I haven't had the best relationship with jeans for something so essential, so much of my everyday life. Shield your eyes and plug your ears, denim heads, because at the end of this sentence I'm about to admit that most of my jeans, until recently, were of the fast-fashioned variety, either winding up in the trash or reborn as jorts.

Even Levi's, the godfather of everything, didn't have a silhouette that I felt I could go over and over again. I like a slim pant, but I don't want it to be too slim as trends lean towards the wider side of things. Nonetheless, what I like on the slimmer side is the opening of the hip. So what does a guy have to do to get a pair of jeans that are not crowding his loins but covering his ankles?

When I came across Levi's 512s, I found my oasis. Here's why in your own rotation you should put a pair.

This argument does not need a lot of backing up. You know as well as I do, it is difficult to overestimate the influence of Levi in the denim market. Adding this cut to the brand's arsenal only made it more dangerous for the people I used to give my money to fast-fashion. The heritage of Levi. The quality of Levi's is. Levi's is trustworthy. After years of jumping from one pair of jeans to the next, it is the brand you bring home to meet your parents.'

I don't know why, but when I look up a new pair of jeans, the opening of the leg is the first thing I check. If you don't know what that is, it's essentially how close on your knees a pair of pants will be. And perhaps it's just why I had so much trouble finding The Perfect Pair for Me. A jean that offers straight lines from the hip to the calf, and then narrows down to a nice, custom-made knee, is hard to come by. But that's what 512s are doing. I'm flexible and slim from the calves, but not too slim. I may cuff or uncuff at the ankle with the knowledge that they are not fluttering or bent out of shape. The way slimmer jeans look without anything you hate about the way slimmer jeans feel is all you love.

Like most jeans, throughout the course of a day, you will thoroughly kill these puppies, roll them back up, and do it all over the next day. They are so flexible and so fine cut that you will find it difficult not to pair them with other pieces in your wardrobe. It leads to a lot of future wear— and they can handle that's wear. What's the best part? At this amount, you won't have to sell your liver to replace them when they eventually kick the bucket (and that will take some time). You have a runway for another 98 bucks to come up with.