I always loved jeans. I remember when I saved up to buy my first pair of designer jeans: the Dojo Sevens and I didn’t take them off until they had so many holes in them—even I who loves distressed jeans— knew it was too much and I needed to retire them. Towards the end of my Dojo Sevens run, I was diagnosed with my first stomach issue which was the beginning of several diagnoses. Anyone that has a stomach issue or good ol’ PMS knows the painful bloating that comes along with it. It is not fun. This affected my life significantly; including my wardrobe and more specifically, my jeans. My bloating made jeans feel so uncomfortable. They put so much pressure on my stomach that no matter how much I loved their look, I started to hate wearing them.
After my first diagnosis, I tried so many things to make jeans comfortable. First, I sized up from my typical size to make sure they were comfortable around my waist. I wore a belt when I wasn’t bloated and took the belt off as I became bloated. It worked, but the rest of the jean didn’t fit well. My butt was nowhere to be found and my legs were swimming in the extra denim fabric. I desperately wanted to figure out a way to make jeans work for my body without being so uncomfortable. Then I realized, I’ll just buy the same pair of jeans in 2 sizes, one not-bloated-size and one bloated-size. It became a very expensive endeavor and the main issue wasn’t solved: the size I was in the morning wasn’t the same size by the afternoon. Then, I solved the problem by wearing my regular size and unbutton the top button - I remember the time I made it clear to everyone my pants were unbuttoned and I just didn’t want to live like that. Eventually, I had no choice but to stop wearing jeans. I had to give up on the #1 wardrobe staple and I was super bummed.
What was I looking for? I thought it was pretty simple:
A COMFORTABLE and STYLISH classic 5 pocket, zipper-fly-and-button-jean. One that I can wear morning until night, be able to sit and stand in, that wasn’t a jegging, that didn’t look like a maternity jean and one that didn’t make me look 6 months pregnant. I didn’t want anything squeezing my small intestine, because, well I had enough digestion issues and didn’t need to make myself even more uncomfortable.
I searched everywhere for bloat-friendly jeans, but they didn’t exist. For years, I thought I was the only one whose bloating made me stop wearing jeans. It turned out it wasn’t just me.
I did find some tricks that helped me on my search. This is what I found:
Be sure to get the correct rise for your body. Mid-rise jeans are typically best (low rise doesn’t give you any bloat coverage and high rise cuts off digestion circulation) but it all depends on your body shape and torso length.
Look for jeans with a little bit of a stretch and/or Tencel woven in the denim. For me, super stretchy jeans feel like they are too clingy which bothered me and jeans with no stretch made me feel like I was wearing clothes made for the Tin Man. Jeans with a little bit of stretch provided okay flexibility, but it still wasn’t perfect.
That’s why ginger + dandelion was born!
I reached out to Christine Rucci, world-famous denim designer known as the Godmother of denim and we created the first-ever bloat-friendly jeans. Christine was no stranger to bloating and she literally is the Godmother of denim—she has been designing denim for over 30 years!
Both of us were (unfortunately) bloating experts and we worked together to make jeans for women who bloat, by women who bloat! ginger + dandelion’s proprietary Tummy Technology™ gives you the perfect fit comfortably on your tummy, letting your bloat breathe, while visibly reducing bloating.
This is the new way to wear denim, comfortably. Our bodies are complex and dynamic, so are our jeans. To all of the women who’ve had to quit jeans; we’ve got your back.