Nordstrom is selling a pair of jeans with fake, caked-on mud for $425.
The product and its not-quite-cheaper-than-dirt price tag have garnered criticism for being offensive to working-class Americans. Not to mention its dubious fashion value.
In the luxury department’s online store, the description for the Barracuda Straight Leg Jeans from PRPS says they “embody rugged, Americana workwear that’s seen some hard-working action with a crackled, caked-on muddy coating that shows you’re not afraid to get down and dirty.”
According to Mashable, the faux muddy denim gained public attention when Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs took to social media ranting about the message they conveyed and shaming Nordstrom in the process.
“‘Rugged Americana’ is now synonymous with a “caked-on, muddy coating,” he said in the Facebook post. Rowe described the jeans as “proof that our country’s war on work continues to rage in all corners of polite society” and said they fostered “the illusion of effort.”
At $425 a pair, Nordstrom customers would certainly have to work hard to earn the money to afford that illusion.
—RealClearLife
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