Jeans for tall skinny preteen boys--

[Shelydon]

My 12 yo is 5'5, 85 lbs.  We have always had luck with Lands End slim jeans.  He wore a 16 last year, but those are now too short although they still fit in the waist.  Lands End does not make a 18 slim.  I ordered 18 slim in Levis, Children's Place and 4 styles of Wrangler.  The Levis and Children's Place were huge in the waist, you could fit two of my son in them.  The Wranglers were all too short by several inches. Any ideas of where too look next?

[Meriwether]

Aiden jeans at The Buckle. They are expensive, but they have jeans that fit slender builds.

[bibiche]

Haven’t shopped there recently, but we have previously had luck at Uniqlo.

[Storygirl]

At that stage, we found some Skinny Slim boys jeans from Gap and Old Navy in size 18. You'd have to see what they are offering now, but they did have jeans that were both skinny and slim a couple of years ago.

Now, DS17 is still slim, and we have to look for men's jeans with a 26 inch waist, which can be hard to find in typical stores. That seems to be the smallest waist measurement we can find in men's pants.

[MEmama]

1 hour ago, Storygirl said:

At that stage, we found some Skinny Slim boys jeans from Gap and Old Navy in size 18. You'd have to see what they are offering now, but they did have jeans that were both skinny and slim a couple of years ago.

Now, DS17 is still slim, and we have to look for men's jeans with a 26 inch waist, which can be hard to find in typical stores. That seems to be the smallest waist measurement we can find in men's pants.

This won’t help OP yet, but DS18 is a size 26 inch waist (can sometimes get away with an extra slim cut 28 waist if there are drawstrings), 34 inseam. We find  pants at Patagonia and recently at ASOS—they have some extra skinny cuts that fit him well. H&M sometimes has extra slim cuts in those measurements, and we’ve had luck with Decathlon especially for running shorts (they sometimes carry a XS in his preferred 4-5 inch shorts).
 

Prana makes extra slim 28/34 but DS recently lost some weight and can’t wear them right now.

[catz]

American Eagle has smaller Jean sizes.  As small as 26 waist.  My college student is currently a 28x34 so we’ve struggled with this too!   The larger boy sizes in a slim fit may work too.  

Edited September 15, 2021 by FuzzyCatz

[Lady Marmalade]

Seconding American Eagle.  Sign up for their rewards program so you always shop with discounts and coupons.  They carry sizes online that no one else carries and if they don't have it in store for you, they'll ship it for free right there.  DS needs 30 x 36 and those tend to be unicorn.  When he finds them on a rack he'll buy them almost immediately, but when he needs a specific kind of jeans for dance or photos or something, we go to AE, find a style he likes, and then order them at the store.  If you order it online yourself you'll pay shipping, if you order in the store, the shipping is free. 

[Faith-manor]

All three of my guys were that skinny in high school and one was quite tall. We got skinny jeans from American Eagle, and they had 26 and 27" waist. That ds as a 23 year old still only wears 27" waist so he still does skinny jeans. My other two made it 28" in adult hood and wear Old Navy skinny jeans.

[mommyoffive]

Oh good to know.  My 13 year old is still able to find some size 16 with adjustable waist pants. I just bought  2 pairs like that from Wrangler.  

[plansrme]

Definitely try moving out of boys' sizes into men's sizes at AE, Hollister, H&M and other hip brands that target teen boys. At 5'5", he is tall enough for men's sizes. I remember trying to fit both my son and my daughters when they were at that age, and it was always just easier to find adult sizes that ran small than kids' sizes that ran in the correct proportions.

[domestic_engineer]

After Lands End, we used size 18 slim in JCPenney’s Arizona brand and bought online. It was hit or miss finding them though. Like the others, American Eagle is where we finally ended up. 

[Soror]

Ds fit into Arizona at Penney's at that stage- IIRC they had them up to size 20s in a slim. Yes, he could fit into the adults at that point but it was easier to get the slim in the kids sizes and they were way cheaper. We don't have any of the other stores mentioned locally. Ds is still thin at 130lbs/5 10.5 but doesn't care for jeans anyway so I stopped buying them. He wears athletic pants and they have elastic waists.

