The best jean brands will lead you straight to denim nirvana

On the hunt to find the best denim, you'd be wise to start by getting familiar with the best jean brands, for a few reasons. For one, the best jean brands don't just make copy-and-paste takes on the same five-pocket dungaree — they play with fit, shape, details, fabric and more. For another, great denim brands have personalities all their own. Maybe they get deep in the weeds on craftsmanship, or source rare denim (it exists!), or bring runway brilliance to the blue collar world of jeans. Maybe they just make an undeniably good pair of jeans at a great price, or a pair in your hard-to-find size.

The Best Jeans Hit List

• The Original Blue Jeans: Levi's 501 Original Fit Jean, from £74
• The High Street Jeans: Arket Park Regular Straight Jeans, £77
• The Upgrade Jeans: Levi Vintage 1954 501 Jeans, £220
• The Gateway Jeans: A.P.C. Standard Jeans, £185
• The Hippy-Dippy Jeans: Ed Hardy Denim Dragon Jeans, £85

Levi's 501 jeans | Burberry ‘Kensington’ trench coat | White T-shirt and trainers are model's own

Point is, scratch the surface and you find an ocean of indigo. We're here to help you set sail on this personal journey, so we've put together this guide to the best jean brands in the hope that you'll find the right pair — let's be honest, pairs — to hold down your 'fits. Whether you're wearing them with a plain white T-shirt and blue jeans, trying a daring double denim situation, or something even wilder, it's impossible to look bad when you've got a well-fitting pair of jeans in your rotation. And you can do just that, taking into account the best jeans on a budget, your body type, the silhouette and styles you want, and more.

So while we can’t be there in person to walk the store aisles (or scroll the screens) and help you pick out your new favourite pair of jeans, here are all the brands that will steer you in the right direction for the best jeans for men.

How to Buy a Quality Pair of Jeans

1. Know a brand's strengths: You can break down the jeans world into two halves: brands that specialise in jeans, and brands that make jeans as part of a larger offering. The specialists tend to be unassailable, and they exist at all ends of the price spectrum, from Levi's and Lee to indie denim labels like Orslow. Andrew Chen, owner and founder of New York-based 3sixteen, explains one benefit of denim-focused brands: a relentless devotion to making better jeans. “Companies that make the same jeans year-in and year-out are always making tweaks — sometimes imperceptible — to improve the product.” On the flip side, a mall brand lets you try pairs on with ease (and no shipping fees). And a fashion-forward brand can add a new edge to your closet.”

2. Consider the denim's quality: The long-term quality of a pair of jeans mostly comes down to the fabric and the stitching. Jeans from chain stores — whether that's Levi's or Arket — tend to be made from mid-weight denim (generally “12 oz.” denim, calculated as weight-per-yard of fabric). Speciality denim retailers tend to start there and carry heavier artisanal selvedge denim, probably woven in Japan, the last bastion of high-end raw denim manufacturing. Heavier denim is meant to last longer (or so the theory goes), but isn't necessarily better, despite what some hardcore denimheads might say. Lighter denim (9-to-11oz.) is nice in the summer, but also more delicate.

3. Explore the brand's fits: Jean fits, like snowflakes and Haribo, come in a mind-melting array of seemingly-minute variations: you've gotta consider high-rise vs. low, flares vs. straight vs. taper, bagginess, stretchiness, denim weight, and more. But breathe deep. First, know that high-street brands (Reiss, Uniqlo, etc.) and the affordable O.G.s — Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler — have much bigger sizing ranges than the indies. (We'll spare you a lesson in the economies of scale.) Plus, they tend to have plenty of brick-and-mortar outposts for trying on different styles if you're wondering about the recent relaxed-fit revolution or high-rise-curious. On the flip side, smaller companies experiment more, and aren't afraid to try something new.

If your priority is comfort, look for a pair of jeans with stretch, usually accomplished by weaving some elastane into the denim. Jill Guenza, Global VP of Women's Design at Levi Strauss & Co., suggests walking around in the jeans for several minutes as well as sitting and standing to test the stretch's recovery. “A pair of jeans with a well-engineered fit and high-quality stretch,” she says, “won’t require a lot of adjustment after a few minutes of movement.” Just know that stretch denim tends not to last as long as straight denim.

