Here’s something I realized when preparing to review Kimes Ranch Jolene jeans, one of 15 styles available from the young, Made in America, Arizona-based company.
I brought high expectations to this assignment. Before even receiving the jeans – made from 99 percent cotton and one percent Spandex – I expected them to fit well, look good, and wear well. After all, I’ve been a Kimes fan for most of the company’s existence and have relied on their quality and good looks to keep me buoyed even when I couldn’t afford to put a lot of time into my appearance. I wasn’t disappointed.
The Jolene fits similarly to my go-to Kimes style, the Francesca, with a few differences:
- Cut slightly lower at the waist
- Slightly wider boot flare
- White stitching
Like the Francesca (read review here), these Jolene jeans are made for action. On the road and in the saddle, they performed admirably. Over the course of three weeks, I drove a few thousand miles, rode about a hundred miles, went out on the town, and trimmed 40 feet. These jeans handled it with style and ease. When chatting with marketing director Lindsay Perraton, I maintained that I was a 100-percent-cotton, 100-percent-of-the-time kind of gal. She encouraged me to expand my comfort zone and try this style.
As we so often find when we stretch our comfort zones, the grass on the other side is pretty nice. The Jolene, with its highlighting threads and crisp, dark denim, is an excellent alternative to the more traditional Francesca and Betty. The stretch is slight – just enough to make stepping into the saddle easy and non-binding. These jeans are true to size (maybe just a tad generous) and do not noticeably shrink.
Kimes Ranch features sponsored riders from around the country, including 2017 Best Horse Practices Summit presenter, Warwick Schiller. Courtney Hall is a barrel racer who captained the Texas Tech University team and has moved on to graduate school.
Joelle Souza, the “Aloha Cowgirl” wrote about cowboy culture on the Hawaiian islands here.