Washing Unwashed Denim

[ChadR]

I have a pair of APC Rescues I bought the 29th of April, and I've worn them pretty regularly. Last night they got dirty, and I was wondering if I should wash them, or dry clean them? I know most people wait the full 6 months before washing the jeans, but what would happen if I didn't?

[KYinC]

Well if you do a "wet" wash in a machine you will be removing a lot of indigo from the jeans depending on what temperature you wash them at. This means that if you have been wearing the SH%T out of them you might already see some cool contrasts and highlights in the high-stress areas. But, if you haven't gotten them pretty beat up by now, you will just be making it more difficult to eventually see such highlights because you will be removing indigo from all over the jeans instead of in the areas that are getting creased and stressed. If you look at the jeans and there is some contrasting and lightening of the indigo in the areas you want, then go ahead and turn them inside out and give em a wash (how hot the water is will determine how much indigo you remove, especially from the areas that are lightened before the wash). If not I suggest getting them dry cleaned to remove some of the dirt and grimy stuff. That way you can put them through more usage before doing the "transformation" wet wash.

[wild_whiskey]

Good post, KY.

[Geowu]

Thanks KY, I figure from some pics on mynudies.com that it is best to keep them unwashed for a year + so the upper leg and the ass get lighter, not only on the creases. Maybe 1 year and a half or two years before the first wash would lead to higher fading results I suppose.

[ChadR]

Thanks guys. Looks like I'll be off to my local dry cleaner tomorrow. I do have some good creases, but not enough missing indigo to do a wash.

What are the important things to tell the cleaners.

[Geowu]

make sure they DRY clean it...

tell us the results later, please!

[ringring]

KYinC summed it up very well indeed. APC themselves also recommend dry cleaning as a first time 'wash'. However, don't be afraid to wash them with water. A cool soak will remove a fair bit of dirt (or if you're a real denim dweeb, then use a specialised denim detergent) without ruining the ability of your jeans to make great contrast wear marks.

[ChadR]

Do I run the risk of shrinking the jeans greatly? I could use alittle actually.

[ringring]

Dry cleaning won't shrink them. Cold soak will shrink dry jeans, depending on the length of the soak (and if they are sanforized/stabilised). But APCs don't shrink much anyway.

[velvetant]

i am considering getting both new standards and tight APC's, these being selvedge denim, for them to truly have fantastic results-you do not wash them?

[Geowu]

assuming fantastic results mean high contrast and wear then I think so...

those Japanese jeans that achieved similar results with 10+ washes could have used some special denim products, who knows?!

[velvetant]

ill ask the bigger question--why do people choose to not wash them?

Edited by velvetant on May 15, 2005 at 03:06 PM

[Geowu]

you want to know how not washing affects the denim? or what?

[velvetant]

yes

[Geowu]

by wild_whiskey:

Quote: wearing raw denim jeans without washing them gives you crisper distressing areas due to their rigidity (sharper whisker marks) and unstable color (higher contrast). Pristine denim jeans are very unstable because the indigo is just basically sitting there on the surface of the jeans in the warp threads. This is why it rubs off through hard wear. There isn't a treatment in the fabric - they are made in the same fashion that Levis were originally made. They come straight from the loom to the sewing machine to the shelf. Washing jeans often will make a nice, soft-fade effect, but if you want the distressed, high contrast with strong whiskers effect, wearing them without washing can help you get there. Washing in a sense neutralizes the indigo's ability to rub off the surface - nothing wrong with it, just not what's really trendy at the moment.

[ringring]

Quote:

assuming fantastic results mean high contrast and wear then I think so...

those Japanese jeans that achieved similar results with 10+ washes could have used some special denim products, who knows?!

--- Original message by Geowu on May 15, 2005 03:01 PM

The Eternals from this oft-posted link, http://denim-gallery.heavy.jp/eternal_811.html were bought from a one-wash state. So that they had already been washed prior to wearing. Then they were washed multiple times (almost one a month). So regardless if the owner used a special denim detergent or not, (and my guess is not) those jeans had been washed before any wear had started.

Same deal with these Sugarcanes: http://letgoasyoulike.fc2web.com/sc1947.htm

To further illustrate the point, get some jeans that you have washed a few times from a dark blue state and then give them one firm swipe with fine sandpaper. (Fold the paper in half and place index finger in the fold to apply pressure). This should take away a lot of indigo, resulting in high contrast. The sandpaper is just an acceleration of the natural abrasion process.

Regarding denim detergents like J-Wash, these are just mild, neutral PH detergents that are designed to clean stuff like food stains without being as strong as common household detergents (that contain whiteners, enzymes etc). They used are for hygiene's sake. Indigo will still be removed in the wash. If your jeans are not that grubby, you'd probably lose less indigo if you did a cold soak with NO detergent.

But like I said above, washing and losing a bit of indigo in the process is no big deal and will not prevent you getting great wear marks on jeans.

More from this link: http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=2189&start=1

what I was saying is that you don't have to avoid washing your jeans to achieve high contrast fading results. Some people seem to think that getting their jeans wet before six months will somehow ruin their jeans. This is simply untrue.

Check the links on that page : http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=817&start=91 again. Look at the Eternals from the Denim Gallery link and the SugarCanes from the Letgoasyoulike link. Both jeans have been bought in the one-wash state - see if you think if the contrasts on them have somehow been compromised with washing.

Plus, like I said before there are good reasons why you'd want to pre-wash a pair of non-sandforized jeans. Imagine wearing nice knee patches into your dry jeans, then washing them and watching the pale knee patches twist and move upwards from your knees to one side of your thighs

Edited by ringring on May 16, 2005 at 12:37 AM