1973 Sears Toughskins Commercial

[Martobx]

I grew up wearing these Kevlar pants,you could drag a kid behind a car for 10 blocks and never wear a hole in them,I think they may also have been bullet proof.the worst day to wear them was the first day,walking stiff legged to school for weeks,they didn't break in until June.

[usernamevidio]

OMG..... I remember this commercial!  Wow, talk about time warp.

[SalvadorLosAngeles]

weirdest jeans commercial ever. strange vibe. what's with the spooky alien lab people surrounding the kids?

[yogertlvr]

Most of my clothing when I grew up was from 2nd hand stores. My father did what he could to provide the basics, (though I didn't starve either being how i was a 200 + lb 12 year old thank you very much) but I don't recall being picked on by the other kids at school cause most of the other kids were in the same boat as i. Low to middle income, and shopped at 2nd hands, and on the school lunch program. Gawd what a memory trip this has been.

[Tommyboy56]

Uggghh!!! I hated these jeans. My parents didn't have a lot of money so I got these. Super uncomfortable!1. Gave me sweaty knees. Socially it was fine until 7th grade. I went to school with a lot of well to do kids. The girls wore Jordache and Calvin Klein. The boys wore Levi's. I was constantly made fun of. Finally convinced mom to get me Levi's but couldn't afford them so we got them at Marshalls. Back then they sold brand names but were irregular. One leg longer than the other and no tag LOL!

[NatureGirl62]

When I was growing up, I think everything we had came from Sears. My clothes, my toys, my bike, our appliances, my dad's Craftsman tools. If it wasn't in that 3" thick Christmas Wishbook, it just wasn't going to happen!

[mx94racer]

Oh my God I remember this!

[ZX2ManDave]

Sears jeans were like so damn thick that you couldnt bend your knees while wearing them.

[theantiquegarage]

5 bucks?! No wonder my mom made me wear them.

Until I was 20.

[TheEricKnudsen]

they had knee patches in them made out of titanium!

[Love4SK]

the irony is i wore toughskins and my parents had way more coin than the parents of the kids who wore levis. the kids wearing levis mustve got them on layaway. mom was right, the kids were just jealous. Toughskins FTW

[cranie4]

This was a sure fire guaranteed way to get your ass beat at school. Thanks, Sears...thanks Mom.

[ptd1965]

oh, I also forgot that living near Oakland and having mexican friends (or friendlies..lol), I notice a lot of them wore ben davidson shirts, wife beaters underneath and khakies. i dont know why I remember this crap. and of course a bandana on the foreheard. but I think that style remained the low rider scene up into the 90s.

[ptd1965]

@rickmalibu1 Yeah, we lower - middle class kids wore either those funky golf pants (which came back in style in the early-mid 80s) or 501 button flies (or was it 551?) levi brand. Welcome back kotter made Calvin and Jordash popular with the long gay comb sticking out of the back for the wanna=be rocker kids. Also I remember corderoys (sp) being in style with either addias or all star convers. I never told my kids I wore them, they saw them one day and seem to be the only kids that still wear

[Mysterycat74]

@rickmalibu1 I just LOL'd...You wore Toughskins at age 18??? Hahahahahaha I just wrote a reply that if you wore them after 6th GRADE you were horribly made fun of! 18??? I'm sorry, but a senior in high school wearing Toughskins is about as laughable as a senior wearing Osh Kosh B'Gosh! Hahahahaha. Sorry, but I agree with others...Toughskins were the embarrassing label to wear. Levi/Lee Jordache, even Wrangler were the brands that kept you from getting your ass kicked.

[Mysterycat74]

LOL...Toughskins were what the poor kids wore! Yea, that's wicked mean, but back in elementary school if you wore Toughskins it was an EMBARRASSMENT! I mean really, even in 1982 $5.99 for jeans meant times were TOUGH at your house! they were also labeled "Babyish." If you were in 5th or 6th grade wearing Toughskins, you were not only made fun of for wearing BABY clothes, but you were also poor. Toughskins and Garanimals...The two clothing labels you didn't want to be caught dead in in the 80's!

[Mysterycat74]

LOL...Toughskins were what the poor kids wore! Yea, that's wicked mean, but back in elementary school if you wore Toghskins it was an EMBARRASSMENT! I mean really, even in 1983 $5.99 for jeans meant times were tough at your house!

[ItBrandonSilver]

Horrible pants.

[TattooedSteve]

No wonder why my mother made me wear those Kevlar based #@*&ing jeans! They were six dollars a pair and the only way to escape them were growth spurts!

