Full disclosure: I am easily amused by things that amuse almost no one else. The good news is: David is wrenching, Mercedes is driving, and Jason is drawing, so there are very few people to stop me from writing a post that I’ve needed to write for a while. And that’s a post about Power Jeans.
“What are Power Jeans?” you ask, unaware that you’ve already fallen into my trap. This is not the official name for these, and I’d accept “execudenim” or “C-Suite Dungarees” or whatever. I just call them Power Jeans.
It’s when an executive–in our case, from a car company, usually–is paired with someone from a hip, new startup business, and they have to wear jeans for the announcement photoshoot. And my favorite Power Jeans wearer is former Credit Suisse banker and GM executive Dan Ammann.
So, above we’ve got Ammann (far right, below) with Cruise co-founder Kyle Vogt (center) and COO Dan Kan, presumably from when GM bought Cruise and Ammann joined the board (he was GM President at the time). This would all end with Vogt calling GM a bunch of idiots, and GM’s new President telling Vogt to screw-off.
But not before some more jeans photos:
Here’s another one. Also with Ammann!
Ammann, again, in the power jeans and blazer look. Also, brown shoes. The difference here is that the two Lyft founders don’t have to even pretend to wear a jacket, because they’re too cool, man. Side note: How many mobility companies has GM invested in over the years? Is it all of them?
This isn’t to imply that Ammann doesn’t want to wear jeans. He grew up on a farm in New Zealand, so he seems fairly comfortable in them, but it does seem to be the automatic choice for when someone from a traditional OEM meets with a “disruptor.” Here’s VW’s Oliver Blume, left, with RJ Scaringe from Rivian, right. Scaringe always has jeans on.
Here’s some more Scaringe power jeans:
That man knows how to hold a shovel. The guy on the right definitely did not get the memo and looks ridiculous in slacks. I’m sorry. It had to be said.
Blume seems to like the look, which might explain why this is one of 12 photos that show up when you search the VW press site for his name:
They’re a little skinny, but not much skinnier than the ones I normally wear. Apparently, this is going out of fashion, so I’m open to the first executive walking around in Power JNCOs.
The one rule of Power Jeans, though, is that they can be black or blue or even tan, but they can never be white for … obvious reasons.
Lead photo: GM
Don’t apologize, this observation is long overdue. To me they are saying “Look at me, I’m an ordinary dude, not a ladder-climbing, perception-managing, borderline sociopath!”
only borderline?
When they’re ALL “ladder-climbing, perception-managing, borderline sociopaths” they’re indeed “ordinary dudes” within that crowd.
They are seeming to be framing their crotch – look at me, better than President Mushroom. Typical CEO toss.
I call them,”Sunday go to meeting jeans.” I’m no fashion plate, but when standing the phone should be in the back pocket.
Not if you want to keep possession of your phone in urban environments….same with your wallet.
Nothing bulky should be in your back pocket all the time unless you want hip/lower back pain from sitting with your hips crooked all the time.
It’s so you know they are Car Guys. Because Car Guys don’t wear suitpants.
I can say I’ve been Design Director at a chinese OEM for over a year and never wore jeans. When the time comes and I know I will be leaving, I’ll wear overalls. Hopefully I can find a thin blue and white striped pair like my grandpa had when he worked for the railroads.
My mentor at Cummins wore those exact style bib overalls every casual Friday, and to most of the excursions he took us interns on!
Imagine how much money we would save if we took away the pants from all auto executives.
You…you want then to go around pantsless?
HR’s gonna be putting in some overtime on this one.
Executive muumuus.
That might be worse.
You had me at “power jeans.”
Im just glad they’re wearing pants.
Im still waiting for these guys to try the emperors new clothes bit
Guarantee these are not the jeans you buy normally at Macy’s or whatever. No, these are probably some Japanese selvedge special ass jeans that retail for over $300.
Show up in Levi’s 501’s? Heavens, no.
