Recently, I was shopping for new clothes when I came across an odd sign. It said that if you gave the store a pair of old jeans, you could get a new pair for free. Ironically, it was right next to racks of jeans with holes in them. For all I know, they might just take those old jeans, cut a few more holes, and put them back out on the rack. Yet for some strange reason that eludes me, people still buy them.

I don’t understand the popularity of wearing jeans with holes. I feel like holes give the impression that the pants are old and beaten up. Why do people want this impression when they could just as easily buy a pair of nice, whole jeans that don’t convey overuse? Why do people want to look like their pants are falling apart?

I would understand if the holes were made by normal wear and tear because their owners were unable to afford anything better. However, that’s not why most people have them. The majority actually want to wear these things even though the holes defy logic by causing the prices to go up instead of down.

The holes in these jeans do not look intentional. They look like they used to be a normal pair of pants until their owner was attacked by a hungry shark on the way to school and their pants were ripped to shreds.

When I read the book I Am Malala, about a girl from Pakistan, in response to seeing Americans’ fashion, she asks if there is a clothing shortage in the United States. I don’t understand why people would want to choose to wear things that give this impression when there are other options available.

Wearing jeans like these is like using an umbrella with holes. The umbrella would obviously not be able to fulfill the purpose it was intended for, to cover you from the rain, but I can’t think of anyone who would use it anyway just because they like the way it looks. That is similar to the way people seem to be with these jeans. They do not serve the purpose they were intended for, to keep you covered, but people still wear them because they like the way they look.

This is another thing that I question. How many people actually think that they look good and would wear them on their own, and how many only wear them because everyone else wears them, they think they are popular, or it is all they can find in stores? But then my question is, why did they become popular in the first place? I wonder what the first person to come up with the idea was thinking: “I’m going to cut giant holes in my clothes, it’ll look great!” Or “I want to buy a brand new pair of pants that already look twenty years old.”

I am not trying to be critical of the people who wear jeans with holes. Almost everyone does, and I know that there are plenty of other perspectives. In addition, as I said earlier, they are popular. I don’t think that I’ll ever understand why the trend has started, but I do understand that people will continue to wear them.

I know that there are a lot of strange opinions in the world, such as thinking that a Pop-tart is a ravioli, but wearing and buying jeans with holes is one trend that will never make sense to me.