I got the crap kicked out of me constantly for wearing those!

[sweetlexii71]

THEY NEED TO SEND TOUGH SKIN BDU'S TO IRAQ TO KEEP THE MEN AND WOMEN SAFE! MY BROTHER HAD A PAIR AND I STILL DONT KNOW HOW HE BLEW OUT THE BACK PLAYING FOOTBALL! LMAO 

[ThreeCatsScratching]

Man, you could pour battery acid on those jeans and they wouldn't be damaged

[ub30f]

My dad had a Cadillac with white seats - I had a new pair of RED Toughskins. Need I say more.

[gapedhok]

@ub30f Good story. One day as a young lad I did a load of laundry with a mix of light colored clothes and a couple of new pair of Tough Skins I was trying to soften up. To think I got my @ss whooped over those godawful pants.....

[roperkids]

I actually liked my Tough Skins. Guess I was pretty unfashionable, but it didn't bother me. The elastic waste made my bum look big however. Even as a 4 year old.

[jimiduff]

I remember the brown and green ones that had patches on the knees.

[regressing2apes]

awful

[bangsmoke]

You always knew the kids with the "X pocket" jeans had parents that were too cheap or poor to buy them regular Levi's.

[1dabirdman]

this is what they make bulletproof vests out of! I wore them baxk in the day! they'd rub blisters on your butt!

[rkala30]

I hated those jeans sosososo much! It was like wearing sandpaper pants. My mom would get so mad because they would blow out weeks after buying them. Thanks for the throwback!

[zcg3]

Damn pants put a freakin' rash on my dick...

[DesiluTrek]

They had those awful ironed-in patches on the inside at the knees that bunched up and were obvious from the outside ...

[pictureisup1]

They made that swooie noise when you walked in them

[Atlswan]

If you wore Toughskins at my school, you were a social outcast. Plain and simple. We didn't have the money for designer jeans, but we bought Lee. That kept me from getting killed.

[DesiluTrek]

@Atlswan ROFL so true ... i had no choice because my dad worked at sears and had an employee discount!

[robertemmet100]

Plastic jeans. what garbage!

[ebf1957]

Remember "The Winner" sneakers that was made by Converse to be sold at Sears?

[DesiluTrek]

@ebf1957 Ugh, of course ... thanks to my dad's employee discount, I had them too, in a hideous brown-tan combo (totally '70s).

[c8udyp]

Ha, I hated these mothertrucking pants too! Whatever tender age I was I knew they were kind of lame. Besides, all the cool kids wore Levi's.

[scaramoochscaramooch]

wow!! everybody.......were the jeans uncomfortable...i mean reading all the comment , these were a good quality Jean..............

[tay2375]

@scaramoochscaramooch You see in the commercial that they made the trampoline canvases out of the same fabric they make the jeans from, right? Well, just imagine walking around wearing something made out of really thick canvas and that is what it was like. And when you walk they made a noise that sounded like, zwoosh, zwoosh,zwoosh that was embarrasing too.

[AdamCartwrightMyLove]

wonder why the girls pants cost more.

[A7Xsephiroth]

daaaaaamn I wish clothes these days had those prices!

[kisssexxx]

Tough skins? Your parents must be -$-Rich! I have to wear Big Yak jeans to school! (lol!)

[TheDaddyCokes]

I totally remember this! Wow. And I hated those pants too.

[TJCATLOVER]

I used to wear them!!!!!!!

[robbiesyohn]

I liked my toughskin pants. If I still had mine they'd be worth something.

I hate those rotten baggy pants kids wear today. They look like little gangsters. Sad. Even parents are tatooing their children and putting on ear rings on boys. Shame. Let children dress like kids, not adults.

[MissLeigh78]

@robbiesyohn Don't be a square, Gramps!

[HIMEESE]

aaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! I remember my mother bought me those all the time and only had a couple of pairs of levi's that were much cooler but even back then you couldn't beat the price of tough skins and they were tough to the point of not even fading lol.

Damn Ihated those!!!

[bhossast]

Aint we lucky to have lived through this good stuff.

[msannomalley]

I used to have to wear Toughskins. Hated the knees. Hated them.

[Love4SK]

i remember asking my mom to sew a levis label on my toughskins. suffice it to say i fooled no one.

[TheLizardKing1967]

Or, you can buy them at GOODWILL for $ 2.00 a pair in 2010

[hawaiidream1]

My mom used to make me wear my brother's Toughskins when he had outgrown them. I was teased for wearing boys' jeans, and I cried to my mom about it, but she continued to make me wear them until I think 4th or 5th grade.