501’s? What are you, rich? Rustlers is more my price range
Look at the bourgeoisie over here with new Rustlers. 2nd hand Kirkland jeans from a yard sale is more my price range.
Hey, secondhand Kirklands still have plenty of life left. Damn good jeans
I’m rocking (to the shock and surprise of absolutely no-one) a secondhand pair of Kirklands myself.
Not sure about Rustlers. Porn mag in the UK in 70s. A rubbish one to be honest.
I’m pretty sure that rich people only wear custom made jeans. You know they’re expensive when there’s no branding to be found.
I wear jean because I am a machinist. Wear the cloths that are appropriate for your job. Now, if these guys wanted to look like posers, then well done.
Jeans are perfectly appropriate for white collar workers.
(Odd that we still use the terms blue collar / white collar today even though we are long past the days when people in the office had to wear a white oxford button-up and people on the shop floor wore a uniform with their name on it)
Why are we making fun of people wearing jeans? Executives at my employer wear them all the time.
EDIT – as do employees farther down the ladder.
I’d say the weirdest thing I’ve seen in the guy that works the assembly line in a Spiderman costume.
Is there a story behind that Spiderman or are you just going to leave us hanging?
…hanging by a thread?
He says they are cheap and comfortable. He buys them when they are on sale.
He has some other superhero outfits to but I don’t know enough about the Marvel universe to know who they are.
A lot of women wear yoga pants but that is something you see every day / everywhere.
I think the assumption is that they wear them only for photo shoots. If someone could confirm this is their standard daily work “uniform” then yeah I agree there’s not a story here.
We don’t have uniforms like when I worked for a Japanese manufacturer. People wear what they like within a few broad rules.
This guy wears a superhero costume every day because he says they are cheap and comfortable.
I worked with a guy who wore a full Guernsey cow costume on the day we had a high level corporate safety inspection. Had an udder, horns, and everything
None of the supervisors could say a word to him because A) we were unionized, and B) it was fully compliant with our dress code.
Funny thing, I have two rather flattering suits, not cheap but tailored to fit, and some very smart shoes. After a long discussion with a six year old who had only previously seen me in tatty jeans he said ” Oh, so the poshy clothes are for when you take the money from the idiots”. Such is life.
Six years old, you say? That there is a future MP. (If not higher!)
[I’m presuming you’re in a commonwealth country by the tykes use of “poshy.” I’m a Yank, so my iPad autocorrected that to “pushy.” Same difference, I suppose.]
I am rather English, posh is said to come from the days of empire, if one were to be travelling to the colonies as a suitable person of means then one would book a cabin on the steamer which would bring one the greater comfort. The relentless sun of tropical climes being an offence to any decent person one would choose to reside in a suite on the left side of the steamer on the outward journey and return on the rightward side of the vessel.
Port outward, Starboard home
I thought it was for the view. Land passing by is more interesting than flat open ocean.
Smart shoes? God first the phones then the appliances and now our clothes? What do smart shoes do tell you when you are about to trip or get a blister?
That one has ones own shoemaker.
Don’t get started on shoes! Usually they are all white sneakers, not from adidas or nike, but Gucci or Farucci or something like that…hilarious. “I’ve got to run to a meeting now…”
If you want to have a power look you need a Cod Piece. None of these bozos had the stones to wear one.
Failing that, an eggplant wrapped in aluminium foil will do in a pinch.
And then you can give it to cook to prepare for dinner. Lol
What I kind of find funny is that all of those guys are probably wearing very expensive, very carefully faded, designer jeans, but I’ve had several people ask me where I get my jeans, because they “look right”.
I wear inexpensive raw denim and I work in a warehouse. And that’s the secret. I work in my workwear. These guys try to look like they do, and the6 clearly don’t.
Yes but how do you get your creases so sharp?
Pretty sure if you’d ask those CEO’s they’d have no clue. That’s someone else’s, someone else’s, someone else’s job.