[BusyMom5]

Sometime Children's Place can be off on sizing, so you could order again and try yo pick out the skinnier ones.  American Eagle usually have skinnier jeans.  Aeropostle also has smaller waisted jeans.  

[TheReader]

Another vote for the Arizona brand, slim sizes, at JC Penney (order online); you do have to watch what style you get, and the best bet is the "slim fit" *style* but then *also* in "size 18 slim" -- this can take some amount of luck to get right, and actually we found some at the store last time because online ordering kept sending us the slim style, but size 18 regular. :sigh: 

 

[Zoo Keeper]

Just echoing the rec for size 18 - 20 slims Arizona brand at JC Penney--I've had the best luck online from them. It can be hit or miss, but the jeans have held up very well for my tall skinny ones.

[itsheresomewhere]

Uniqlo.  Only place we have luck for my DS. 

[Resilient]

Uniqlo.  And at least back in the day, American Eagle.

[madteaparty]

Another vote for Uniqlo and adding Jcrew. 

[Shelydon]

Thanks all!  I will try most of these and report back!

[Shelydon]

Uniqlo-- these all appear to be legging or skinny pants?  Elastic waist? 

I am looking for traditional boot cut or straight heavy denim jeans-- did I miss that on the Uniqlo website?

[bibiche]

19 minutes ago, Shelydon said:

Uniqlo-- these all appear to be legging or skinny pants?  Elastic waist? 

I am looking for traditional boot cut or straight heavy denim jeans-- did I miss that on the Uniqlo website?

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men/bottoms/jeans

[Shelydon]

21 hours ago, bibiche said:

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men/bottoms/jeans

DS says they look like girl pants LOL.  No way I am getting these on them.  We are not very fashionable around here. 

 

Thanks for the link!

[Shelydon]

On 9/15/2021 at 5:40 PM, Zoo Keeper said:

Just echoing the rec for size 18 - 20 slims Arizona brand at JC Penney--I've had the best luck online from them. It can be hit or miss, but the jeans have held up very well for my tall skinny ones.

It appears that maybe Arizona has been discontinued.  My girls wore this brand. 😞

[Shelydon]

Looking for heavy denim jeans.  Slim fit (meaning not regular or husky), but definitely not skinny.  His waist is 23 and needs a 28 or 30 inch inseam.  Fortunately, he is willing to wear shorts this winter, because we may be out of luck for pants. LOL

[itsheresomewhere]

20 minutes ago, Shelydon said:

DS says they look like girl pants LOL.  No way I am getting these on them.  We are not very fashionable around here. 

 

Thanks for the link!

They are not like girl pants in person at all.  They do have regular jeans and “jeans” that look like jeans but are sweat pants.  According to DS, they are the most comfortable pants ever.   I went out and bought the girl version for DD and I.  He was right.  Those sweat pants jeans are dang comfortable.  

[Arcadia]

22 hours ago, bibiche said:

https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men/bottoms/jeans

 

18 minutes ago, Shelydon said:

DS says they look like girl pants LOL.  No way I am getting these on them.  We are not very fashionable around here. 

DS16 wore something like this one in black for community college dual enrollment classes. He just blended right in. 
https://www.uniqlo.com/us/en/men-slim-fit-jeans-441741.html

10 minutes ago, Shelydon said:

Looking for heavy denim jeans.  Slim fit (meaning not regular or husky), but definitely not skinny.  His waist is 23 and needs a 28 or 30 inch inseam. 

DS16 wore a belt. He has a 23” waist while DS15 has a 25” waist. He didn’t like the AE jeans at their outlet store.

[Shelydon]

1 minute ago, itsheresomewhere said:

They are not like girl pants in person at all.  They do have regular jeans and “jeans” that look like jeans but are sweat pants.  According to DS, they are the most comfortable pants ever.   I went out and bought the girl version for DD and I.  He was right.  Those sweat pants jeans are dang comfortable.  

