Jeans may just be the most popular pants in the world, which makes the best jean brands, well, kind of a big deal. The downside to that degree of popularity, though, is the paralysis of choice liable to plague even the most veteran denimhead when the time comes to actually buy a pair.
These days, every brand worth its weight in Japanese selvedge hawks its own version of the perfect dungarees, often done up in multiple silhouettes and a gang of confoundingly-named washes. Take a gander at your favorite label’s denim assortment, and you’ll encounter an encyclopedia’s worth of product details, from specialty buttons and rivets to elaborate thread colors and back patches. (And that’s before you consider how much you want to pay for ‘em.) Plenty of product categories engender some sense of choice paralysis; jeans, though, might be the only one that lands you in a full-blown choice coma.
That’s where we come in. Remember when we said that, in the year of our lord 2025, almost every brand sells its own pair of jeans? That’s true—but unlike God’s children, not all of them are created equal. If we could send an envoy from the GQ Recommends squad to wander the digital wastelands with you, we would. In lieu of that, though, we went deep on the men’s jean brands that never fail to steer us in the right direction—from the true-blue artisanal specialists to the mass-market reliables—curing our choice paralysis in the process. Here they are, presented in alphabetical order.
Just looking for a pair of GQ-approved dungarees that won’t break the bank? Check our guide to the best sub-$100 jeans first.
3sixteen
3sixteen lives, eats, and breathes denim, and the NYC brand expends a ridiculous amount of energy guaranteeing its wares trounce the competition. Its specialty jeans are crafted using custom fabrics from the legendary Kuroki Mills in Okayama, Japan—a name to know as you level-up your collection, whether you’re on your sixth pair of jeans or your 60th.
A.P.C.
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.
Abercrombie & Fitch
Yes, Abercrombie & Fitch is better known for its cargo shorts and polos, but the Moose’s more recent reinvention has made it a destination for much more menswear goodies including denim. We were skeptical at first, but were left pleasantly surprised when we first handled Abercrombie’s jeans in person. The denim itself is dense, hefty, and substantial, especially when you opt for its 100% cotton options which, frankly, leave most of the other mall brands in the dust. That said, unlike its competition, Abercrombie doesn’t offer any higher-end fabric options (i.e., Japanese denim).
Acne Studios
Acne Studios is better known these days for envelope-pushing fashion, but the Stockholm-based brand 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.
Buck Mason
Buck Mason just seems to have that Meidas touch. The modern-day menswear label is on a generational run the likes we haven’t seen since Ralph Lauren and its denim offering is just one of its many fortes. Buck Mason’s range of jean silhouettes leans mostly classic, ranging from tasteful slim fit to classic straight leg to a ‘60s-style fit with a higher rise, relaxed leg, and oh-so-subtle taper. As for the denim itself, Buck Mason opts for top-tier Japanese denim from respected mills and produces many of its jeans in the States with a bewildering amount of vintage-y details that real denim nerds can spot. They’re a big upgrade from the previous categories we’ve talked about, but the price jump is well worth it.
Diesel
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 the brand back on the fashion map, with its jeans regularly selling out.
Gap
Gap’s iconic khakis commercials from the late ’90s made the mall brand a mecca for dusty tan chinos, but the brand is rooted in denim. It continues to produce solid jeans at reasonable prices while offering a smattering of more upscale selvedge options, too. We’ve enjoyed the iconic label’s ‘90s loose fit jeans and were really impressed with its washes, many of which are tastefully done without veering into aggressively fake whiskering, a pitfall too many brands fall into. Gap’s range of silhouettes is wide, but you’re less likely to find a pair of skinny jeans these days.
Glenn’s Denim
Glenn Liburd is a real-life denim legend, having worked decades in the denim industry with The Big Three, not to mention a stint at Savile Row. His encyclopedic jeans knowledge has coalesced into a brand that is truly the cream-of-the-crop. Custom, American-made selvedge denim with masterful construction, somehow delivered at a surprisingly accessible price point? Yes, yes, and yes.
J.Crew
J.Crew’s jeans selection is reliably solid; its bread and butter 484 slim-straight fit is a particular standout. But look to J.Crew’s workwear-inspired Wallace & Barnes sub-label and you’ll find some genuinely great jeans with vintage details that would raise the brow of any denim connoisseur. J.Crew’s range of silhouettes is a bit narrower than others and sticks between the slim fit jeans and classic straight leg jeans. So if you’re after a more relaxed fit—or even a baggy silhouette—you’re better off looking at Gap or Abercrombie.
Kapital
Bonkers knitwear, threadbare sashiko jackets, woven puffer vests: Kapital fuses chaos and craft into an off-the-wall fun that rockstars and NBA athletes flock to. The brand’s denim range stands out in particular for the insane level of detail and handwork that’s often hidden behind the jaw-dropping ideas. Even on a patch-encrusted pair that would make a Boy Scout jealous, the intricate chainstitch embroidery, hand-done details, and top-notch fabric prove that quality never takes a back seat to the concept.
Keruk
No machines: just two pairs of hands, needles, and thread. That’s all Keruk needs to make a pair of jeans. It’s extremely rare for anyone to make a garment without a sewing machine, which makes these the ultimate grail for any denim enthusiast.
Lee
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. Lee, if we may, is a little sleepy by comparison. But the brand has more recently turned some of its attention to making products that harken back to its workwear roots. Think chore coats, raw denim, and burly canvas pants. Lee 101 takes it even further by using board-stiff Japanese denim and archival patterns to resurrect some of Lee’s most iconic products.
Levi’s
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, they’re 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). The grand daddy of denim dungarees has every fit you can imagine, every wash the human eye can perceive, and for probably the best value, too. While countless brands make a $60 jean just fine, very few (if any) can match Levi’s quality.
Levi’s Vintage Clothing
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. It’s a sublabel thats for the geeks and real heads, so don’t expect any sort of innovation here. So if you like that old school look or just the old school quality and don’t mind paying a beefy price tag, LVC is where it’s at.
Orslow
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.
Our Legacy
Our Legacy’s eye-catching designs—the dialed-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. Our Legacy’s Third Cut jeans are perhaps the brand’s most popular cut and feature a mid-high rise and a relaxed, straight leg. Most of their denim is cut from high-end Italian (and sometimes Japanese) denim and given a unique, yet subtle, eye-catching wash.
Paul Kruize
Paul Kruize’s jeans are bespoke, and the not-insignificant price you pay for that pleasure comes back in details you’ll see and feel. While most other brands use a range of machines to make a single pair of five-pocket blue jeans, Kruize operates a single machine to produce his product. Additionally, he stitches the buttonholes by hand and makes sure that every seam is felled (a.k.a., covered on the inside, which takes more work). The result? Jeans that are as beautiful on the inside as they are on the outside. Given the bespoke nature of these jeans, you should expect it to be a very long and involved process, not a quick-hit luxury fix. So be prepared to develop a relationship with the designer and savor the experience.
