4 Hacks That’ll Help You Find the Perfect Jeans Fit, Every Time

If you’re a supremely lazy shopper (like me), you have likely found yourself wishing you could master looking for clothes without trying anything on. And while this works better in some cases than in others, one piece of clothing that many people seem keen to avoid getting their bodies into is jeans. From holding them out in front of your bod to measuring the waist around your neck, there are loads of hacks people try and use when shopping for the perfect jeans fit – but do any of them work?

We chatted with some denim experts at Peachay to get their thoughts on what hacks are best when buying jeans without trying them first.

How to get the right jeans without trying them on

Bella Sen, the founder of Aussie denim brand Peachay, explained that there are loads of different ways to check if a pair of jeans will fit your body correctly – and numbered sizes are not one of them. If you’ve ever tried jeans made by different brands it’s not uncommon that you’ll find the exact same size made by two different companies will fit completely differently.

Here are some other ways to check if your jeans will fit you.

The neck method: finding the right waist size

You may be familiar with the old ‘neck method’ of trying on jeans (or maybe this is the first you’re hearing of it) but Sen explained that many people will find their waist circumference is roughly double the size of your neck, which means you can get an idea of how the pants will fit by measuring the waist around your neck.

“The important thing to note here though is this hack will only help you know that the jeans will fit for the waist, it won’t help with things like thighs, butt etc. (I’ll help you with that hack later) and it also doesn’t work as well if the jeans are low rise or high waisted,” she said over email.

However, if you want to give this hack a try, this is how:

“Firstly, button or zip up the jeans, then, wrap the waist around your neck from side to side. If both edges line up to meet, they’ll fit your waist, but if they’re struggling to meet, or overlapping, they’ll either be too small or too big on the waist.”

Abdomen hack for waist size of jeans

If the neck method isn’t for you, Sen suggested maybe trying out the abdomen hack for waist fit. Once again, it’s worth noting this isn’t failproof, but it can be useful when looking for jeans still.

Here’s how to use the hack:

“Firstly, zip or button up jeans. Then, measure the waist against the length of the area between your belly button and backbone (as if it’s matching up for one side of your body). This can help give you a quick indication as to whether they will be too small or too big on the waist. Again, doesn’t help so much for thighs and booty, but saves you from bothering to try on if they won’t fit the waist,” Sen shared.

Shoulder method to measure hip size

If you’re mostly interested in making sure your jeans are going to fit your hips, Sen said the shoulder method can help. She warned that while it may not work for everyone, it can help give you a quick indication of hip size.

Here’s how to do it:

“Firstly, button or zip up the jeans. Then, line up the hip area of the jeans, across your shoulders (or to do this more accurately, use a measuring tape to measure the horizontal length of the jeans across the hip area, and then measure across your shoulders). Then, if both measurements match up (or are close), the jeans should closely fit your hips. If the jean measurements come out wider than your shoulder area, you should have no trouble getting them on. But, if they’re smaller, chances are your hips won’t fit into them.”

Measure key body areas to get the perfect jeans fit

Sen shared that of all the fitting approaches for jeans, this is the one the Peachay team likes most.

“…it is by far the most reliable one that will take into account different body shapes. Not everyone is straight up and down, and if you’re a gal that has a smaller waist and bit of a booty, denim shopping can be tricky,” she explained.

Simply put, if you know how to measure your body properly, you’ll have a solid idea of whether or not jeans are going to fit you. Here’s a little video guide to get you on your way.

My Movie.mov from Isabella Sen on Vimeo.

Taking this approach to fitting jeans, the Peachay team shares that they actually don’t use numbered sizes at all. “Our size chart finds a woman’s fit based on their body measurements (with each shape represented by flowers),” Sen said.