Doodies and Donts - Pant Hems

People seem to overlook the importance of pant hems. They will spend lots of money to find a pair of pants or jeans that make their waist look flatter, ass look rounder, or thighs look thinner, but once the bottoms have been purchased, they forget about everything else. They fit great but the length is long and so what do they do? Roll em up!

Rolling is bad. Bad bad bad. Unless you are purposely going for a rolled-hem look with your pants/jeans (which must be done carefully and with taste), then it just looks sloppy. Pants rolled outwards remind me of college and hippies. Pants rolled inwards remind me of high school. Both looks are bad and should not be used unless you are temporarily wading in ponds, playing at the beach, or catching crawfish. Rolling up the hem inevitably lead to holes and frayed edges and both are hard to fix.

The solution is: HEM YOUR PANTS! Before you add them to your wardrobe rotation, bring them to a dry cleaner or a tailor and spend an extra $10 to make them fit 100%. Here are things to consider before getting them hemmed:

1. What type of shoes are you going to be wearing them with? Flats? 1 inch heels? 3 inch heels? Boots? All pants must be designated a type of shoe because most won't work for both flats and heels. (skinny pants and ankle pants are the exception)

2. Once you have selected your type of shoe, bring them with you to the dry cleaner. There, you can try them on altogether while the tailor pins the the length.

3. How do you determine the length? This really depends on the type of bottom and the style in which it is cut. For most of my pants, I hem them just above the floor when looking at them from the back. I say skimming the floor will almost always be right. For men in slacks, I think it should be a little higher... about 1/2" above the ground.

4. What type of hem do you want? It's easiest to just have the tailor replicate the original hem style when getting your pants altered. Make sure they use a similar width cuff and thread color. If you want to change up the style of your hem, bring in a sample for the tailor to reference.

I know it's such a pain in the ass to get pants hemmed and even more annoying to think about having to spend MORE money on something you just dropped a ton of bucks on, but it will definitely be worth it. A cheap pair of pants that fit great all around will look 10x better than expensive pants that drag on the floor or float around your ankles.