Pre-Washing Raw Denim

[Servo2000]

I finally got my APC NS, and I was wondering what you guys did in the way of Pre-Washing your jeans so that the honeycombs on the legs don't move.

Not just for APCs, for anything. So far, from searching the forum it looks like two hour cold wash is most common. Anyone do anything else?

[beefcake]

No need to soak, APCs are sanforized, ready to rock. Climb a mountain, crawl to work, etc.

Good luck and let us know how they turn out!

[Yet Fung]

I'm not sure I understand the question right, but I think a lot of guys do a cold soak either to get a lot of the starch out and soften up the denim, or maybe in an effort to size the jean a little bit. Then when the jeans are still damp they'll put them on and wear them until they're dry, because wet denim is easier to crease than dry denim.

[walletboy]

Don't wash them at all.

[SLEEZY]

Don't wash them at all.

i agree.

best not to wash them at all if you can, since after the first wash you will lose alot of dye and the jeans wont break in as easily and/or nicely. an inside-out soak may lower the amount of dye loss but i dont recommend that either.

i think the question was refering to a pre-wash/shrink to ensure that future developed creases (honeycomb, wiskers etc.) to not shift around later on after another wash.

i would suggest not pre-washing and just wearing them right away with no washing at all, ever. haha, perhaps a drycleaning would suffice sometime down the road if washing is a must. i dont think clothes shrink when they are dry cleaned, but im not 100% sure on that one, and i dont know the effects of drycleaning on the actual denim either.

all i know is - for best results, do not wash.

[prufrock]

i agree.

best not to wash them at all if you can, since after the first wash you will lose alot of dye and the jeans wont break in as easily and/or nicely. an inside-out soak may lower the amount of dye loss but i dont recommend that either.

i think the question was refering to a pre-wash/shrink to ensure that future developed creases (honeycomb, wiskers etc.) to not shift around later on after another wash.

i would suggest not pre-washing and just wearing them right away with no washing at all, ever. haha, perhaps a drycleaning would suffice sometime down the road if washing is a must. i dont think clothes shrink when they are dry cleaned, but im not 100% sure on that one, and i dont know the effects of drycleaning on the actual denim either.

all i know is - for best results, do not wash.

a full blown wash isnt in order, may be a soak? wearing while drying on your body causees good creases to set in. beautiful honeycombs and whiskers. ive only done to lvcs. im trying to see what the difference is in my apc with and without soak.

[digital_denim]

A cold soak never hurt anyone. I thought the apcs were unsanforized?? Well at least my old Rescues shrunk a bit in the lenght when i washed them.

[Servo2000]

This is my first pair of raw denim, so I'm just going to be sort of 'trying stuff out' with this pair. Another guy who soaked his said he didn't lose much dye, so I wasn't worried about it.

I cold soaked them, it shrank the leg a little, waist didn't seem to change much. I soaked in cold water for about 2 hours, almost no loss of indigo.

The fit's a little bit 'nicer' overall now, in my opinion.

[dismalfuture]

i agree.

best not to wash them at all if you can, since after the first wash you will lose alot of dye and the jeans wont break in as easily and/or nicely. an inside-out soak may lower the amount of dye loss but i dont recommend that either.

Why would going from one-soak cause fading that is less as nice than out of the box raw? If anything, fading and results should happen faster and easier once you've gotten the sizing out I would think.

I warm-soaked my APC's when new, glad I did. They shrunk about 2" in length and an inch in the waist. They have now stretched out 2" in the waist past that, and I don't think it can be stressed enough about how much APC's stretch. They also lost a lot of sizing in the wash water, so I think it is a good idea to warm soak for a couple hours, wear them damp to dry to set the creases, and then go get the hemming done if needed , and that should take care of any worries about shrinking/stretching/shifting.

[beefcake]

I don't get this "set the creases" thing at all. I'm guessing you will be wearing your jeans for a long time? If you don't get creases in that time (4-6 months) I'll buy you a new pair. There is no magic recepie. Just WEAR them.

