How to Make Ripped Jeans Yourself

Need an easy step-by-step guide of how to make ripped jeans at home? 

Our in-depth guide shows the best ways of how to distress jeans and make them super fashionable. 

These days everyone seems to be rocking ripped jeans, whether it’s out for a day full of shopping or on a casual first date. It wouldn’t be 2018 without at least half of the fashion lovers of the world sporting their favorite pair of ripped jeans. Yet, we are baffled by the price of them in high-street and designer stores. They’re very similar to an everyday jean but they obviously have some rips and tears in them, which leaves us wondering why is the price so much higher for less material? 

While everyone loves the style of ripped jeans, it’s hard to get everyone rocking them when they’re a lot more expensive than regular jeans sold in different stores. That’s why we’ve created this handy guide on how to make ripped jeans, let all your money worries go because now you can make your very own distressed jeans!

We’ll help you decide how to style your ripped jeans when you have created them, and we will go through the best ways to get the ultimate distressed jean look! The fashion industry is obsessed with ripped jeans right now, and you should be too. 

What Are Ripped Jeans?

Popularized during the 1980’s, the ripped jean fashion trend revolved around wearing jeans that looked excessively worn, frayed, or faded. Although the trend was very popular around 35 years ago, it has made a comeback over the past few years – ripped jeans are now flooding the catwalks, and everyone absolutely loves them! The most common age range to wear ripped jeans is teenagers and young adults, because they tend to pay attention to fashion trends and popular clothing styles. 

4 Steps for How to Distress Jeans

Making your own ripped jeans is pretty simple when you know what you’re doing, that’s why we have created an easy 4 step tutorial on how to make ripped jeans. If you follow these steps before you know it, you’ll be rocking out your newly distressed denim jeans and all your friends will be totally jealous. Although there are many step-by-step tutorials out there, it’s always best to go with the easier ones – especially if you’re doing it for the first time! Doing it for yourself at home may seem like a lot of unwanted hassle but in reality, you’re saving yourself a lot of money while also unleashing your creative side. 

Step 1: Choose a pair of jeans or shorts (did we mention that you can distress your shorts for the summer months too?)— we would suggest practicing your style on an old pair of jeans before diving into your newly bought ones. This is a great way to give new life to a pair of jeans that have been hiding in the back of your closet. Getting a pair of jeans that are slightly too big will also give the ultimate vintage look, you can roll up the edges and sport your newly ripped jeans with a vintage tee or button up. 

Step 2: Find all the supplies you need, this includes some tweezers, a razor, a marker/chalk, some sandpaper, and some scissors. You can buy what you don’t have, but feel free to experiment with household items. Making sure you have all the supplies you need before going in and tearing up your jeans is important – you want to make sure the whole process will go as smoothly as possible. 

Step 3: Start to mark your jeans, use this step to put on your jeans and use a marker or chalk where you want the rips and frays to be. Normally, people tend to have them on their knees, but you can distress the lower leg or high on the thighs. Ensure the marker or chalk you use is suitable for clothing, so that when you come to the next step you can see all the markings you have made. 

Step 4: Start ripping and distressing using your tools, the first step to this is to use your scissors to cut the initial few slits and then use all your other supplies and tools to fray and 

distress the cuts. The razor is great for fraying the edges, then use the tweezers to pull out all the vertical pieces of denim, this will create the ultimate distressed look. However, one of the best way of how to distress jeans is definitely getting some sandpaper and rubbing it onto the areas you want to look super vintage, this is the way you can get the best look on your DIY ripped jeans. 

Add the Finishing Touches

You want to make sure they look vintage but also don’t go overboard when you’re creating the rips. Remember, once you make a rip it will get bigger over time as you wear and wash. The best thing about customizing your very own distressed jeans is that you can add a range of beautiful embellishments or even sew some flowers onto your jeans yourself. This step is the most fun part of how to make ripped jeans because you can totally change up your style however you like it. For those of you who like to look a little edgier, the more ripped your jeans are, the better. Simply make and create them however you like. 

Styling Your Ripped Jeans

It’s pretty self-explanatory but you can’t just walk out onto the streets wearing your newly distressed denim jeans and nothing else, you have to pair them with your favorite clothing pieces. We suggest trying an oversized blouse or maybe try buying a few mix and match pieces, this way you can change up your style all the time. Fashion is about expressing yourself, so whatever clothing style you want to rock while you’re wearing your ripped jeans is totally OK! 

Now that you know an easy way to create your dream pair of ripped jeans, you can start making them! It can take as long as you like, if you want an intricate piece with a lot of detailing then it will take longer. We hope this guide of how to make ripped jeans at home will give you the confidence to start being more creative and innovative with your clothing ideas! If you’re looking to stock cute wholesale tops that pair perfectly with ripped jeans, many online boutiques have a great selection of the season’s hottest tees, crops, and blouses.