Sears' Toughskins - Jeans from Hell

Ugly, Uncomfortable Jeans Were the Scourge of a Generation - and They're Back!

Jared Keller
Jared Keller, Yahoo! Contributor Network
Jun 16, 2006 "Share your voice on Yahoo! websites. Start Here."
In the 1970s, Sears Roebuck & Co took a look at their massive product offering - spanning items for home, auto, fashion, leisure, and countless other categories - and decided that there was but one retail area left for them to conquer: that of the nuke-proof childrens' clothing market.

Specifically, Sears market researchers interviewed countless suburban moms, who decreed that the single greatest challenge faced by the nation was that of kids' jeans that wore out too darned fast. Their solution? Create a line of jeans so ridiculously overbuilt that they could guarantee that kids would grow out of the cursed things long before they'd wear out.

Enter a sinister group of chemists, colorblind fashion school dropouts, and disgruntled Carter-era defense contractors - all hidden inside a hollowed-out volcano somewhere off the coast of Indonesia - and the world was forever changed.

The Toughskin™ jean had been unleashed upon millions of unsuspecting elementary school kids, who were henceforth doomed to a life of freakishly colored jean-substitutes with razor sharp, potentially lethal creases down the center of legs that didn't bend at the knee, shattered in cold weather, gave off sparks upon striking asphalt, and featured a mock-leather "TOUGHSKINS" tag that inevitably cracked - leaving shards of unnaturally sharp plastic to jab at the wearer's waist upon making any attempt to tie his/her shoes.

And we won't even broach the horror of the "husky" Toughskin wearer...

This monstrous creation - made of a nearly indestructible blend of Dacron Type 59 polyester, DuPont 429 Nylon, Kevlar, titanium fiber, and approximately three strands of cotton (for softness!) - was the centerpiece of Sears' childrens' clothing line for nearly 15 years, and eventually spread to a line of men's workclothes, until scores of emergency room visits by steelworkers who had inadvertently welded themselves to I-beams forced Sears to drop the line.

In the 1990s, the line was resurrected, and countless young adults across the nation began to wake in cold sweats, suffering Toughskin flashbacks, and triggering what psychologists have come to call Toughskin Syndrome - marked chiefly by a stiff-legged gait, and fear of polyester.

My own daughter is only two and a half, but I've already decided - she'll never know the shame, or the pain of Toughskins. Yeah...that's right - they still sell 'em. Go to your local Sears, and check them out. They're softer than they used to be now, so none of these darned kids today (with their rock n' roll, and their ice cream sodas!) will ever understand the look of fear and confusion that passes across their parent's face upon walking through the kids' clothing section, but hey...my fellow late 70s and early 80s veterans know the score. Sure, the incessant whining of my Generation may seem excessive, given that we didn't have live through a Depression, a World War, Vietnam, or that whole Dick Cavett phase of American pop culture, but man...we had to deal with Toughskins, and that's plenty enough to scar anybody.

Published by Jared Keller

I'm a Program Manager and grad student, working in counter-terrorism and law enforcement, and have been a blogger and columnist for more than four years. I'm also an 80s nostalgist, and humor writer.   View profile

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  • M.A. 9/25/2011

    Yes Looking back at old photos of me back in the seventies from being six years old through grade school and middle school I allmost allways wore Toughskins jeans every day I had allmost all the colors thay came in from bright Red,Forest Green,Dark Brown,Sky Blue,Solid Navy Blue were one of my favorites the Black Denim and Solid Navy Blue and Blue Denim Were my favorites I wore most often I remember thay were cool at one time and thay were comfortable most of time except when your sitting in a class room or sitting in the same spot for a long time the knees got uncomfortible other then that thay were tough I use to wear them as shorts in the summer mostly for soccer practice because my waist stayed the same for a lot longer then my legs out grew the length I had a lot of the Solid Navy Blue and the Black Denim ones with the White X stiching on the back pockets because thay were my favorite colors ones to wear I did like them most of the time even when people started to make fun of them didn't stop me from wearing them like around the house doing yard work mowing the lawn Ididn't care if anyone saw me in them thay were comfortible and tough and great for being rough in them except thay didn't seam to be so tough when ever I got spanked in them and I did get spanked a lot while wearing I was wearing Toughskins and I got bad back then enough to make cry hard for along time even when 13 and 14 years old I would sometimes change in to my Toughskins from my Levi cords or Op shorts if I knew I going to get spanked if I had enough time I even wore then High school in my freshmen year a few times Two times in my senor year because someone dared me to I was crazy like that.

  • Nightwolf 8/10/2011

    I was a Toughskin wearer. Wasn't scared as the woman says in the article. Only pants my mother brought that would last long with me. Loved them. Nice to know they still make them. I have to check sears to see if they have in adult sizes.

