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For something unanimously deemed a staple, jeans are the worst to shop for. Once you’ve somehow navigated to the right look and price, finding the right fit is a whole different nightmare, and before you know it you’ve spent your entire day off trying on jeans with nothing to show for it. (Especially in the colder months, when you absolutely need pants but aren’t trying to spend a whole day with your pants off in a cold dressing room.)
Enter Mott & Bow, the brand aiming to end all of your denim troubles from price down to fit, no dressing room required. After launching as a men’s collection in 2014, the premium quality but well-priced brand introduced women’s jeans in May of this year, with styles starting at $96 and peaking at $128.
I’ve been hearing about the line since springtime — the like-a-glove fit, the super soft and stretchy materials, and of course, the home try-on program — but I just got around to trying (and falling in love with) a pair recently. Judging by my experience, the brand fills its promise and then some.
Mott & Bow was founded by Alejandro Chahin, whose family has been manufacturing denim in Honduras for decades. He saw a space in the market for high-end jeans at a fair, mid-range price. “Most startup brands have to pay a manufacturer to source the product for them, which is always more expensive and leads to increased prices,” says Chahin. But because he already had the connections and know-how thanks to the family business, Chahin is able to make designer-level jeans at a fraction of the price.
But the real win is the home try-on program. Taking a cue from other direct-to-consumer brands like Warby Parker, which sends potential customers five pairs of glasses to try out at a time, Mott & Bow has applied the same strategy to finding the perfect pair of jeans.
When you pick a pair you want to purchase from the site, you also select a second pair with a different waist size so you can decide for yourself, in the comfort of your own home, which fits you best. Naturally, you keep the one you like and send back the second pair with a free return label, which is provided to ensure a seamless process.
The program is a sigh of relief for the buyer, and a really smart move for a relatively new, online-only denim brand to gain traction.
Chahin says you can’t go wrong with any pair, but shares that The Bond, a classic jet black skinny, and The Carmine, a perfectly faded, true blue skinny high-rise, are among the collection’s best sellers — both are available to shop right now. I was able to try out The Bond, and I honestly haven’t wanted to take them off since. (I’m wearing them as I type.) The waist is just high enough and the fit has a really forgiving stretch without making it look like have jeggings on, important to note as I plan to make these my wear-anywhere, for-anything jeans.