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When it rains it pours


kapay

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I've just recently grown an obsession with denim but have yet to buy a pair of raw denim. I'm thinking of starting out w/ 30/30 Levi's STF's to start out with so I can get a feel of raw denim and not cry my eyes out if I ruin them somehow. Anyways, my question is if rain will harm my jeans significantly seeing as I go to school in San Francisco and though it hasn't been raining much this season, when it does, it usually gets you good (I should really be investing in an umbrella, heh). I know a lot of people soak them in cold water first to shrink them a little so I was wondering if rain would have the same effect especially if it'll get soak quite a bit. Thanks for any replies.

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if you get decently wet, and the water soaks into the fabric as opposed to when you can kind of "brush" it off, then yes, it'll start the shrink process but by no means will it "ruin" your jeans. a cold soak to shrink them first would be a good idea, but as long as you buy the right size it shouldn't matter how you get them shrunk, be it bath or rain.

it says on the tag, but just in case, if you buy a 30x30, after you shrink them they're going to end up around 29x27... which is a pretty short inseam, don't know how tall you are.

a good idea though, to start with the stfs before investing in someting more serious, although if you're like me, those are going to be a bit of waste once you realize how addicting it is and buy tons of other ones, and one day notice that your stfs have received no attention at all...

good luck!

nairb49

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Haha yeah, I'm a pretty short guy... I'm only about 5'4 so my inseam should actually be about 25"-27" depending on how I want it to look. I cuff one of my jeans that are 30x30 with a pretty large cuff and a pair I tailored were 25" but that's when it's completely straight-legged and doesn't break much if at all around the ankles. Yeah... super short but what can I say? Less is more? *grin* But yeah, is it bad if they shrink considerably or completely before you finish wearing them in?

I'm looking forward to getting other kinds eventually, heh. Thanks for the help.

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  • 3 weeks later...

sorry bump. was browsing thru old messages in preparation for a rainy week.

so much talk about soaking your jeans first in cold water. doesn't that equate to a first wash off day 1, and take the indigo off early, making the later wear n stuff redundant? I thought the whole point of a 1st wash after x months is to give it definition?

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With a good pair of jeans you shouldn't lose much indigo if any at all. My cane 47s were soaked for over 3 hours and there was no notice of blue in the water at all. the water had a yellowish/brown color to it from the starches i believe.

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I actually just recently did my first wash without any wear on a pair of cheap STF's and though there was quite a bit of indigo loss it still looks just as blue as when i bought it. However, how it'll look after several months and a longer warm wash w/ soap is still a mystery. I think I've seen a couple of STF's that actually turned out decent but most people will tell you, it'll look pretty bad. Oh and btw.. I actually haven't encountered enough rain to soak my clothes yet. Kinduva suprize.

Edited by kapay on Jan 12, 2006 at 11:09 PM

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I think some people do put it in washing machines but turn it inside out to prevent as many abrassions as they can. I'm still going to use vegetable soap first though and if they turn out poorly I'll probably just use the washing machine.

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I actually liked getting some rain on my 4 1/2 month APC's. It stiffened them up quite a bit and i didn't notice any indigo loss. When they are brand new I can imagine the rain causing the pants to bleed quite a bit but a few motnhs down the road I think it is actually beneficial to the jeans.

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yeah, if you end up getting a decent amount of rain on your dry denim that hasn't been washed yet you'll notice that when it dries it's going to be much stiffer than before.

you might also notice some wavey soft wrinkles too, but nothing that won't go away after a couple of non-rainy day wears.

-k

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yeah, if you end up getting a decent amount of rain on your dry denim that hasn't been washed yet you'll notice that when it dries it's going to be much stiffer than before.

you might also notice some wavey soft wrinkles too, but nothing that won't go away after a couple of non-rainy day wears.

-k

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