feToday In Weird Clothing Trends: Wearing Jeans Infused With Jade To Beat The Heat

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(Lee brand on YouTube)

Because no one likes having heavy fabric clinging to sweaty, suffocating legs when it’s hot outside, many people turn to a clothing innovation known as “shorts” to give those limbs some breathing room when the weather is hot. But over in China, Lee jeans has decided to push another option — denim infused with crushed jade stones, a method that theoretically keeps wearers cooler.

The Jade Fusion line launched in Hong Kong in May and is now spreading to the rest of China, reports Bloomberg, where customers may have a hard time getting their hands on a pair, as they’ve sold out in the first seven weeks.

Here’s how it works: The jade fabric pulls sweat away from the body, where it quickly dries, creating a cooling sensation, Stephen Dull, vice president of strategy and innovation for VF Corp, the parent company of Lee, explained to Bloomberg. Or as the brand calls it, “denim refreshment.”

“It’s not magic,” Dull said. “But it takes away of a lot of the smelly, icky, sweaty, sticky feeling you get when you wear denim in the heat.”

This is part of Lee’s efforts to get people out of their soft and stretchy yoga pants and other leisure wear that’s become popular and back into jeans, even when it’s a bajillion degrees outside and the last thing you might want is heavy fabric smothering your legs into a sweaty denim hell.

For now the Jade jeans are only going to be sold in China, Lee says. But who knows, the gemstone jean craze could eventually make its way to America. Not everyone likes wearing shorts no matter how hot it is, after all. Especially when the bright glow of pale legs finally seeing the light of day after a long winter in the dark is not something every person is uncomfortable inflicting on the world.

Forget Shorts, Jeans Made With Jade Help Chinese Beat the Heat [Bloomberg]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist