Tech geeks who work behind a desk all day don’t exactly generate a mess worthy of having their occupation considered a dirty job. So if the idea of coming across as a harder-working working stiff appeals to you, perhaps a pair of $425 jeans from Nordstrom will do the trick.
The Barracuda Straight Leg Jeans from PRPS — a luxury denim brand out of New York — are billed as “heavily distressed” thanks to the faux mud that is baked into the design. The description on the Nordstrom website says the jeans “embody rugged, Americana workwear that’s seen some hard-working action with a crackled, caked-on muddy coating that shows you’re not afraid to get down and dirty.”
The fake mud generated real outrage on Facebook, of course, where the story was trending Tuesday morning. None other than Mike Rowe, host of the Discovery Channel show “Dirty Jobs,” offered up the jeans as “further proof that our country’s war on work continues to rage in all corners of polite society.” Rowe’s lengthy rant called the pants “a costume for wealthy people who see work as ironic.”
Whether or not the dirty jeans are aimed at the fancy-pants set, Seattle-based Nordstrom is sure to revel in another episode of “They really sell that?” Previous hits have included an $85 rock in a leather pouch, and the $95 Clear Knee Mom Jeans, which are still on the site.
Oh, and one more thing regarding the mud jeans: Machine wash cold and line dry. You don’t want that dirt, or the irony, to fade.