OK if you wan't to cold soak them, do that. Anything else would be kicking yourself in the balls, imho.

[tweeds]

but isn't the fun of buying raw denim wearing it when it still feels like sheet metal? i know i almost denim-gasmed when i first pulled on my new standards. sweet young things.

[gregory]

I just got some apc ns and I'm not sure how to go about washing them. Thing is they're way too long and I'll get them hemmed for sure but I wanna wash them before getting them hemmed so that they don't become too short when I wash them. What's the best way to go about washing these (dry cleaning, soaking in cold water) and should I wear them a lot before first washing them? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

[Chicken]

^ nice. very nice.

[typicalfashion]

I just got some apc ns and I'm not sure how to go about washing them. Thing is they're way too long and I'll get them hemmed for sure but I wanna wash them before getting them hemmed so that they don't become too short when I wash them. What's the best way to go about washing these (dry cleaning, soaking in cold water) and should I wear them a lot before first washing them? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

i am doing the same thing right now, dont wash them, wear them cufffed for a couple weeks then get them fixed up

[dizzhizz]

I just got my APCs hemmed a bit on the longer side and after a warm soak, the length is perfect.

[twistedtrees]

Ok, so say I don't soak them before wearing, I have 2 questions:

How much indigo rub off is there? do you have to put newpapers down everywhere you want to sit?

Also, how can you not get jeans wet? I'm talking sweat, spills, anything. It seems that you would want the pre-soak to get all that out of the way, but it seems the concensus is to just wear them fresh bought.

Ok, one more question, if you do pre-soak the apc's, will the sizing change. It seems these things stretch a lot, so it sounds like even a soak wouldn't affect the size in the long run after they stretch back out.

Thanks.

[Dex_star]

this question should go i the stickied thread

but as stated, no need to soak apcs, theyre sanforized, meaning little or no shrinkage when soaking

and dont worry about getting them wet, its part of the process

also if they stretch then u can soak them back to the original fit, but theyre likely to stretch back to how they were very quickly

[twistedtrees]

Thank you. I was under the impression that they were not sanforized, that's why I was so unsure.

[BTT]

Ok, so say I don't soak them before wearing, I have 2 questions:

How much indigo rub off is there? do you have to put newpapers down everywhere you want to sit?

Also, how can you not get jeans wet? I'm talking sweat, spills, anything. It seems that you would want the pre-soak to get all that out of the way, but it seems the concensus is to just wear them fresh bought.

Ok, one more question, if you do pre-soak the apc's, will the sizing change. It seems these things stretch a lot, so it sounds like even a soak wouldn't affect the size in the long run after they stretch back out.

Thanks.

APCs are sanforized, as for "how can you not jeans weat?" Just know when to wear them, if you know you its going to rain tommorow then don't wear your jeans. As for spills and etc, honestly, throughout a year I'll probably only spill something on me once a year so just be clean.

and yeah, if you want, when you take out the denim out of the tub, you could put newspapers so it doesnt drip blue shit all over your floor, but in your case, you won't need to soak as of now.

[Dex_star]

APCs are sanforized, as for "how can you not jeans weat?" Just know when to wear them, if you know you its going to rain tommorow then don't wear your jeans. As for spills and etc, honestly, throughout a year I'll probably only spill something on me once a year so just be clean.

and yeah, if you want, when you take out the denim out of the tub, you could put newspapers so it doesnt drip blue shit all over your floor, but in your case, you won't need to soak as of now.

yea wearing jeans in the rain will completely ruin ur life... like totaly

[BTT]

yea wearing jeans in the rain will completely ruin ur life... like totaly

yeah because we all love wearing a new pair of expensive denim in the heavy rain and frollicing around . Go grab a new pair of denim and jump in the heavy rain and take pics so we could see what happens. No Umbrella.