Jeans
Buy and sell jeans in Costa Rica.
At a tope, from Palmares to Santa Cruz, the riders turn out in pressed dark jeans over polished boots, and the women among them need a hem cut wide enough to sit over the boot in the saddle. Most women’s jeans in Costa Rica lead quieter lives, at a desk, on the bus or out on a Saturday, and the choice comes down to where the waistband sits and how the leg is cut. High-rise and low-rise pairs, straight, wide-leg and bootcut, change hands here new with the tag or already broken in. Ask for the rise and the inseam before you travel to see one.
The rise, from the navel down to the hip bone:
it is the distance from the crotch seam to the top of the waistband, and it decides more about fit than the leg does. A high rise sits at or above the navel, holds the stomach in and takes a tucked blouse; most new jeans are cut this way. A mid rise sits just below the navel and is the easiest to sit in all day. A low rise sits on the hip bones and suits a long torso. Two pairs with the same waist can fit nothing alike if the rise differs, so it belongs in every listing.
The leg below the knee, from skinny to wide:
leg shape follows fashion far more than the rise does. Skinny jeans and jeggings, close all the way down and full of stretch, were the default for years and are now what the shops clear out. Straight legs, the roomier mom fit and the wide-leg and barrel shapes are what most buyers reach for. Flares and bootcuts open below the knee, which lets a hem fall over a boot instead of bunching at the ankle. Jeans with a stretch belly panel are in maternity wear.
A bootcut for the tope and the cabalgata:
village festivals and parades are held throughout the year, and a pair that spends an afternoon on horseback needs more than looks. The hem has to cover the boot shaft and stay down once you are mounted: a pair that is the right length standing is short in the saddle. Mostly-cotton denim with a little stretch takes the rub of the saddle better than a soft, very stretchy pair, which wears thin inside the knee. Riding boots are in women’s shoes, and the pressed shirt that goes with them in tops.
A new US-label pair against a used skinny one:
new, women’s jeans from a US label such as Levi’s cost around ₡35,000 to ₡40,000. Skinny fits are the ones going to clearance new, so a used skinny pair has to beat a new one on a sale rail, and plenty never sell. Straight, wide-leg and bootcut pairs hold their value better because they are what people want, and mostly-cotton denim ages soft and faded rather than baggy. A pair with the tags still on, in a wanted fit, gets closest to the shelf price.
A used pair held up to the window:
daylight shows most of what a pair has been through. Stretch denim cooked in a hot dryer shows tiny white hairs on the surface and puckered seams where the elastic threads have snapped, and it will not hold its shape again. A factory rip has a tidy edge with white cross threads still spanning the hole; a hole that tore on its own frays outward and keeps growing. Check the centre back belt loop, which tears from being pulled, and the back of the hems, which wear through when a pair drags under the heel. Work the zip and tug the button. On Levi’s, the most copied label, the rivets and button carry the brand stamp and the back pocket stitching runs even.
The tape measure on a pair you are passing on:
lay the jeans flat and buttoned and give the waist straight across, the hip, the rise and the inseam. Say what the label reads too, because a US waist in inches, a misses number and a Colombian number describe different pairs. Photograph the front, the back, the fibre label and any rip up close, and say whether the hems have been taken up. If the pair has ridden in a tope, say so; the inside of the knee will tell the buyer anyway. Someone coming in from Nicoya for a bootcut will want to stand in it with her boots on before she pays, so meet where she can.