The latest fashion fail making the rounds on TikTok involves a pair of Gap faux leather pants that have an extremely embarrassing design flaw: they sound uncannily like a duck quacking, or worse, every time you bend. In a viral video that’s racked up more than 3.1 million views, a user named Gaby hilariously called out the retailer, saying, “The Gap, you better count ya motherf***ing days because I haven’t been this embarrassed since fourth grade when I was playing musical chairs and my chair broke and it fell on my bottom.”
You have to see this to believe it, because it’s a nightmare scenario, and you wouldn’t even know until you’re wearing them out in public. I mean, come on, you buy a stylish, expensive pair of pants, and you expect to look great, not broadcast an unfortunate sound effect to everyone in earshot. This isn’t the most embarrassing wardrobe malfunction we’ve seen but it’s pretty close.
The entire issue came to a head when Gaby recreated a simple, everyday moment that instantly turned into a comedic disaster. She set the scene by asking, “What do you mean I’m at a restaurant and I dropped something accidentally, and I go to pick it up, and then…” As she squats down, the faux leather fabric creates a loud, mortifying sound.
Woman finds out the worst part of leather
The best part, which honestly shows how awful this is, is when she looks at the camera and emphatically clears things up: “That did not come from my, no, the pants,” she said, emphasizing that the sound was a material-based squeak, not, well, anything else.
What’s truly terrible for Gaby, though, is that it’s not a one-time thing. She went on to squat multiple times in the video, and the unfortunate noise happened every single time. The culprit appears to be the material itself, the faux leather, which creates a friction-fueled sound when the fabric rubs together during movement. It’s the kind of thing you might not even notice when you’re quickly trying them on in the fitting room.
You’re just standing there, checking the fit in the mirror, but the first time you make a major movement out in the real world, it’s a one-way ticket to instant public humiliation. To be fair, Gaby also called out the brand on the price, adding, “They’re expensive, Gap, you got some explaining to do.” When you drop good money on a pair of pants, you can expect them to be silent, and not cause multiple wardrobe malfunctions like Salma Hayek’s IG video.
If this has ever happened to you, or if you’re suddenly hesitant about buying any leather-look bottoms, you’re not alone. Noisy leather or faux leather pants have been a frustrating fashion problem for years. It’s an age-old issue that goes far beyond just Gap, with countless videos and articles dedicated to the phenomenon. On the other hand, there are ways to fix it if you’re determined to keep your new pants.
The comments section on Gaby’s viral video is just as funny as the video itself, proving that the internet is a great place to commiserate over shared fashion fails. One top comment read, “I didn’t know Gap and Aflac did a collab?!” while another person shared, “I have a pair of Birkenstocks that make that sound when I walk! I have to make sure no one is around when I have to walk fast or else it sounds like I’m crop dusting!”
