Although they were first created to withstand the rigours of the blue-collar workday, Denim jeans are now also considered high fashion. As a result, if you want your Levi’s to last, you must treat them like Versace.
The best method to avoid it is to avoid washing and drying your denim. On this one, believe me.
Also, don’t just believe what I say. As part of The Dirty Jeans Manifesto, Levi’s CEO Chip Bergh publicly admitted that he hadn’t washed his jeans in a year.
Last but not least, not washing your jeans helps you save water while also making you look sharp.According to Levi’s, frequently washing your favourite denim items might require up to 870 litres of water. When you take into account how popular everyone’s favourite pants are, you can see how cleaning something that frequently doesn’t require washing uses up a significant quantity of water.
If you’ve spent money on high-quality denim, use these four suggestions to prolong the life of your favourite trousers.
1. Soak your denim in vinegar.
The objective is to maintain the original colour, regardless of whether you paid pennies for a pair of black jeans or spent half your paycheck on indigo-dyed selvedge denim. Over time, water will naturally wash away the colour from your denim, and soap will just speed up the process.
Instead of washing your jeans, try soaking them in cold water and vinegar. Indeed, vinegar. Your jeans will soak for about an hour in a bath of cold water with one cup of distilled white vinegar. Don’t worry if your clothes smell like vinegar while drying; the smell will disappear once they are flat or hung up to dry. By using this method, the colour of the dye is locked in, keeping your jeans dark and your furnishings spotless.
If you must use a washing machine, use the hand-wash setting and add a cup of vinegar; please avoid using detergent. Your jeans do not get along with detergent.
2. Lightly steam-clean your jeans.
Warm and hot water both shrink and fade your denim.A hot bath is the last thing they require if you can hardly fit into your skinny jeans. Hot water will cause cloth to expand and then shrink, even if you don’t use a dryer.
In addition, it’s unlikely that your jeans are particularly muddy unless you’ve been playing in mud. You may quickly refresh them by hanging them in your bathroom while you take a shower. The steam from your shower will quickly refresh your dark blues, and a small amount of water vapour will not cause the fabric to bloat.
3. Outside, hang your pants.
Your dryer is just as dangerous to your jeans as the washing machine is. Your jeans will shrink in hot weather, and all the tumbling causes unneeded wear and tear.
Hang your favourite pair outside if the weather is nice. Make sure they’re not in direct sunlight so your jeans can air out and get a new scent.The brilliant star we call “the sun” will bleach your pants more quickly than you might imagine.
4. Make your jeans cold.
Need to quickly spruce up your beautiful raw denim for an unexpected date? Put your pants in the freezer for a few hours to temporarily get rid of odours.
Denim that hasn’t been washed after dyeing is referred to as “dry” or “raw” denim. The distinctive way these jeans’ appearance matures with wear is what makes them appealing. The general rule with raw denim is to wait six months before washing it. If you wash them, the colour will fade too rapidly; if you wear them for a long time, certain sections will naturally fade and some will become distressed. In other words, if you wear raw denim long enough, it becomes fully you.
You may freeze these types of jeans for a quick refresh because water is the last thing you want to touch them with. Some bacteria are killed by freezing, and bacteria are mostly responsible for offensive odors. The removal of other germs requires heating; therefore, this is not a foolproof solution.