I grew up in the 70's and 80's and back then if you had torn jeans you were too poor for a new pair or your mother couldn't sew. I noticed a trend around the 90's of young people wearing torn jeans but I never seem to see any of those now middle age people stepping out with this look just young people still. Is it around the time you realize your heroes wearing the same stuff are actually just stupid bums or is it something deeper?
I have never bought designer jeans, let alone ones with holes. When I was a young punk I would buy cheap jeans and sew on patches to cover up the holes until the pants disintegrated.