No single ‘It’ jean in 2025 as baggy, barrel and wide-leg styles dominate

There was no clear 'jean of the year' in 2025. After more than a century since jeans were patented as workwear, the category splintered into many competing shapes — from baggy and barrel legs to carrot, flared and extra-long silhouettes — rather than settling on a single dominant cut.

Industry observers and designers say social media and increased competition have given consumers more control over fit trends, accelerating shifts that once moved slowly. High-street campaigns, including a Gap advert featuring the six-member band Katseye in multiple fits, illustrated the wider choice now on offer.

A watershed moment came at the Super Bowl when Kendrick Lamar performed in women’s low-rise, blue-wash bootcut jeans from Celine in front of more than 133 million viewers, helping to cement looser, retro cuts in the mainstream. Retail data reflect the change. John Lewis, which stocks 1,349 women’s jean styles, saw wide-leg cuts outpace straight and skinny styles.

M&S’s current bestseller is a wide-leg indigo wash and the retailer has sold 47,000 pairs of a mid-rise barrel leg since April; M&S says it sells about 10 pairs of women’s jeans every minute. Levi’s reports the XL straight remains its most popular women’s style, while its baggy and barrel fits are gaining traction and certain 90s-inspired menswear styles (568 and 578) are trending.

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Sports, United States, Culture, Fashion, Denim, Jeans, Retail