The Best Jean Brands, by Category

Click each link to jump down to that section. You'll see a breakdown of the brand and a few of our favourite pairs of jeans from each.

• The Big Three: Levi's, Lee, Wrangler
• The High Street Mainstays: Uniqlo, Reiss, Arket
• The Reliable Upgrades: Todd Snyder, Levi's Vintage Clothing, Wood Wood
• The New-School Denim Enthusiasts: A.P.C., Acne Studios, John Elliott
• The Freaky-Deaky Envelope-Pushers: Y/Project, Ed Hardy
• The Artisanal Stalwarts: Orslow, RRL
• The Designer Labels With Legit Denim Chops: Diesel, Our Legacy

In the denim world, Levi's, Lee, and Wrangler are the most influential denim brands of all time, having (literally, in one case) invented the category and spent more than a century shaping how we think of blue jeans. As denim went from mining gear to workwear to closet staple for every human on earth, these three brands' impact on menswear and fashion is incalculable. They're all also massive brands, some of which have sub-brands (we'll get to those), so knowing how to parse The Big Three's massive catalogue is crucial to getting historically good denim at solid prices.

Not including Levi's in this list would be like omitting Michael Jordan from the Hall of Fame. Levi's isn't just the most well-known jeans brand on the planet, it's the one that literally invented the damn things (way back in 1873). After all these years, it's still the yardstick by which all other jeans brands are measured. The straight-legged 501 remains the iconic pair of jeans, available in a million fits and rinses. The 505 has a slightly roomier thigh, a bit of taper, and a zip fly (versus the 501's button fly).

Lee was one of the early denim pioneers, and the first to use a zipper fly. (Oh, and it invented overalls, too.) Today, the brand tends to ride on the budget side of the spectrum, with fits and washes that trend particularly dad-like. That said, Lee's denim continues to deliver on the brand's legacy of hard-wearing, good-value jeans.

As the name suggests, Wrangler is geared toward cowboys — and that's not just some southern-fried fashion branding. Wrangler's long been the official jean of professional rodeo hunks, and at one point even claimed to make the heaviest denim in the world (14 oz., if you're wondering). The brand still lists denim weights on its website (a sign that it speaks the language of good jeans) and has since expanded into even hardier cuts. Though most of its jeans come with washes and distressing, Wrangler is one of the few brands that offers real raw denim at such a low price.

The death of high street shopping has been somewhat over-exaggerated. Besides, the best high street brands are very much alive and well on the Internet, with fast shipping, easy returns, and often some eye-opening sales that include their denim. That said: not every chain brand is bringing an indigo A-game, so pay attention. Gap and Uniqlo have raised the bar on the denim you can get for under £100, while Reiss and, more recently, Arket are offering a wider range of on-trend fits and washes than before.

While it may be part of the Hennes & Mauritz group, H&M quality denim this is not. An elevated collection that does for menswear what (another H&M offshoot) &Other Stories does for women, Arket uses organic and recycled cotton for its jeans, which run the gamut of staple rises, colours and washes.

Some of the most exactingly made jeans you can try on on the high-street, Reiss' denim pieces draw from the original Big Three, with some added tailored zhuzh. Find your perfect fit (as you always should) and these are jeans that'll see you through casual and business-casual engagements alike.

Uniqlo's mastered the affordability-to-style matrix better than any other brand in its category, and it excels at knitwear, outerwear, button-ups — and, of course, denim. The mega-retailer is a consistent go-to for anyone looking to cop their first pair of raw jeans. Just under £40 for Japanese-milled selvedge? Still can't beat it.

Known for its affordable minimal pieces which refuse to compromise on quality, Cos has grown its denim department over recent years, and this now amounts to a selection of offerings which will cater to any avenue of style. Frequently incorporating recycled and organic materials in their construction, shapes are most commonly straight, wide or tapered, and often fuse details inspired by the workwear silhouette: from practical front pockets to selvedge hems. Simple, comfortable and durable at once, the wider styles in particular are well worth adding to your wardrobe.

