Denim Enters Its ‘No Rules’ Era

Something is happening in denim.

The divisive category, once rife with generational rifts, is loosening up. Skinny jeans, synonymous with Millennials and often skewered on social media (most loudly by Gen-Z) are back in the mix. Across the Autumn/Winter 2024 and 2025 seasons, brands including Miu Miu, McQueen, Acne Studios and Burberry put slim shapes on the runways, while Gen-Z queen Alix Earle has been mounting a campaign in defense of the skinny on TikTok — even releasing her own version with Frame in January.

“I feel like they’ve been exiled for a minute, but I personally always kept one in my closet,” she said in one video.

It’s a sign of the times: when baggy and skinny wearers can get along, anything in between goes. While wide-leg denim has dominated the conversation in recent years, it hasn’t reached the levels of dominance that the skinny did in the 2010s; it accounts for 17 percent of the women’s denim market, according to intelligence firm Circana. As recently as 2019, skinny jeans made up 41 percent of sales. Today, a greater variety of shapes are in the mix. Even the much-maligned skinny jeans never really disappeared; the shape is still crucial for mass-market brands including Levi’s and American Eagle, and notably, makes up 40 percent of sales in the under $20 category, according to Circana.

“There isn’t one defining silhouette the way that there used to be,” said Jac Cameron, a denim veteran who has worked for Madewell and Calvin Klein, and launched Rùadh, a line of $500 craft jeans last year. “It’s more broad now, even in fabrication.”

But that’s not to say all fits are growing evenly. Wide-leg shapes are still driving a majority of growth, including in new markets and consumer segments, and skinny continues its downward spiral even as its popularity gets a boost online, according to Circana. Newer styles are rising, too: Bootcut has broken out thanks to high-profile endorsements from the likes of model Bella Hadid and rapper Kendrick Lamar, who wore a pair of Celine bootcut jeans during his Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year. Meanwhile, the barrel, a sculptural, rounded-out horseshoe look, continues to show strength after coming onto the market a few years ago.

Today, the denim market is less defined by one trending silhouette, and instead an ever-changing variety. Brands say what’s in vogue changes more quickly — where styles would once stick around for up to a decade, increasingly, they’re measured in months. The most popular shapes evolve and stick in the rotation longer. That means keeping up with what’s in and what’s out has gotten trickier.

“Trend is the biggest trend in denim right now,” said Kristen Classi-Zummo, apparel analyst at Circana.

Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

Denim is in its “everything, everywhere, all at once” era, said Jill Guenza, Levi’s global vice president of women’s design. At least for the foreseeable future, single fit dominance seems to be done, said Guenza.

This shift reflects what’s happening in culture at large. Post-pandemic, wearing denim counts as “dressing up,” and different silhouettes serve different purposes. A barrel for dinner, an embellished wide leg jean for going out, a dark-wash bootcut for work, skinny tucked into boots in the winter and baggy for running errands, because “they’re the new sweatpants,” said Sarah Ahmed, chief executive of denim label DL1961. At the same time, she said, technological innovations in denim fabrication and stretch have made more diverse shapes and fits possible.

As such, shoppers are no longer siloed in one fit, they’re buying into a range.

“What’s great about it is she comes in and buys more than one … it’s not a uniform, it’s not jegging, it’s not a mom jean,” said Renee Heim, American Eagle’s chief product officer.

It’s not just the most fashion-sensitive shoppers who are broadening their denim assortment: mass market consumers as well as men are reaching for statement pairs, said Janine Chilton-Faust, global vice president of men’s design at Levi’s.

“There’s always that person who has an appetite for the next big or new thing. That population has gotten bigger. We’ve seen more demand for fashion fits trickling down into more democratic price points,” said Guenza.

Even though they usually come at a higher price point, fashion-first players who can react quickly to changing tastes are reaping the benefits. The market is relatively split, with premium sales growing as they slow at the lower end, according to Classi-Zummo. There’s also increased competition from ready-to-wear brands, including Khaite, Toteme, Tibi and Reformation, whose own denim lines are building loyal followings.

The market’s new dynamism makes demand more complicated to forecast. Brands have to be smarter about making investments.

For Citizens of Humanity and its more trend-forward sister brand Agolde, a lot rides on the gut instinct of designers, said Amy Williams, chief executive of Citizens of Humanity Group.

But on riskier shapes, the brand will do small launches on its e-commerce site and work closely with select retailers to gauge popularity and determine how much it should produce.

“Let’s start small and create demand and react to it so we don’t get stuck with something and flood the market with markdowns,” said Williams.

What’s Next: Bootcut, Barrel and the Baggy Gets Skinnier

Even as the number of trending silhouettes grows, a few key looks stand out.

While nearly anything goes in shape, there is a clear move toward lower rises, whether that be true low rise pairs or just departure from high rise, said Williams.

“Everything has gotten a lot lower … all the looser and baggier fits are going lower,” said American Eagle’s Heim.

Elsewhere, consensus says bootcut will be big for fall: Levi’s, American Eagle, Agolde, Citizens of Humanity, and smaller labels like New York-based Still Here have leaned into the shape. The Kendrick Lamar effect has been real, say brands. Bootcut retail arrivals grew 60 percent year-over-year for womenswear and 194 percent for menswear between 2025 and 2024, according to Edited.

While wide leg and slouchy still dominate, many recently buzzy silhouettes are getting toned down.

Brands like Citizens of Humanity are leaning into less dramatic cuts. Gen-Z’s ultra baggy jeans (worn with a tiny top and Adidas Sambas) are now a regular part of the mix but are also increasingly less exaggerated and more fitted at the top. Similarly, the barrel jean, which brands say is a fashion-centric take that’s flattering on a number of body types, continues to be hot: sell outs of the style doubled between 2024 and 2025 according to Edited.

While other shapes slim down, skinny is back in the discourse and on shelves in a bigger way — but its return won’t be as decisive as was in the 2000s, said Karis Munday, retail and runway analyst at Edited. Retailers’ investment in skinny dropped 69 percent between 2021 and 2025. Though, after baggy silhouettes’ domination, “skinny” can referring to straight leg or bootcut pairs, said Guenza. For American Eagle, the “stovepipe,” a straight, narrow but still loose shape, has become important.

Even in an environment where consumers are increasingly cautious, they’re buying more expensive denim, said Classi-Zummo. As shoppers broadly turn to prioritising “value,” and other categories see price hikes, jeans that can be worn three days a week in various scenarios can feel more like a more justifiable investment.

“It’s not a print shirt you’re going to wear a few times, you could literally wear the same pair of jeans three times a week,” said Williams. “Denim provides a versatility that’s more far reaching than other categories. At this time of economic difficulty, it works well.”