I might order some for me.  I like comfortable pants

 

[domestic_engineer]

JCPenney’s 18 slims look too big in the waist based on the size chart from this page. 
 

but JCPenney has 26x29 in young men’s here

oldnavy has some jeans in 26x28 and 26x30 here. 
 

do you *have* to have jeans or just long pants?  If just long pants, that might open up more options. 

[itsheresomewhere]

13 minutes ago, Shelydon said:

I might order some for me.  I like comfortable pants

 

They are the ezy fit pants for women.  Hands down so comfy.  The men’s ones have better pockets of that matters to you. 

[Shelydon]

5 minutes ago, domestic_engineer said:

JCPenney’s 18 slims look too big in the waist based on the size chart from this page. 
 

but JCPenney has 26x29 in young men’s here

oldnavy has some jeans in 26x28 and 26x30 here. 
 

do you *have* to have jeans or just long pants?  If just long pants, that might open up more options. 

Has to be jeans.  26 would work if they have adjustable waist so I can make them tighter.  I'll look. 

[Splash1]

My son is exactly same size, though 15  He wears American Eagle 26x30 jeans and they fit perfectly   The skinny and slim styles

 

 

Edited September 17, 2021 by Splash1

[Shelydon]

10 hours ago, Splash1 said:

My son is exactly same size, though 15  He wears American Eagle 26x30 jeans and they fit perfectly   The skinny and slim styles

 

 

thanks!

[BusyMom5]

I mentioned Chikdrens place 18 Slims earlier- thought I'd add they have an adjustable waist.  

[Shelydon]

Wrangler makes a junior/student jean that has a 26, 27 or 26 inch waist with 28-34 as options for length.   Yay

[Laura Corin]

Do you have La Redoute? They outfitted my eldest for years.

[MEmama]

You might simply have better luck with European brands. We used to stock up on pants for DS when traveling because European sizes for his body type better. Actually, just yesterday we bought him several pairs—he was desperate for pants and we had no trouble finding him plenty in Dublin. I’d guess the internet makes acquiring pants from overseas fairy simple. 

[TheReader]

On 9/16/2021 at 8:12 PM, Shelydon said:

It appears that maybe Arizona has been discontinued.  My girls wore this brand. 😞

Hmm, I don't think so; we just bought some within the last month. 

the 18 slims are adjustable waist too, still. Let me see if I can find a link. 

Oh, wow....they are all showing on clearance now with very few options. Yikes. I hope that's a weird glitch and they'll return....all my teens/young adults wear these still (the older 2 are in the men's ones, since it's one place we can find 28x34 for them....). 

 

Edited September 18, 2021 by TheReader

[Shelydon]

Went to JC Penney today.  Arizona has been discontinued. Their new brand, ThereAbout is way to big in the waist.  We hit a western wear store.  Men's pants 27 waist were still too big, and the thighs were huge.  Will try some more next weekend. 

[TheReader]

On 9/19/2021 at 4:59 PM, Shelydon said:

Went to JC Penney today.  Arizona has been discontinued. Their new brand, ThereAbout is way to big in the waist.  We hit a western wear store.  Men's pants 27 waist were still too big, and the thighs were huge.  Will try some more next weekend. 

oh, man!! I hate to hear this. That was our go-to brand....fingers crossed DS's size 18s last him a nice long while. Dang. 

[Kassia]

On 9/19/2021 at 5:59 PM, Shelydon said:

 Arizona has been discontinued. 

oh no!  That was the only brand my ds2 has been wearing for years and years.  He knows exactly what style/color and he's on the spectrum so this made shopping so easy.  

[Shelydon]

Update-- Purchased some size 18 slim GAP jeans and the will work.  Still big in the waist, but adjustable, so we can suck them in as tight as they will go.

 

 

[gardenmom5]

tall misses.  I did that for awhile with dudeling.  You can find more online than in stores.

(and some tall men's for 2dd.  She has really broad shoulders too.)

Edited October 14, 2021 by gardenmom5