Looking to fuse your denim style game with some rock and roll sensibilities? No doubt about it; AllSaints is the brand to serve it best. Ever since its inception in 1994, the retailer has proven itself to be the most trustworthy high street destination for a grungy style stance, so naturally, denim comes into this equation. Most commonly crafted with slim fits (as its musical following tends to favour), the shades are centred around black, grey and blue, and tend to be finished with a subtle washed appearance for a lived-in look. Shoutout goes to the ‘Rex’ style from the current selection.

Sometimes the best jean brands are the ones that take what you know and love, and bring it to a new level. These brands tend to raise the bar on quality, which you'll see reflected in the price tags. They'll use high-quality Japanese denim or selvedge denim in tandem with top-quality hardware, more artful distressing, and more minute details. None of these brands stray far from the classic five-pocket blue jean formula, plus they're readily available online.

Is it at all surprising that do-it-all brand Todd Snyder also makes flawless, nailed-on denim? After all, the guy's CV includes stints at Ralph Lauren and J.Crew. Plus he's got a knack for high-quality fabrics and expert tailoring, not to mention a doctorate in Americana.

Levi's Vintage Clothing is the reproduction arm of Levi's, delivering strict, stitch-for-stitch recreations of styles from the brand's vault. That includes hyper-accurate raw denim 501s from, say, 1944, but it also includes facsimiles of thrashed and shredded jeans picked up at high-profile auctions — with real-deal holes and patches reproduced from an actual pair of very rare vintage jeans.

Having started out as a limited edition T-shirt mill in Scandinavia, is it really any surprise that Wood Wood has also come to embody that other modern dressing stalwart? Maker of casual fashion's bread (jeans) and its butter (denim), find both bonafide classics and off-the-wall experiments on the brand's site and via Matches.

For any new denim designer, it’s important to be on the pulse with conscious production, and Swedish brand Jeanerica is a fine example of how to do it right. Constructed from high-quality sustainable fabrics and finished using the finest expert techniques, its premium denim designs take classic fits and finish them with modern upgrades. Case in point? The ‘TM005’ tapered style, reimagined for the 21st century through an elongated mid-rise waist, an organically-sourced texture and a fuse of stretch to its traditional robust texture.

Beginning its design journey back in 2001, Nudie Jeans lives by a wear-and-tear philosophy, promoting its offerings as pieces that you’ll want to repair, not replace. Consistently transparent in their production process (which favours the use of organic cotton, big yes), their new-school mindset extends to a versatile range of frames: including skinny, tight, grim, lean, gritty and steady. Covering all body types with these fits as well as the colour options available, this is a top port of call for a conscious pair to last (and be taken care of by the brand itself if ever needed).

Sometime in the ‘90s, a fresh wave of indigo helped re-introduce jeans to a generation that had grown up on Topman and Gap. Brands like A.P.C. became gateway drugs for budding indigo obsessives looking for a new fit and dipping into their first pair of raw denim jeans. Meanwhile, Acne Studios and John Elliott founded brands that filtered a streetwear mindset into workwear’s #1 hit. Today they're all part of the denim establishment, in the best way possible.

For many menswear fans, A.P.C. was a gateway not only into raw denim but into menswear as a whole. A.P.C.'s minimalist aesthetic coupled with high-quality fabrics made its logo-less jeans a hit in the late 2000s, when fashion was beginning to sober up from logomania. To this day, the Paris-based label continues to produce streamlined jeans and denim products better than most.

Acne Studios is better known these days for envelope-pushing fashion, but the Stockholm-based brand first opened its doors as a film studio back in the '90s. When it started making a limited run of jeans exclusively for friends and family, the brand found its bag. Acne's got its hyper-sensitive finger on the pulse, with beautiful washes, full cuts, and surprising details like detachable denim belts.

John Elliott made it in Los Angeles streetwear thanks to his focus on elevating the humble jogger, spurring on luxury athleisure's near decade-long dominance. But aside from hefty hoodies and tailored sweats, Elliott's jeans offer some of the most energetic distressing around, and have been spotted on countless elite-level fashion plates.

