Acne Studios Pencilin Distressed Jeans

These are the Acne Studios Pencilin Distressed Jeans, a wide straight-leg five-pocket jean in a pale blue wash tinted and stained with heavy brown and rust tones across the hips, thighs and knees. Buy them if you want denim that already looks dirtied and worn by hand rather than cleanly faded.

The cotton denim is blown open at both knees, with frayed edges and loose threads left raw instead of patched, while the lower legs run back to a clean light blue down to the hem. The cut is full and straight through the leg on a mid-rise waist, so they sit well over boots or chunky sneakers. Button-fly closure, standard five-pocket layout, no visible branding on the front.

What separates them from most distressed denim is how far Acne pushes the finish. Instead of a few sanded whiskers and symmetrical slashes, the staining is irregular and the damage is concentrated at the knees, which gives the pair the look of denim that aged on its own. Acne Studios is a Stockholm house that treats its washes as design work, and this is one of its heavier-handed results.

Available here in size 32.