[mypalrocco]

Any kid that wore Toughskins usually got their ass kicked!

[dmh36397]

rolmao!!!!

[neeksworld]

I remember having black corduroy toughskins. Felt like they had cardboard in the knees.

[deussolinvictus]

Man, my Mom got me Toughskins when I was a little boy. Seriously, it took a year to break them in and the jeans themselves lasted at least a couple of years if you didn't outgrow them.

[ebf1957]

Remember "The Winner" sneakers from Sears? They were made by Converse.

[autumnenergy]

I guess I was just born a nerd because I didn't mind toughskins. I graduated to Levis in 5th grade. But 3rd and 4th grade were Sears Toughskins ! My parents were ELATED there were jeans I could not tear or rip.

[ItsEmmalicious]

5.49 now that is one weird price!

[redfootwalking]

Funny...I was thrift store shopping yesterday, found a pair of rust colored Tough skins and I must say, they look brand new...either the kid never wore them or they just held up all these years or a little of both. My eldest daughter thinks they're pretty neat since she's never seen very many "colored" jeans (except the usual white, black, grey)

[selloutasaurus]

I wore Toughskins until about 6th grade...then switched to Levis. I don't remember any psychological or physical pain from the experience (despite all the comments made by others to the contrary). They were good enough for me as a kid.

[bluemeany]

I always had to wear toughskins, but my cousins wore Levis. I always wanted regular levis too, so I didn't like toughskins. i remember the patch in the knee being irritating.

[Puhleeeze]

They were so tough it could take bullets.

[Puhleeeze]

I haaaatted the jeans.

[skoookum]

I liked my toughskins better than my plaid leisure suit that my mother made me wear.

[DEADHEROS81]

i hated these pants, and now that i know my mom only paid a lousy $5.49 for my pants, that pisses me off. Those pants were ugly, sticky, scratchy and the inside knee patches stuck out and were f'n embarrassing. Notice they only made them for kids?

[thegirl44]

In response to your very funny comment that you, unfortunately, removed, DHS81:

My mum gave your mum the pattern :).

[DEADHEROS81]

Really? You had a pair of those things too? I put my comment back.

[thegirl44]

When Velcro became the big thing in the early eighties, and was available in every shape and form in notions stores, I had Velcro EVERYTHING.

The only part of the movie Bruno that I actually gut busting laughed at was the one of a kind Velcro outfit. I was convinced that my mum designed it.

[baconhead2008]

Sears toughskins... the jeans that are TOUGH TO BEAT at a price that's TOUGH TO BEAT.

LMFAO!!!

[yorepete]

I had the dark green pair and my mom was so pissed off when I ripped a hole in the knees. Yes it was possible.

[jeffw1267]

In my school, the kids who wore Toughskins took a lot of abuse. Even my clueless mom knew enough not to buy them. I was already carrying a violin around: I didn't need another reason for bullies to kick my ass.

[kincaide67]

They NEVER show these jeans in the ad. Just kids bouncing up & down on a trampoline made out of the same material they're supposed to be wearing. I WORE that crap back then. Uncomfortable as hell. I think I have bad knees due to the re-inforced knee pad things made out of steel wool. You had to have tough skin to wear Tough Skins.

[thegirl44]

What was the material, kincaide? I seem to remember it being like the work canvas that Carhardt and Tough Duck work clothes are made out of but I only have a visual memory.

[kincaide67]

Oh darling, if you don't still feel the pain, you didn't have True Tuff-Skins. But really - they just didn't have "cheap" jeans back then. You had to get these industrial, uncomfortable, rough on the skin, rough on the looks, rough on everything type britches. The outside may have been and may well be the same as industrial-type work jeans. Tough. Durable. But the inside - back then - was as unsmoothe as sandpaper! Very Ruff on the average kid!

[thegirl44]

I was a vision in loud print polyester in those days. My mum had a sewing machine.

[046306]

I still have permanent damage to my inner thighs from the severe chafing a new pair of Toughskins dealt to me. Good times.

[roscoegino]

sandpaper levis basically.

[jennoelc]

I feel bad.. I was one of those kids that made fun of other kids that wore tough skins. I thought that Kmart carried them though...

[montroclq]

later on you did have the option to step up to the rough housers lol didn't have the big x on the pocket you might as well have had a target on you to get made fun of lol

[toddz1972]

I remember the green pair and the dark blue pair.They always seem to flood at the ankles after 3 or 4 washes.

[LLB9977]

i remember douchebag kids teasing me for wearing those. meanwhile they were eating KD day in and day out.

