, and washed, and building something new out of the pieces, which is why a pair like this can have proportions that could not be cut from a roll of new cloth. A wide leg at this rise, made conventionally, means a great deal of fabric and a great deal of waste. Made this way it means the opposite. The high waist and the loose leg are the shape, and the raw edges are where the method shows: an edge that is left cut rather than turned tells you the garment was assembled rather than manufactured, and once you have seen it you cannot see the trouser any other way. The color is a wash rather than a dye, which is the second thing worth knowing. A wash is what an existing denim has been through, so no two pairs are identical, and the two washes we carry are two different starting points rather than two colorways of one cloth.

Why we selected it

Almost every maker who talks about sustainability is talking about the fiber they bought. This house is talking about the garment somebody already owned, and the difference is visible in the seams rather than printed on a hangtag. We wanted the plainest, most wearable thing it makes, which is this trouser.

Reworking existing denim is not a line in this house’s collection, it is the house’s method, and the wide jean is where the method produces something a person can wear every day.

The colour

The mid-blue wash, which is the one that looks like denim rather than like a dark trouser. It sits where a jean that has been worn for a few years sits, so the raw edges read as part of the same history rather than as a contrast against it, and the whole garment holds together as one object. It is the easier of the two to wear in daylight and the harder of the two to dress up.

Materials and construction

One hundred percent cotton, made in Ukraine. Upcycled denim, high-waisted, loose fitting, with raw edges. The record does not settle the leg shape: the garment is titled a wide jean and described as a flare. The copy above says loose and wide and does not call it a flare, and that gap is flagged rather than resolved. See FLAG 3.

Fit notes

High through the rise, so the waist decides the fit and the leg is generous below it. Denim has no recovery, so a pair that softens across a day comes back with a wash rather than springing back on the body. Raw edges soften and fray slightly and then stop. A reworked garment is assembled from cloth that has already been washed and worn, so the hand is broken in from the first wearing rather than after a season.

Styling

With the Denim Maxi Dress with Ruffles worn open over the top, where a white denim against a mid-blue one is the whole outfit. With the Melange Knit Dress. With the Platform Bag.

Care

These are a washed and reworked denim and not a raw one, so there is no argument for leaving them unwashed. Wash inside out and cool, and keep them out of a hot dryer, which is what pulls a raw edge further than it was meant to go. Our care guidance covers the rest.

Related pieces

The same trouser in a dark wash is one garment in its second wash, and the Flare Jeans in Dark Grey are a flared leg rather than a wide one. Everything we carry from Ksenia Schnaider is listed together.