It's come to this ... the Y=690 jeans

When Uniqlo sister brand g.u. offered a pair of jeans for ¥990 back in March, we seemed to have reached the lowest possible price point for a wearable pant-form of denim. Pundits were then shocked to see Aeon's ¥880 pair debut in August. Fashion marketing expert Kensuke Kojima called them "Awful denim-based slim pants with no charm at all." That surely, however, would be the lowest extreme of denim markdowns, right?

No way, screams obnoxious junk retailer Don Quijote (aka Donki), which this week released a ¥690 pair of jeans. ¥690, I may remind you, would not even buy you a Whopper Meal at any of Tokyo's Burger King locations. And yet, through some kind of manufacturing magic and miraculous corner-cutting, ¥690 can now buy a pair of jeans in Japan.

What kind of jeans do you get for such a price? Unclear at this point.

The press conference had two deeply-tanned, brown-haired gyaru show off the dark denim product. (Gyaru would be adequate spokeswomen as they are famous for using dirt cheap clothing as the key building blocks in their signature flashy outfits.) As seen from the picture, yes, the manufacturers did manage to give consumers very special features like the so-called 'buttons,' 'zippers' and 'pockets.' And apparently, they are not even disposable jeans -- which would make way more sense at that price.

Best you check them out in person before buying. The jeans went on sale at selected Tokyo Don Quijote stores on October 14 and will slowly spread across the nation. Other mass retailers are now plotting the next logical move: the ¥100 suit, and its follow up, paying consumers to wear their T-shirts.