A man in Portland, Oregon, took the time to apply 1,000 layers of starch to his jeans, making them the stiffest piece of clothing on the planet. In a Walmart parking lot, he tried to put them on. He succeeded, but not without the jeans putting up a good fight.
The rigid denim demonstration was shared online by shirtzenpantz. It is a thrift store chain run by twin brothers Owen and Ethan Gail, the latter being the one featured in the clip. In a matter of days, the video attached above garnered a whopping 11.8 million views, 544,800 likes, and close to 3,000 comments.
The Oregon man, referred to as a “real cowboy,” was in a Walmart parking lot and had a very particular pair of jeans with him. According to the video’s narrator, who appeared to be Owen, the jeans had undergone a special treatment: 10,000 layers of starch. Historically, cowboys treated denim with starch to make it stiff and smooth, although not to the lengths of the one shown by the Gail brothers.
Walmart Mission
After throwing the jeans to the ground, which caused them to bounce as they were effectively a tower of denim, Ethan tried to jump into the piece of clothing using a Walmart shopping cart. He failed, but he remedied this by lying on the ground and slowly pushing himself into the pants.
“Today we will answer the age-old question. Can a real cowboy, with a pair of jeans starched up to the 1,000th degree, make his way into a Walmart and yodel?” the narrator said.
Ethan managed to put on the stiffest pair of pants in the world and, with the help of the aforementioned cart, he managed to stand up. Then, he walked step by step toward the Walmart in the most awkward, cart-assisted stroll ever.
The mission was a success, but to keep the peace inside the store, the Oregon man did not yodel. The narrator explained, “I’m a real cowboy, and I wish I could yodel, but I’m just pretending to here in this Walmart. And I’ve tried to voice it over yodeling, but every time it just sounds worse and worse.”
Reactions
Viewers found the clip hilarious, and many were quick to identify themselves, somehow, with Ethan’s pants. One said, “I have a sock like that.” Another one commented, “Roblox layered clothing.” Walmart itself wrote, “You never know what to expect in the parking lot.”
Other viewers were straight-up confused. One asked, “How do you freeze a whole pair of jeans?” Another one added, “Why do you do this? Serious question,” to which a third one responded, “Cuz he’s a real cowboy.”
The stiff jeans remained the focus of attention for the following shritzenpantz clips. At this point, they might as well be indestructible.
