The Best White Jeans for Men Are Just a Little Bit Cooler

Our stance on the best white jeans for men is pretty simple: They’re cool. According to, uh, science, white jeans offer more than just a welcome visual respite from the raw blues and near-blacks—during the warmer months, they actually reflect sunlight, instead of absorbing it. And unlike those more familiar shades of denim, they also exude an entirely different energy, equal parts retro-, Euro-, and rock-god-coded all at once.

Pulling them off, though, isn't as straightforward. As you might expect, white jeans are governed by a surprisingly nuanced code. Keep ‘em pristine and they’ll lend your outfits a jolt of Italian sprezzatura; let ‘em distress and they’ll turn you into the least bloody cowboy in a Cormac McCarthy novel. Below, we’ve aggregated every pair we're eyeing right now, from exquisite hand-painted designer riffs to cheap-and-cheerful big-box joints, in every shade of that unbeatable Hamptons-party-ready hue.

The Best Men's White Jeans, According to GQ

• The Best White Jeans Overall: Levi’s Original 501 Jeans, $98
• The Best Baggy White Jeans: Abercrombie & Fitch Baggy Jeans, $90 $72
• The Best Upgrade White Jeans: A.P.C. Jean Martin Tapered Jeans, $310
• The Best Designer White Jeans: Maison Margiela Bianchetto Jeans, $1,090
• The Best Lightweight White Jeans: Todd Snyder Japanese Selvedge Jeans, $298
• The Best Vintage-Inspired White Jeans: Orslow 105 Jeans, $240

Best White Jeans Overall: Levi’s Original 501 Jeans

In the end, the best blue jeans also turned out to be the best white jeans. Accompanying the 501’s classic straight leg, medium-rise fit, Levi’s chosen shade here is white, but not white-tee-white. (We’d say it’s more of an eggshell, raw milk hue.) This softness means you can easily dress these up with a linen shirt or down with a faded, lived-in vintage T-shirt—the choice is yours. Plus, because these aren’t stark white, you and others are less likely to notice the inevitable smudges and stains you pick up when you wear white.

Best Baggy White Jeans: Abercrombie & Fitch Baggy Jeans

You’re already showing your confidence by ditching blue for white, so why not go big, too? Baggier silhouettes are all the rage right now, and when you throw in a timeless tone like ecru—again, these aren’t totally white—you’ve got on-trend pants that will also stand the test of time. Added details like a hammer loop, longer inseam, slanted hip pockets, and side tool pocket lend even more aura to these Abercrombie jeans, plus, with their slight stretchiness, you can really get into your projects, too, ensuring you don’t bust a knee when you bend down or over.

Best Designer White Jeans: Maison Margiela Bianchetto Jeans

These white jeans are literally hand-painted. They’re designed to show their wear over time, as their paint slightly cracks, and glimpses of blue emerge from the non-stretch, five-pocket blue denim jeans underneath. (Margiela’s inspiration was the white canvases that painters use, and how they represent just the start of an artwork.) All of this gives these jeans a crackly, leather-like look that will, for better or worse, continue to distress with time. Like Hansel and Gretel and their breadcrumbs, you’ll leave a trail of white paint chips in your path, alerting haters (and admirers, for that matter) to your every move.

Best Lightweight White Jeans: Todd Snyder Japanese Selvedge Jeans

For obvious reasons, white jeans work well in the warmer months. Couple the color’s ability to reflect the sun with a lightweight fabric, and you’ve got a go-to jean for when temperatures are seriously red outside. Thankfully, Todd Snyder didn’t sacrifice any style as he set about to make these jeans feel like AC for your legs. The 100% cotton, imported 11 oz. Japanese selvedge denim has been cut in a comfortable, relaxed fit, that’s still not so baggy that there’s extra fabric weighing you down. Beyond that, the button fly adds even more breathability, and is just one part of a suite of refined details meant to separate this style from Snyder’s standard-fare denim, including luxe finishings like oxidized rivets, chain-stitched embroidery, and subtle accents like a locker loop and red ticking selvedge outseams.

