Question about hemming and shrinking, plans of my next pair

[khaltire]

This wasnt directly mentioned in the FAQ, maybe someone knowledgeable can answer me.. Im thinking about getting some raw jeans soon, and I was wondering, if they are sanforized, will one cold soak at the beginning get the shrinking out of the way? I know that it takes 3-4 WASHES to get the full shrinking out of the way... I cant live with that though as they shrink down to only about 34 inch inseam, and I need a 30-31.. This is what I had planned on doing

Comes in 28x35, sanforized.

Cold soak for 1-2 hours, shrinking down to maybe 27.5 x 33?

Try on when almost dry, walk around a bit, hang dry after wearing a little

Take them to the tailors when dry and get them shortened to about 32 or 31.5

Wear them for a while at this length, then first wash in warm water

air dry etc...

Now at this point will they be in my range of proper inseam length? I could save all the trouble and go for the 1 wash, but I think I wanna try the raw and shrink it myself (gotta try it some time).... Thanks.. if you think this thread is stupid please dont respond

for the record, they will be some dry bones CDP-555

[supercel]

Since they are sanforized, I doubt the length will shrink from 35 to 33.

Your plan sounds like what I normally do to get the right length. Soak first to get some shrinking out of the way then tailor it but leave about an inch extra cos overtime (after several washes) it will still continue to shrink slightly.

[khaltire]

Great thanks... I remember reading that even if the jeans are sanforized, the waist shrinks minimally (like 0.5 inches), but the length shrinks 2-3 inches or something like that... (almost as it it were raw).. can anyone confirm?

Also, any other input on the method is appreciated. Thanks

[HEWSINATOR]

They should not shrink thay much if they are sanforized, however some people claim to have experienced up to 10cm shrinkage with sanforized denim (SSLE for example).

I would get them, and hem them 1.5 inches long, and then live life. If you wanted, you could WARM soak, dry, then hem to 1-1.5 inches longer than would be your minimum desired length.

[GoodHustle]

Like Hewsinator said, you could do a warm soak (or even a hot soak, really). A cold soak won't shrink the denim as much as a warm soak so you might want to go with that to get most of the shrinking out of the way. And if you have a pair of nice, quality jeans then you won't have to worry about losing a lot of indigo with the warm soak.

[khaltire]

So thats really the only downside to using a warm soak, more lost indigo? And also starch loss is greater than with a cold soak correct? I dont know if the indigo is good or not, nobody has a pair of these jeans that I know that are worn... ANyone have any experience with dry bones? How do they fade etc... Thanks for the help ppl

[GoodHustle]

I'm not absolutely sure that you will lose more indigo with a warm soak but that's what I deduced from observing machine washes. 60 degree washes as compared to 40 or 30 degree washes lead to greater indigo loss.

[horriblyjollyjinx]

a warm soak will probably not make you lose any indigo as those jeans are probably of pretty good quality. I don't like jeans that lose color from just a soak, so far none of my Japanese jeans have, but APC's will.

[sell veg]

My skinners lost indigo from a cool soak... now THAT is quality.

Most sanforized jeans can be stretched back to the original inseam when wet anyway, so I wouldn't stress too much. Although 10cm is kind of a lot, I wonder if it's the loose weave on the SSLE?

[PG2G]

I was under the impression that indigo wasn't water soluble.

[__3xL]

Why not cold soak them , let them drip dry half a day & then throw them into a dryer on highest heat inside out ?

I don't think I've ever seen any of you guys suggest this for max shrinkage - is there any reason why not ?