Take it from us: If you can’t pronounce “JNCO,” you’re hopelessly out of touch…JNCOs are so wide they swing like a double-barreled hoop skirt and drag along the pavement, collecting chewed gum and other sidewalk scum. – Fortune Magazine, April 13, 1998

Insanely wide and straight legs - perfect for the 3 S's: sagging, shoplifting, and skating {peterahall.net}

The coolest kids in the late 90’s wore JNCOs (Judge None, Choose One). In fact, the wide-legged jean market increased in revenue by 30% in 1997. Not only did these huge jeans, often measuring 30+ inches in the leg openings, make the wearer seem larger (and tougher), but the jeans could easily be sagged. Most pairs of JNCOs were sold at JCPenney, but lucky people in Los Angeles could head over to a retail store on Melrose. The pants were available online starting in late 1996. In fact, the archived version of the 1996 catalog contains some excellent descriptions. However, who actually bought:

• Any of the ‘natural’ colored pants (white or cream in color)?
• The Builder Short-All??
• The Wide Cord?

Compare these to today’s slim-fit pants. Ten years ago, slim jeans would have garnered negative comments. Today, however, JNCOs would just seem goofy. My how the tables have turned. A look at the archived version of the JNCO website shows that the company sponsored the Vans Warped Tour and had an ad in Seventeen. Unfortunately for poser-types and Korn fans, JNCO seems to have gone out of business. Their website doesn’t exist, but the domain is registered by parent company Revatex through 2013. Here’s to a comeback…

The JNCO website in 1998 {web.archive.org}