A lot of jeansmakers like to look backwards. But some of the best jeans brands think of the 501 as Cro-Magnon denim, with so much more evolution to come. They're combining artisan techniques with cutting-edge printing technology, doctorate-level pattern-making, and wild ideas to reimagine the experience of buttoning up in blue.

Designer Glenn Martens decade-long run at the legendary Y/Project has yielded some of the most viral jeans of the 21st century. Not hard to see why when your jeans also look like cowboy boots. From sculptural delights to trompe l'oeil, Martens' denim jeans are really denim creations, and feel like art school experiments in the best way.

Ed Hardy's hot rod flames and bleach-stained dragons are an acquired taste: one that nevertheless pushed through to the mainstream in the nu-metal sleaze of the '00s — and again in the 2020s. For true denim dabblers though, these skate-inspired decal devotees are always a staple — whether trash-pop is in the charts or not.

Blue jeans were born in America, but Japan has been the epicentre of the world's best denim for decades now. An early ‘90s Americana fascination saw Japanese jean brands sprout up, each one digging deep into the century-old history of denim. From the cotton to the exact shade of indigo to the silhouette and construction, these denim-obsessed brands pursued a perfection that they (and many others) felt had been lost in the American discipline for some time. Today, Japanese denim fabric is considered the best in the world, and you'll see it bragged about by everyone from J.Crew to Rick Owens. That said, these brands are carrying the revivalist torch that was lit some 30 years ago.

Out of the Japanese brands influenced by — or outright reproducing — period-correct work jackets and 1950s-era dungarees, Orslow is one of the most straightforward and accessible. The brand doesn't so much revive über obscure references as it does recreate jeans ripped straight from the kind of movie scenes that litter a menswear inspo board. From mid-century Ivy-inflected slim-straight jeans to classic 501-esque straight-leg five pockets with a classic redline selvedge detail, Orslow is a jeans brand that plays the hits just the way you want them.

Ralph Lauren's heritage Americana-inspired RRL sub-label is known as the triple-distilled essence of the menswear legend's personal cowboy-flavoured aesthetic. Where Polo exists for the masses, RRL dives headlong into obscure references pulled from the company's bottomless vintage library. Witness the filled belt loops, hidden rivets, and throwback-style waistbands. And in the realest nod to modern denim reality, most of RRL's jeans are made in the U.S. using Japanese selvedge denim.

Founded with a desire to revive something good, Paris-based denim brand Superstitch believes that when jeans are well made, they will never disappoint you – a motto which you’re guaranteed to agree with if you add one of their styles to your wardrobe. Driven by tradition and function, their refined selection is consistently fitted with five pockets and rivets: AKA the attributes of a true jean. Made in Japan using specially-developed loomstate fabric, the classic frame incorporates a high waist, structured straight leg and button fly. If you’re in search of a pair to last a lifetime, this is the destination to visit.

Designer denim sometimes gets a bad rap as being expensive without merit. That's not always wrong. But a select group of fashion-first labels are spinning jeans in futuristic ways while ensuring that the quality matches the head-spinning concepts. Brands like Diesel, Rick Owens, and Our Legacy in particular prove that legit designer denim exists, and can be just as expressive of a brilliant vision as anything else on a runway.

A favourite for the fashion crowd, French brand Lemaire is making waves in the luxury menswear world thanks to its enduringly elegant designs. Pushing the boundaries of denim into a less casual and more sophisticated sphere, its silhouettes have a slightly more tailored appearance upon view: brought to life through cotton with a thick and round hand, which is then washed with an abrading material to create a more delicate appearance. Well worth the investment, if you ask us.

If you're looking for some of high-quality denim jeans with all the subtlety of an airhorn, welcome to Diesel. The Italian brand hasn't yet met a pair of jeans it can't warp, wash, and bedazzle into a maximalist showoff's dream. Under the creative direction of Glenn Martens, Diesel's denim innovations have helped put brand back on the fashion map, with its jeans regularly selling out.

Our Legacy's eye-catching designs (the dialled-in Swedes cultivate a vibe that's somewhere between punk and sleazy) has earned the label legions of devoted followers. The brand's Camion boots are a big hit with fashion fiends, but the real innovation happens in the jeans department: think tromp l'oeil denim prints, slashed panels, and reflective trims.