Can Justin Bieber make maligned denim brand JNCO a "thing" again? Probably not. Still, I can't fault him for trying, especially since his JNCO-fied outfits really do feel like a pretty natural extension of his personal style.
Bieber was first spotted in JNCO jeans on June 1, while strolling Studio City en route to the Drew House flagship store where he met up with the brand's founder and longtime Bieber pal, Ryan Good.
There, Bieber swapped out his grey hoodie for an oversized, heart-patched Drew number but kept his JNCO jeans and New Balance 550 sneakers.
You can tell they're JNCOs 'cuz there's a giant logo on their back pocket.
JNCO jeans are an interesting choice for Bieber because they were stigmatized for so long that they eventually circled back around to being kinda cool, or at least prescient.
Best-known for their sneaker-swallowing leg openings — hems diameters ranged from relatively tame 23 inches to massive 50 inch-cuts — JNCO jeans were immensely popular in the '90s and even carried some cultural clout into the aughts.
JNCO lost some steam in the intervening years and were acquired by a Chinese investor in 2015.
However, as a JNCO rep clarified to Highsnobiety, "after realizing the demand for vintage collectible JNCO styles on Ebay, and (for lack of better words) hating the quality of product the licensee produced, the original owners reclaimed the license at the end of 2018."
What with Y2K fashion returned in full, JNCO was actually pretty well-positioned to make some moolah.
JNCOs aren't quite as stigmatized as they used to be but they also lack the clout that once made them so vital. And, with the average person likely to prefer slim or straight fit jeans instead of JNCO's enormous proportions, hard to imagine we'll ever see JNCO get as big as it once did.
Still, let Justin Bieber cook. JNCO's obviously make sense in the context of Drew's ultra-baggy '90s aesthetic.
It probably doesn't hurt that JNCOs are quite affordable and easily attainable at that.
Seriously, skim the JNCO website if you haven't recently. I was surprised by the breadth and depth of the selection: there are a million types of JNCO jeans, all available in a plethora of waist sizes and with multiple lengths (and no, I was not paid to say this, obviously).
Shop New Balance sneakers here
Anyways, Bieber is wearing the "169 Low Down," a pair of stonewashed denim jeans with 20-inch hems and a fairly reasonable $130 price tag.
I have to admit that Bieber's making the jeans work, too: I dig the ludicrously capacious pockets, reinforced (?) seat, and generous hems. They fit surprisingly well into Bieber's baggy wheelhouse, now that he's ditched the Balenciaga denim pants he used to prefer.
All that being said, the JNCO train has long left the station for me. As someone who grew up in the wake JNCO mania — and owned a few pairs myself — I've got too much PJSD (post-JNCO stress disorder) to ever get another pair.
Considering that the JNCO hashtag currently boasts over 317 million views on TikTok, though, don't think Gen Z has quite the same hangups, so perhaps Bieber is actually preaching to the baggy choir.