My buddy gave me a few sets of his Marine camo’s. They had front creases pressed into them…took quite a while for them to wear off. That was their daily wear on ship so had to be crisp and sharp so laundry made them so.
Reminds me as an 80s kid, we couldn’t wear holey jeans because Mom said that’s what poor kids had to wear….she knew because she was one of them.
I only wear jeans when I need protective clothing below the waste. Otherwise cargo shorts, Dockers, or slacks. They’re just more comfortable.
Using waste instead of waist to describe your nether region raises some psychological damage in your past. I suggest talking to a therapist. Dr Frazier Crane is available in the Boston area now. Lol
Doh! Nice catch!
Dad was an English Major, it has scarred me for life.
I thought he’d moved to Seattle back in the early 90s.
Yes but they released a new one a few years ago, he’s in Boston where Freddy is at Haavaad and I think gay.
What? No Jorts?
Jean shorts? The worst qualities of jeans without the lower leg protection.
But de rigor in Florida. (You don’t want to wear jeans in this humidity.)
The humidity is bad enough in Maryland. Florida’s off my list.
I don’t blame you one bit.
Awesome thread.
I see what you did there. 😉
But that is how you make fromunda cheese.
Cheese from under your sack.
That happens no matter what you wear in Florida during the summer. Even 60/40 poly/cotton blends don’t prevent it.
How about linen?
Good question. While it would wick away moisture quickly, it still can’t prevent that wonderful moment at 8:30 in the morning when it’s 86 degrees and it’s just warm enough that the morning dew evaporates to surround you in natures sauna.
Sounds like a.great.time.to.stay inside with the A/C on “full dehumidify”.
Oh, wait I read about this… Here, do your morning stroll in one of these:
https://batteryheatedclothing.com/cooling-vests/whole-body-ice-water-circulating-cooling-suit/
Or this:
https://www.pushenterprises.com/product/nomex-single-layer-suit-with-personal-air-conditioner/
As a bonus even the ‘roided up muscle heads walking their pit bulls will make way when they see you coming in one of these,
You’re right. Most office types treat Florida summer like northern winter. Run from the house to the car to the office building.
I’m the guy you see outside the window, edging the roads, trimming trees, painting the roads, and wearing the backpack blower in the middle of the afternoon.
The suits are nice. Not safe to wear given Florida drivers, but nice.
“Not safe to wear given Florida drivers”
Then it needs MOAR airbags:
https://newatlas.com/hedgehog-inspired-full-body-airbag/35994/
LOL
I want a pic of the execs in their poser outfits, but in jorts.
Epic.
I always found the old juxtaposition of the exec in a suit standing next to piece of machinery, best when a race-only one, to be the coolest b/c of the contrast, each expressing seriousness just in a different way.
And in those days, the classic pose was one arm outstretched, hand flat somewhere on the car.
American automakers did their best work when the engineering staff all wore dark skinny ties, short sleeve shirts, and pocket protectors, that was the Peak Detroit uniform. Make sure to pose next to an engine mounted on a display stand and point at the air cleaner, that will look good in the handout for the next dealers’ meeting
Of course, by the 1990s, the standard stock photo had changed to leaning over someone sitting at a computer and decisively pointing at their screen
The skinny leather tie ruined that look.
Those guys loved it when they got to ditch the tie – then replace the white button up with a polo – then the slacks with dockers – then jeans. Today the polos are slowly fading and being replaced with t shirts.
I came into the industry when the uniform was a polo and dockers but the older guys would rage about having to wear a white shirt in a green sand foundry with a clip-on tie because they worked around lathes and drill presses.
In the IT field the overused picture is someone holding out an Ethernet cable to be plugged into a rack mounted network switch while a smiling onlooker is learning how to plug their first cable in.
It was probably too hard to make a still picture covering did you turn it on? Does it have paper in the printer?
I almost exclusively wear cargo pants, which are a close relative of jeans. In 2025, I wore pants that were not cargo pants for a sum total of 5 hours.
