You know the drill. After trying on God knows how many pairs of jeans, you finally find a brand, style, and size that fits you just right. So, of course, when you need a new pair, you look for the same jeans.
This works for a while. But eventually your body type changes or the manufacturer discontinues your favorite style or goes out of business entirely— and you’re back searching again.
In my case, boy, did my body type change.
Quadriplegia can do that to you. Within months after my injury, my trustworthy old Levis were no longer so trustworthy.
The rivets on the rear pockets left ominous red spots on my skin and the unforgiving waistband left a welt around my waist. The instep that had been perfect for standing fit poorly seated, exposing my ankles and, occasionally, my leg bag tube.
Of course a seated lifestyle being broadening (especially to quads’ stomachs), I initially blamed the poor fit on my expanding waist. I began to shop at Big and Tall shops. But while the waists fit, the leg widths that came with them looked like they came from Omar the tent maker.
Just when I’d almost become resigned to a lifetime of befuddled tailors and their poorly executed adjustments, I ran across an ad for USA Jeans (www.wheelchairjeans.com), a company that had begun specializing in jeans made for wheelchair users. I immediately ordered a pair.
Their jeans were the best I’d encountered since my accident. With no rear pockets or studs and forgiving elastic in the back half of the waistband, the pants fit better and were less likely to cause any sores. Still they didn’t quite fit me the way my old Levis did.
Nothing fit me that well until a company began distributing Germany’s Rolli Moden wheelchair jeans to the American market. I was hooked as soon as I tried on my first pair.
Even better, they had a style with thigh pockets, something extraordinarily convenient for a quad like me (and very popular with my younger grandchildren, who used the pockets for handholds and for hiding away small toys and foodstuffs).
I became a faithful customer.
Still, they broke my heart, closing down with barely any warning. I tried contacting Rolli in Germany but they never returned my emails and USA Jeans showed little interest in duplicating their styles. Worse, my Rollis began to wear out and my grandkids began to frown at me whenever I turned up wearing jeans without thigh pockets.
Turning to the internet, I searched for a solution, eventually finding a custom jeans maker, TJ’s Tailor Made Jeans (www.tailormade-jeanswear.com) who offered a clone-your-jean program. All they needed was a pair of my Rollis, which they duplicated, keeping the measurements on file for future orders.
We’ve done three orders since then and I’ve been happy with each, as have my grandchildren, all without any more searching or bother. When it comes to jeans, it can’t get much better than that.
A C-6 quadriplegic, Alan Troop is the author of The Dragon DelaSangre dark fantasy series of books as well as numerous articles, poems, and essays. He lives in South Florida with his wife Susie and their very neurotic cat Chong.
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