Best Upgrade White Jeans: A.P.C. Martin Tapered Jeans

Moving away from egg-related hues, the A.P.C. Martin is the jean equivalent of a fresh-from-the-pack white T-shirt. These, our earlier guidance aside, should be kept crisp and clean—not starched, though. They’ll break in nicely, as all A.P.C. jeans do, but unlike $15 Dickies, they’ll also hold up for years and years. The regular fit, straight-leg, mid-rise style is neither too weighty nor too light, and somehow manages to come off as both a straight-up archival '90s design and contemporary, ready-for-2025 release at the same time. Finished with tonal stitching, these are also truly white—no blue, black, orange, or red to be seen here, anywhere.

Best Vintage-Inspired White Jeans: Orslow 105 Jeans

Orslow–so named for its founder Ichiro Nakatsu’s love of process, and doing things slowly—owes much of its success to its Japan-made 105 style, which is essentially the designer’s take on a heritage 501. From the simple, traditional sizing scale—1 (small) through 5 (extra-large)—to the vintage back patch, wider legs with a slight taper, medium-high rise, and rinse-finish for added softness, these feel like a sick-ass vintage score straight from the package. Woven on an old-fashioned shuttle loom, these let you go back in time, without the musty vintage odor that comes with buying an actual vintage classic.

More White Jeans We Love

Big Ol’ doesn’t quite do these jumbo Stüssy jeans justice. Really, these Cali-made jeans are roomier than most NYC apartments. That’s no bad thing: these days, the bigger the jean, the harder the flex. And this flax-colored—not crisp white, more natural—denim puts on a show, thanks to the oversized fit with an extra wide cut that tapers down to the cuff. Word to the wise, though: Size down for a true-to-size fit in the waist, or order your normal size for an even baggier fit.

“When they go low, we go high.” That’s Michelle Obama, but also Paris-based fashion brand Husbands, beloved for its high-waisted, flared trousers, including this fresh-set-of-veneers-white jeans. Rockstar silhouette aside, these are right up the middle: five pockets, five belt loops, a button fly, copper buttons and rivets, and their own signature rear detailing. Rock with heeled black boots to complete the look.

Leave it to Buck Mason to make a white jean that would look as good on your conservative (at least in wardrobe) dad as they do on you. Damn good jeans with a vintage, western twang, these have a high-rise with a straight fit through the thigh and leg, and a visible texture that’ll evolve with constant wear.

When we mentioned the retro appeal of white jeans, this is what we meant. Based on an archival 1950s style, these are cut from 100% cotton, with a longer rise and a true—we mean true—straight leg. No taper, no barrel-fit, no funny business.

Drake’s' white jeans are a real investment piece, birthed next to London’s historic Savile Row. The price is high, but so is the quality: made from 12.7 oz. Italian selvedge denim that will soften with time, these go from rough and rigid to unbelievably buttery with wear. And because they aren’t marble white to start, they’ll look like your favorite jeans on the very first day you wear them.

Whatever you do, don’t bleach them. Bleach may seem like the obvious solution, but it isn’t. It can cause yellowing, and thins denim with repeated exposure. Instead, try a white-safe detergent, hot water, and some sun. It helps that the best time of year to wear your white jeans is during the dog days of summer, so use that beaming ball of light up there to your advantage. Sunshine has a bleach-like effect on colors, giving your white jeans a whitening session without the need for erosive chemicals. Win-win, because while they whiten, they’ll dry, too.

Just about everything—though there are certain colors you should avoid. If you go super bright, you run the risk of looking like a professional golfer, or worst yet, a hypebeast: vivid reds, bright oranges, poppy pinks, teal blues—they all offer a bit too much contrast to work well with white, especially if your jeans aren’t technically pure white to begin with. Try wearing something a little sun-faded, even dusty—a vintage tee, a linen shirt.

Yes, obviously. The “rule” stems from the 19th century when elites would escape the sweltering, dirty cities for nearby coastal towns, where white outfits worked well, returning right around Labor Day, the first Monday in September. Clearly, the rule was less of a rule and more of an adopted code to wear white when appropriate, and avoid it when it wasn’t. But with the advantages of modern laundry—not to mention the effects of global warming—there’s really no need to worry about that code anymore.