ONE WASH : Warm water vs Cold water

[kapay]

I just bought a pair of STF Levi's 501xx and bought them about two sizes too big with the intention of shrinking them a little before wearing them. Anyways, I've seen people talk about shrinking them with warm water and cold water so I was wondering which way people prefered.

From what I can tell, warm water will shrink them faster, more drastically and lose more indigo and shine, while cold water will take longer, shrink them less and keep more indigo. I'm leaning toward using cold water but I do intend on washing them again by the end of summer and I wouldn't want the whiskers and honeycombs to shift significantly from where they should be. Anyways, gimme your thoughts. Thanks in advance.

[horriblyjollyjinx]

They wont shrink as much when soaked in cold water as they would in warm water, no matter for how long you soak them. I would definitely do a warm soak.

SOME GIRLS ARE BIGGER THAN OTHERS

[obsessis]

keep in mind the levi STF 501xx aren't that great at keeping color. it's going to be harder to get lots of honeycombs/whiskers if they are loose also. if they are really loose and you need to shrink them you'll need to shrink them first if you don't want them to move. the levi's will shrink a lot since they aren't sanforized like some high end dry denim. the downside with the levi's is that if you shrink them to fit you'll lose lots of indigo.

[kapay]

If I lose a lot of indigo, wouldn't it be harder for whiskers and honeycombs to show up? btw... thanks for the quick responses. Also, since warm water seems to be more appropriate, how warm should it be and how long should I soak it? I've read it should be about 40 degrees and soaked between 10-30 minutes. I know regular STF's don't turn out that great, this is just my practice pair until I'm ready to cough up more money.

[obsessis]

yes, if you lose a lot of indigo it will be harder to get whiskers and honeycombs....that's why most people don't get STF's for long-term projects like you are doing.

you will need to soak longer than 30 minutes i think. check the thread above dry denim for dummies. that has some links to threads that might help you out.

the jeans were cheap so if they don't turn out super awesome it doesn't matter. personally, i wouldn't soak unless you need to, i'd wear them for as long as possible before you take any indigo off of them since a lot will come off when you do. the jeans are cheap so if whiskers/honeycombs move it won't matter much, it's a cheap practice pair like you said.

[kapay]

Yeah, I read in the dry denim thread that it was for half an hour so that's where I got it from. Thanks for the help obsessis. I think I'm going to have to shrink them at least little since the size I bought just won't fit right. Oh well, I don't mind if the whiskers and honeycombs are faint as long as they're not non-existant.

[obsessis]

they might not turn out that good if you loose too much indigo.

also, you will need to buy some spray starch from the store to re-starch the jeans to help the whiskers develop. do a search for starch or starching to read about it.

[kapay]

Thanks for the tip... I'll probably buy some tomorrow. I'm actually sick right now or else I probably would have washed and starched it today since I'm planning on wearing them on New Years.

http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=7016

http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=6489

http://superfuture.com/city/supertalk/index.cfm?page=topic&topicID=6563

Those are the starch threads I found for those who want to know.