[CandidKamerah]

Wow 4.99 for Jeans?

If only clothes were that cheap again!

Damn it's more like 49.99 for Jeans today.

[permiable]

zomg.  bellbottoms♥

[Jumanjijuice]

I remember that commercial and I remember wearing those. They never die. Somewhere, all of our toughskin jeans are still tough.

[jimyjam99]

What the hell is ferma press fabric?

[SpudMills]

That's Perma-press, as in permanent press, doesn't need ironing.

[TheBigDumbCrowd]

Parents with bad taste made us wear Toughskins.

[Spudkuddler]

Yeah, I remember how proud and excited I was to get my first pair of Levis.

[CBSCFFestival]

I hated those $@%&ing pants. They were indestructible, the only way to get rid of the cursed things was to grow out of them.

[ebf1957]

@CBSCFFestival

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode when George bought a suit and it made a weird sound when he walked.

[JustinCase380]

LOL. Where the hell did you find this video at? I still remember my favorite red pair of toughskins...

[HotRod218]

omggg did he say so is the trampolene? lol, and how catchy was that ending "the jeans that are tough to beat, at a price thats tough to beat" ... are you serious? lmao!

[thesethingz]

In some school's back in the day some kids would get beat up for wearing toughskins

[sticksrossi]

I guess they wern't so tough were they,hey!

[thesethingz]

LOL

[thegirl44]

And I would have DIED for a pair of Toughskins. My mum made our clothes. My first day of kindergarted I wore purple bell bottoms with a pink paisly print. I was actually pretty fashionable because my mum took my teen aged cousins clothes and just cut down a pattern out of them but MAN did I want store bought clothes.

[DEADHEROS81]

My mom made me a pair of pants with a velcro zipper thegirl, top that.

[Attmay]

Those zooming-out squares at the end must have been in every commercial in the 1970s.

[Renee122383]

And 1980s.

[Pgalaga]

funny how Toughskins really were tough, Sears was smart to make an article of clothing parents could afford and kids couldn't destroy. A friend told me of her destroying over 10 pairs as a kid but I don't believe her

[swankrecords]

Man I hated toughskins. Polyester pants.

[hoofer1]

Those pants kicked ass. You seriously could not kill them. You could hand them down at least 3 times before they died. They were scratchy-ish sometimes, but fantastic.

The "serious drone" was in a lot of 70's commercials. Yeah, it was really creeepeee!

[Snappy1111]

What's the "serious drone"?

[hoofer1]

That kind of deep note you hear throughout the commercial. It's almost subliminal.

[Snappy1111]

I notice it now. I thought it was just audio noise because the commercial was old, or the tech they used at the time producing it.

Why would they put it in commercials?

[hoofer1]

To make moms nervous so they'd buy stuff.

[autumnenergy]

WOW ! I hear the "drone" now. I thought it was bad audio because of the quality of television available in the 70s.

Remember this was about the time that corporations were petitioning the government for LEGAL subliminal messages in movie theatres!! Needless to say the government opposed the idea and it never went into law. I wonder if Sears was doing this BEFORE the government made its final ruling on subliminal messages. I guess the government wanted SOLE use of subliminal mind control !

[Ecossaise]

This is a bloody commercial for Sears toughskin jeans ! How the hell are you getting anything about mind control out of this ? Please tell me !

[autumnenergy]

Dude I am being nostalgic and having fun like everyone else here. Nothing more. I am not going to get into a YT fight about ugly jeans I wore in

3rd grade. There are far more important things to debate/argue about in this world.

I am also not going to fight about conspiracy theory in regards to the clothes I wore in 3rd grade. There are far greater conspiracies to fight about that do not involve Sears. Peace to you.

[Ecossaise]

I wasn't meaning that you should get into a fight. Perhaps I should have worded my statement a bit better. LOL @ your quote 'there are far greater conspiracies to fight about that do not involve Sears.' Priceless ! LOL :D

[mypalrocco]

It's "with regard to" or "regarding"...NOT "in regards to!" GAD!

[autumnenergy]

Oh thank you great guru of the English language. May the Gods of linguistics forever shine upon your exalted head. May the crowning glories of articulation forever be in your company. May a diseased camel fart in your cornflakes.

[pellucid]

What's with the noisy drone sound heard in the background? And the "trampoline bouncing" noise sounds like gunshots... listen to it with your eyes closed, it's unexpectedly chilling...

[ProductionX]

I miss that classic Sears logo of that era!

[violaplayer1987]

Wow, those prices are our CLEARANCE prices now.