I am as uncomfortable in trousers/slacks/suit pants as these guys look to be in jeans.
I agree this week is the first time I wore long pants since February. And yes jeans this week before they were shorts
I swear it’s harder to find cargo and carpenter pants than it used to be. Carpenter is especially useful even though I’m not a carpenter because I certainly use the pockets and hammer loop, sometimes even for hammers!
I wear Wrangler cargo pants. Either from Wally World or from the manufacturer website.
I never understood their marketing plan. If it were me Cargo pants when your carrying a huge load in your pants.
Tractor Supply, Rural King, and yes Harbour Freight.
Hmm, I haven’t seen much in the way of non-ppe clothing at harbor freight. What does weird me out is that Lowe’s has a huge clothing section now.
Find a store with proper workwear and you have plenty. For amusement get Prison Blues brand made in Oregon state prisons, or just get Key for cheap and durable. I currently have one pair of Lee jeans, last worn in 2024 because I wear cargo pants or shorts.
I own one suit, made in Hong Kong decades ago and wore it maybe 3 times. Now that I found a jacket that suits my style in a thrift store for $20 I wear it frequently.
https://www.loudmouth.com/products/shagadelic-black-stretchtech-mens-sportcoat-mto
What? $418 for a jacket? I don’t think the 3 suits the top guys got in Vietnam cost that much for all 3.
https://www.tiktok.com/@seriouscars/video/7259111300108684570
If Scaringe always wears jeans, then that seems to not meet the qualification for power jeans. “have to wear jeans” would indicate they don’t typically do so and are required to by the occasion. But if he always wears them, then he is one of the hip tech CEOs. I think.
This is the private sector equivalent of a politician taking off his tie and wearing a high vis vest screen printed with the logo of the company he’s visiting over top of his suit jacket
And the hard hat. The pussies love wearing hard hats. The only worse look was Democrat politician Michael Dukakis wearing a suit and a military helmet in a tank.
And its pretty universal, a good photo wearing a hard hat and safety glasses has been considered essential for a successful campaign in Japan for decades, to the point where you wonder if some politicians are doing it as self parody by now
Even dead, he’ll never live it down.
Yes! How dare a US Army veteran pose in an Army tank!
Dukakis served in Korea. He was trained as a radio operator so he probably served as a radio operator, one of the most hazardous jobs you could sign up for:
https://www.deseret.com/1988/8/29/18776620/dukakis-military-service-uneventful-say-what-few-records-exist-after-fire/
https://bushcraftbuddy.com/ww2-jobs-with-the-lowest-survival-rates/
https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-history/radiomen-life-expectancy-vietnam-war/
“Democrat politician”
And there’s your sign.
Followed closely by the politician with his tie loosened and shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows sitting at the kitchen table of some Real Americans.
I was the first rich guy to wear jeans with a sport coat; now THEY ALL DO IT!- Hank Scorpio
Homer, on your way out, if you wanna kill somebody, it would help a lot.
“Don’t call me that word. I don’t like things that elevate me above the other people. I’m just like you. Oh sure, I come later in the day, I get paid a lot more, and I take longer vacations, but I don’t like the word ‘boss.'”
Jeans! They’re just like us! I think they should get tax breaks those hard-working son of a guns.
Doh!
Rule #2 of Power Jeans photoshoot: You must either have a thumb hooked into or out of the pockets. Old boy at the first picture has one of each. Gods it looks so weird!
And whatever you do, you cannot stand with your arms crossed like a promo shot from an ’80s action/adventure show.
This sartorial separation shall be known as the Gulf of Ammann.
Well done!
Watching the JNCO girl drop a lava lamp into her pockets took me further back to the 80s, and Eddie Murphy’s “Boogie in Your Butt” started playing in my head.
Sorry Trump just released a statement from the White House it is the Golf of America look. Those failing to properly call it that will be forced to wear Lederhosen.
Mercedes enters the chat
Bob Lutz would not approve. 😀