Best Jeans to Pair with Sneakers

I’ve been loving sneakers for practical mom-friendly outfits, though figuring out the most flattering jeans or bottoms to pair them with can take a little trial and error. Below is a style that I don’t love with sneakers, and a few options that I’d choose to wear instead!

The sneakers I have on are the reader-favorite Adidas Handball Spezial style (big kids sizing; adults sizing), which has been more supportive and comfy for me than their other popular styles. I initially bought these in their adults sizing but they run about a size big, so the smallest size Mens 4 / Womens 5 is still loose on me. I then got the big kids size 3.5 which fit perfectly like a standard womens 5-5.5 for me, and will plan to sell my adult ones. According to their size chart, a big kid’s size 4 is like a women’s 6, and onward.

Here’s a video if you’d like to better see these looks in motion! Hit the unmute button for sound.

1. Slim Straight Jeans

Left: It might be a surprise that this first style is a “Don’t” for me, since it’s one of my most versatile and frequently-worn jeans. IMO this style of jean works beautifully with almost all shoe types, except for sneakers like these. I don’t love how the width of the jean is pretty much the same as the width of the sneaker, so there’s not much contrast and the pant hem doesn’t drape over the shoes. The length of the jeans also hit precisely at the top of the sneaker, which for some reason feels awkward instead of effortless.

Right: If I’m going to wear this cut with sneakers, I prefer a slightly cropped length to show the ankles for some contrast. I didn’t want to cut these jeans since I love the existing length with other shoes, so just cuffed them on the right as a quick temporary fix.

I know some will disagree with both of these assessments! As illustrated in this recent post, denim preferences shift quite a bit over time, so I could very likely feel different about this down the road.

2. Wide leg Jeans

Left: The combo of a wide leg jean with sneakers feels the most current and chic to me. For a cropped style, I would ideally prefer the jeans to hit a bit shorter to show a little ankle or a little longer to cover more of the shoe. However, fashion doesn’t have to be perfect so I wear the left combo quite a bit with both my white and blue pairs of jeans in that same cut.

Right: The full length wide leg is probably my favorite to pair with sneakers as it creates the most flattering, elongated line from the waist down to the hems. As an added bonus, you don’t need to worry about which socks to wear since they’ll be hidden.

3. trousers or joggers

Left: Trousers with sneakers is how the European girls have been doing smart casual for years. A draping wider cut similar to the cut of the wide jeans above works best. My only challenge is a short enough length to actually wear with sneakers. Uniqlo does free to affordable custom hemming, and some Abercrombie trousers come in Extra Short & Short inseams (you can filter on the left).

Right: For an easy athleisure look, joggers always work well with sneakers like this. I’m still in love with my Varley set with the petite-friendly 25″ joggers!