leftover_salmon

i kid you not.

real men wear jeans.

Well then, you do understand that at one time Diesel jeans were stiff and raw, and that all raw jeans soften up eventually too, then...right?

weak.

denim's not for the faint hearted.

I hope you're kidding.

Diesel is by far the best denim of the mass-market, pre-wash brands. I have TR, R&R, 7FAM, and Diesel hands-down has better denim, better washes (sure, some are extreme...but the best Diesel wash is better than any other wash from any of the above), and such a great variety of fits.

Now, I've never had a pair of 45RPM or 5EP in my hands...but I have seen many others, and Diesel still seems to be very, very good. They're not selvage, but the denim is soft and durable (in my opinion). It feels very substansive in your hands.

I'm quite sure that Harry Rosen sells Fred Perry. And if that's true, then you haven't been looking very hard...

Give em' a 4 hour hot soak.

Again? Or have the jeans had enough already?

I bought a pair of LVC 1947 501s yesterday, 36x34 (I'm a 33-34x30). I took a shower with them on, and they didn't shrink much (inseam or waist) so I soaked them in a hot shower for 30 mins today. They didn't shrink much again, so I tossed them in the dryer, and they still haven't shrunk enough (well, a little in the waist I think, but the legs are still way too long--like a 32-33)!

Should I expect these to shrink more? Or should I take them to get hemmed now so that all the whiskering and stuff happens in the right places?

Sorry to burst your bubble but, if you're thinking you're going to get "cool whiskering and stuff" from a pair of STFs, you're going to be disappointed. As lildavid so eloquently pointed out, this is "open end denim from hell." I bought my STFs before I was even on this site, and I bought them to do yard work and grease work on my bike. Getting the awesome fade characteristics you find on other raw jeans on this site can't be achieved with $30 denim (well maybe, but I've yet to see it).

That being said, one wash and tumble dry is not going to 'ruin' your raw jeans. That's like someone starting out in a gym and saying they're afraid they're going to get too big. Just wear them. I recommend you get all the shrinking you can possibly get done out of the way, otherwise (and STFs are apparently notorious for this), whatever fade you do get on the jeans will ride up your hamstring, and nothing IMHO looks more ridiculous than that. Plus, I wash and tumbled my raw $330 Sugarcanes the day I got them. It's denim. I don't think there's anything other than stone washing them with pumice and acid that's going to 'cause them to lose the ability to fade.'

These are the $175 LVC 1947s...are you saying they're crappy denim, or you thought I had the regular STFs? And would that change what you said about getting a good fade?

You'd be probably better off if you soak them in a bucket of hot water. Better shrinkage and a lot less waste of water. That's just me been narky though, since we're having the worst drought in 100 years down here in Aus.

If you want to shrink them, just soak them in hot water and hot tumble dry. They'll shrink up like (I can't think of a non-sexual similie). Mine did, and I sized 1 down on raw (yeah, I was noob too). No great loss over $26 though.

But they're raw, so won't throwing them in the dryer ruin the ability for the jeans to fade with cool whiskering and stuff over the next few months? Or is it something else that you can do to mess them up that will cause them to lose the ability to fade?

Again, I'm a noob to raw denim, so I can be (and probably am) wrong.

Another noob here...I took a 10 min shower with those on...they seem to have barely shrunk in the waist or inseam, so today i left them (without my wearing them) in a 30 min. steaming hot shower. Was this a bad idea?