  • jeff 3/15/2011

    Yep it all sounds famillier. I was a Sears Toughskin wearer also. I still remember sitting in school wearing them. Mine were Hand-Me-Downs from my cousin. I never realized untill I was alittle older why my jeans always fit around my waiste or were sometimes too big around my waiste but were so many times too short for me. I grew up poor living in the country during the 1970's. I will say they did wear however. They had to in my case . I was the kid always wearing the same pair of jeans everyday and I would get a package of tee shirts for school shirts. I still remember going into town in August and going into the old JC Penney's store, Much different than the JC Penney;s stores today. For years I didn;t really think about all the other clothes in the store all that much. I would always get a package of undershirts for the school year and always wearing those Toughskin Jeans.

  • David Shread Your Head (C. Norris, Kid),,, 1/27/2010

    Sear's T,Skin's, Recap:=Momma's Boy?,,,
    As Adult,I Value Quality! P.S.MeDress,Boy?
    I,Humble,Secure,U Issues, See a Shrink !
    Toughskin's, Withstand's My Phys'cl Abuse!
    Recap: My Pant's, OUTLAST YOUR ASS!,,,,,,
    After A Fight, My Pant's Still Allright!,,

  • David Shread Your Head Norris! 1/14/2010

    Toughskin's The Worst, ( I'm Mommy's Boy)
    BUT,As A Adult, Toughskins, Work Clothes?
    Hey, Bullet Proof,Jean's, Overall's Etc,,
    Put The X'sOn My Seat,Kid's SKIN RECOVERS
    Losing Skin As a Adult, REALLY HURT'S !..
    I Want Jean's Than Spare's My Hide!......

  • Chris 10/19/2009

    Rth - you are sick and twisted.

  • Yeah, I haddem too. 9/24/2009

    Rhonda Norred Bales If I put lotion on Joshua's Toughskins, will they get holes in the knees?
    2 hours ago · Comment · Like / Unlike
    Cary Riche'
    Cary Riche'
    they still make tough skins? Can i get them in fat man size
    about an hour ago · Delete
    Rhonda Norred Bales
    Rhonda Norred Bales
    Uhhhhh-- dunno-- we're currently sporting the 4 slim variety. They're from last fall, and still have the consistency of corrugated cardboard. If he runs in them, he gets skinned knees.
    about an hour ago · Delete
    Allison Flowers O'Brian
    Allison Flowers O'Brian
    WHAT is that??
    about an hour ago · Delete
    Chase Temple
    Chase Temple
    http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/37856/sears_toughskins_jeans_from_hell.html
    19 minutes ago · Delete
    Rhonda Norred Bales
    Rhonda Norred Bales
    ROFLMBO!!!!! Chase, I just woke up the boys laughing and peed myself a little.
    14 minutes ago · Delete

  • Flash Back 5/1/2009

    My parents would spray my Toughskins, an oversized Army jacket from a garage sale, some red flannel lined brown knit jersey gloves with Scotchguard and make me go skiing. The first tumble I took would leave me soaked from head to toe with my cracked reinforced knee Toughskins rubbing my knees like a cheese grater until they were shiny and raw. If that's not child abuse I don't know what is!! Gortex and other exotic space aged fibers have pussified Americans kids. We were the last tough generation... We were legally able to stand 30 yards apart from another 12 year old and throw sharpened metal spikes at each other while attempting to get a bullseye in the now banned LawnJarts game!!! Now they're made of Nerf material... Wimps.

  • Your name 12/7/2008

    I wore Tough Skin jeans in the early seventies. Man those things were indeed indestructable. The heavy, built in pre-patched knees insured logevity. As I grew in height but maintained my waist size they eventually became the dreaded " HIGHWATETRS" oh my god!! Even after letting the hem out, I still out grew them, height wise. Indestructable, yes they were. Through countless bicycle accidents, dirt claud war-fare, and back yard football games the suckers held together. Arggggghhhhh!!!!

  • Tag M 11/15/2008

    I grew up in the 1950s and 60s, before the advent of Sears Toughskins, but their appearance, features and characteristics reminded me of the Billy The Kid Texans and Farah Gold Strikes jeans I wore as a kid. These, too, featured those infernal, unyielding polyglas-belted reinforced knees and the fabric--a blend of cotton and nylon--in a similar manner as Toughskins' tri-blend, did not breathe. As a result, they were hot, sweaty and stuffy and chafed badly. But if that wasn't bad enough in warm weather, my mother also dressed my brother and me in the red plaid flannel lined BTK Texans in winter so we could suffer year round. Of course, I should mention, too, that Sears' 1950s-60s forebear to Toughskins, was a brand of boys jeans called Circle-S which, like the BTK Texans and Farah Gold Strikes, were made of a cotton-nylon blend. I never recall having had a pair of the Circle-S jeans, but they were just as hideous looking as their counterparts, all of them sporting silver rivets and

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