From leather-like coatings to clear and metallic finishes, the jeanswear industry has chased slick eye-catching looks for decades. No brand, however, has warmed up to the concept of wet-looking jeans quite like New York City-based Wet Pants Denim.
The online company makes and sells jeans that mimic the “urinary incontinence aesthetic,” a look Wet Pants Denim founder and CEO, who requested to remain anonymous, said is overlooked by traditional denim brands. By offering consumers jeans that are stained with a fake wet spot, the brand aims to provide greater permanence and comfort compared to an actual pair of wet jeans.
The company stains the $75 jeans on a per-order basis, which the founder says allows for a high degree of product customization and minimizes inventory risk.
While the brand does not disclose how it sources the jeans, some images on the website show stained jeans with “Mince” printed on the inside waistband—the style name of Amazon Essentials’ slim men’s jean.
“We are not presently manufacturing our product, but plan to explore manufacturing or wholesale relationships in the future, which will be necessary as the brand continues to scale,” the founder said.
The jeans are available in four fits—slim, straight, skinny and boot—for men’s waist sizes 28-38 and length sizes 28-34. Women’s sizes 0-20 is also available. Customers can choose from blue, gray or white (which boasts a bright yellow stain) or supply a pair of jeans they already own, which the company will stain for $30.
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While some customers have asked for other types of stains, Wet Pants Denim has no plans to expand beyond urine-inspired looks. The company also sells a range of logo hat and a MAGA-inspired red hat with the phrase, “Make wet pants feel dry again.”
Though the brand launched in late 2018, a trickle of recent press from international news outlets from India to Australia have helped unearth it from the belly of the internet. “I think a lot of folks assume this brand was spun up within the past couple of months, and that’s simply not the case,” the founder said.
Reactions to the wet-look concept are mixed. On Instagram, where Wet Pants Denim has 980 followers, many comments question the legitimacy of the brand and ask whether it is a joke. A comment from @chris_souh suggested a collaboration with the mall retail chain Wet Seal, while @archipelago000 said, “if you can buy ripped jeans, why not this?”
For others, Wet Pants Denim is on track to bring in a steady stream of revenue. Instagram user @brendan.hellwig wrote “soon you’ll have the joke/birthday Christmas gift market cornered” and @blueberrymuffinsyum described the concept as “the kind of idea that prints money.”
Indeed, Wet Pants Denim isn’t designed for the masses, but the founder insists the jeans are a solution for a “niche segment of the market that other brands simply ignored.”
“We’ve all enjoyed reading what different folks have had to say about the brand, which we acknowledge is not and never was intended to be for everyone,” the founder said.