Zoo Jeans

Jeans designed by lions, tigers, and bears?

Oh my!

Just watch …

Puzzled? Intrigued? Fashionably fascinated?

Well, I’m sorry to say that you won’t be able to buy a pair of “Zoo Jeans” any time soon, but I couldn’t resist telling you about this unique idea for “giving back” devised by the Mineko Club, a group of volunteers who joined forces to support the Kamine Zoo in Hitachi City, Japan.

“Zoo Jeans are the only jeans on earth designed by dangerous animals,” boasts the project’s website. “We first take their favorite playthings—old tires and giant rubber balls—and wrap them in sheets of denim. Then we return them to the animals and let nature run its course. The animals roar, gnaw, and claw at their toys, and when they’re done, we gather up what’s left of the damaged denim. It is from this unique fabric that we make the jeans. So, the wild rips and tears in Zoo Jeans have been created with pure animal instinct.”

How chic is that?

Unfortunately, for those of us who would love to sport these killer knickers (I mean, who wouldn’t want to brag about the tiger bites in her jeans?), the three original pairs were auctioned on Japan’s Yahoo Auction site earlier this month, raking in over $1000 per pair.

All profits from the sale are slated to support Kamine Zoo’s efforts to preserve the captive animals’ habitats as well as the World Wildlife Fund’s campaigns to conserve lions, tigers, and bears in the wild.

If I hear of a second Zoo Jean sale, though, I’ll be sure to share!