




Reader eword10 asked me: I would love to hear your solution on the problem another commenter mentioned: the long pants for heels and then pant legs dragging on the ground when you switch to flats. That is my problem. ALL. THE. TIME.
Now unfortunately I don’t have any great solutions!
Firstly, I’d advise you have jeans and pants that are hemmed for heels, and jeans and pants that are hemmed for flats so that if you want to wear heels you have the correct trouser length for them, or if you feel like flats you have trousers that won’t drag on the ground.
But what is the solution when say you want to slip on a pair of flats to duck out and go for a walk at lunchtime, or when commuting to and from work, but you wear the pants with heels the rest of the time?

Ok, my thoughts are:
Jeans you can usually cuff them up or under fairly easily and because of the stiffness of the fabric they’ll stay that way.
Double sided tape (toupe tape or even the regular stationery variety) to stick up the hem to a shorter length. Ok for a once of but not a great every day solution.
Safety pins on the hems on the outer and inner seams – again not a great solution, and it will droop front and back.
Velcro dots on the inside of the hem, so that you can turn under the hem and stick it up.
I’ve not come up with any great solutions – does anyone out there know of an effective way of shorteneing pants so they don’t drag, but you can still lengthen them so that you can wear with heels? I’d love to hear your solutions!






I've never tried them, but this has been touted as a solution: http://www.zakkerz.com/products.html
Zakkerz are magnetic strips you can clip onto cuffed pants to make the hem stay in place temporarily. Check the website above for pictures.
Has anyone used these and can you give us a review? Other than that, my temporary solution is 2-inch wide extra-sticky masking tape or duct tape.
A solution from a sewing blog.
http://scpbanks.blogspot.com/search?q=Variable+Hem
I usually take the safety pins. Depending on the cut of the leg (how wide it is), I use 4-5 pins per side. Nobody ever noticed!
I appreciate all the tips, this might really be a problem for somebody. Maybe even for me, but I don´t like trousers at all. All I wear are jeans, and Imogen already told how to deal with them. I´m starting to wonder why the idea of wearing trousers is so unpleasant. Maybe I find them too masculine ; )
My mind went right to Zakkerz, too, though I'll admit I've never tried them myself.
I'd prefer to make a commitment to "pants for heels" and "pants for flats" and then wear the right shoe for the pan length. Pins, tape and magnetic strips don't give a finished, precise hemline. Or wear jeans you can roll up or tuck inside boots.
It's fairly easy if the walk is clearly a constitutional undertaken on a cycling/jogging trail. I either bring a pair of casual & short slacks to change into for the stroll, or just tuck the overly long pants into my socks. With (bright white! yuck!) running shoes on, and a brisk pace on the trail, no one could possibly mistake this for a clueless fashion faux pas. Later in the season, when snow's on the ground, it'll be easier, as I'll be wearing weather-appropriate (down to -30C!) boots along with the rest of the city's population, and every type of trouser will be tucked into them regardless!
My solution to this (discovered accidentally) relies on fairly low smart heels – 2" maximum. They still give a good lift with trousers.
When I'm running errands I just slip on my MBT trainers. Those familiar with these super-comfy shoes will know they have a very deep mid-sole, which gives you pretty much the same height as a low heel, but the comfort of flats.
http://uk.mbt.com/
Oh, I know there is a product out there for this, let me do some research..Oh, I see Francesca has found it first…
I just bought a new suit and realize now I should buy an extra pant for them so I can wear them with flats and converses (for a jcrew look…).
I use bicycle clips when I walk to work and then slip them off as I approach the office. You could also use a couple of large paper clips – one on each trouser leg. Just insert the paper clip not too near your actual leg. Too tight to your leg may look a bit strange, depending on the width of your trousers. Experiment how close to your leg you can go without losing too much of the overall appearance and yet keeping the trousers off the ground. I find this also works well.
I'm with Duchesse about hemming pants to different lengths, but in a pinch, I change to Danskos. They're comfortable for the walk home (and more) and they give you an instant 2 more inches in height with the comfort, and then some, of flats.
I don't wear heels or certainly not high ones so haven't tried Zakkerz myself but I gave them to my daughters and have seen them in use. It looks quite natural if the Zakkerz matches the color of the pants.
Target sell a product which is four plastic peg-things that you is can use for adjusting your pants to different lengths. It is in a stand which looks like a display of the sort of things you see on TV shopping channels i.e. the “but wait, there’s more!” type of products. I’ve used it for jeans. Yes, ideally we would have short and long jeans and skinny and comfortable-fit jeans but in reality you want to wear the new pair you just bought with everything…
In the U. S. we have a product called Style Snaps.
I’ve given up, all of my jeans and also my overalls drag at least 2-3″ under my shoes. Even though I trip over my dragging hems, especially when I wear my super baggy overalls (yes that’s after I’ve adjusted my straps lol). I prefer to wear my Chuck’s or even just ballet flats with my overalls. When I wear flats my entire shoe gets swallowed up by the wide opening on my overalls pant legs. Yes they’re tattered, frayed, dirty, torn on the hem etc., but I don’t care anymore. It’s actually becoming the norm around here for us girls to wear our jeans and overalls on the long side anyway.