“Business casual” really varies a lot from company to company. At my previous company it meant khakis and button down shirts or polos, and leather loafers.
At my current company it means reasonably dressy dark wash jeans with button down shirts and sneakers. I was pretty shocked when I accompanied the regional sales manager to a customer meeting and he wore jeans; meanwhile I was in dark slacks and a blazer. Silly me, I thought jeans were only for the office, not for visits to customers.
Anyway for OP that’s a nice-looking pair of jeans from Lucky that you linked. Nice modern darker wash with a bit of stretch it seems. The “no Levis” is probably shorthand code for “no Dad jeans”. I’ve been stocking up on jeans myself due to my new company and have been buying 7 for All Mankind and Paige from Nordstrom Rack and directly from the manufacturer with their Christmas 40% sales. Makes them almost affordable, lol. The stretch fabric in 7 and Paige is really awesome for all day wear, though. If you’re viewing the jeans as “work wardrobe” it shifts your perception a bit on how much you’re willing to spend for better comfort and quality.
Again… HR telling people the equivalent of “no dad jeans”? I can see no revealing jeans, no rips, no low riders so your boxer’s or butt crack shows, and even encouraging a dark wash. But I just am befuddled at why HR cares would care about the cut or actual brand. Honestly, it strikes me as a somewhat ageist HR policy.
LL Bean has Double L Jeans, Classic fit , in 36 inseam, 42 waist. My husband is 6’7" and gets a great deal of his clothes from them -khakis, chinos, jeans, dress shirts, shoes, etc.). My sons are also very tall - I know they have pants from Bonobos, can’t remember what other brands. We have gotten stuff from Brooks Brothers as well in the past.
Last year, I finally got DH to upgrade his jeans. Banana Republic traveler and rapid movement were the winners. As mentioned earlier, they a pricey. Watch for sales.
Google “obama dad jeans” and look at the image results - the fit, color, and style shown in those photos (the eary Obama years before he upped his denim game) are what spring to mind when I think of guys wearing Levi’s. Wholly unwarranted as Levi’s makes some great-looking and good quality jeans in a variety of styles and colors. But I suspect somebody in HR has the same mental reflex at the word “Levi’s”. Guys dressed like that in my office would certainly get a bit of side-eye especially since the demographic skews younger; management might even tell them not to dress like that with customers which would be an uncomfortable situation for both parties.
It’s probably ageist, as mentioned above. But how many posts are there in women’s workwear threads on this site about looking smart, well-tailored, modern, and how important that is for older women? In this case I think HR is just giving older guys a bit of a hint that even though they’re wearing jeans to the office, they’re still going into an office.
All my speculation, of course. Maybe’s OP’s H can ask somebody in HR what the “no Levi’s” policy is all about once he’s settled in. Maybe their CEO just had a twitter fight with the Levi’s CEO and now there’s bad feelings - who knows?
My spouse and I both work in science/tech related fields and we both like black jeans for “business casual” workplaces. I wore suits and stockings when I started working but that was 30+ years ago - I haven’t worn formal clothes in a workplace since the 1990s. I buy the Double L jeans when they have the right color in stock. Makes the whole “wash” thing unimportant and basic black goes with everything! I also find they look nicer for longer.
If anything screams dad clothes, it will be Lands end/LL bean. . And that would be the dad who never buys his own clothes LOL. I think the Levis comment is not about the brand, just the idea of fit.
I’m not sure what the reason is b/c this isn’t a company that my DH works for. He’s in the middle of transitioning from career military to the private sector, so we are a bit new to all this. It was a former colleague & friend who is currently with the company who said No Levis. I really couldn’t speculate as to the reasons.
We actually looked at LL Bean & land’s end b/c we knew they carried long sizes. It’s difficult to tell from website pictures sometimes but the cuts and colors didn’t strike me as being as modern as Banana Republic and Lucky.
It’s funny how fancy jeans are now the opposite of the original intention and incarnation. Work jeans you can beat-up, toss around, and not worry about. Fancy jeans are all, “don’t wash too often! no dryer! dry flat! don’t stretch them out! omg they’re showing signs of wear!”
Adriano Goldshmied has excellent ‘denim jeans’ that look like chinos; if you’re going for the jeans that are not jeans look, I’d go for black or dark grey denim.
Just make sure that the “No Levis” comments doesn’t mean “no denim.” Some places don’t permit denim – they want khakis or chinos or something like that.