How much would you pay for a pair of jeans from Abercrombie and Fitch? The retailer that is so popular with the high-school aged crowd is offering a pair of "specially handcrafted with premium denim fabric" jeans that are retailing for almost $400 per pair. The high price tag is a bit of a stretch from the brand's usual pricing, but each pair of the limited edition jeans will be completely unique and individually numbered to guarantee authenticity. As with just about all of their other clothing, the jeans are heavily distressed and come in several shades of dyed blue cotton.

[thanks, Al!]

Forbes has the scoop on the most expensive jeans. They cite trends towards custom-fitted denim and lots of added detailing, including embroidery and crystals, as major reasons that prices were driven upwards, but not every pair on their list has these features. The single most expensive pair was 115-year old Vintage Levis sold on eBay for $60,000, followed by the significantly newer Ernest Sewn custom jeans, which cost up to $1,000 per pair.

Other pairs we liked this year included Levis iPod Jeans and Denim for Immortality Jeans, though we also liked the opportunity to make our own from Denim Design Lab.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so many retailers have special-edition products and are donating all or a portion of the proceeds from their sale to various breast cancer charities. This pair of Denim for Immortality Jeans are adorned with pink Swarovski crystals on the back pockets, a subtle touch that sets the apart from other jeans, and fifty percent of the purchase price will go to the Young Survival Coalition. Of course, donating money directly to the charity might be a more effective way of supporting the cause, but if you're going to be shopping for jeans anyway, it's nice to be able to do something for others at the same time. Price: $229.

If you want to explore your inner designer, the Denim Design Lab Kit will allow you to finish and distress jeans to your own specifications. Only 200 units of each of the limited edition kits, available in three different case styles, were produced and each includes a complete set of design tools and a handbook to guide you through the process. Is it worth getting a kit to customize your jeans rather than just buying a pair you like in the first place? It depends on how much you enjoy doing it, but if you get good enough, people might start coming to you instead of heading to the store. Price: £180 (about $340).

We knew about the launch of the iPod Jeans from Levi Strauss a few months ago, but thanks to Engadget, we finally know what they look like. The jeans have an iPod docking link attached to a red ribbon wire that is hidden in a side pocket, and a small control unit is built into a higher, hip-height pocket, offering the only real advantage over simply putting your iPod into a pocket of jeans you already own. A retractable - and hopefully detachable - headphone unit is included. Each pair is said to be €199.99 ( $257), but our guess is that you'll have to pay extra for dry cleaning and other special treatment, since these are probably no washing machine friendly.