Raw Denim

[zyphon]

Hey, im kind of a nub when it comes to raw denim, but I DID USE THE SEARCH BUTTON before I asked ROFL.

I know people dont wash raw denim for months after buying it because of the look, but does all of their hard work go to waste when they finally do wash it after, say a year? Or does it stay permenantly? If they washed it once, is their "wearing period" over?

Also, if you bought a pair of really dark denim, but prewashed, and wore them for a year without washing, would you get a similar effect? If so, would it be as distressed as if you did wash them?

[obsessis]

what's a nub? you mean n00b?

[zyphon]

haha, a real answer would be appreciated, but, yes nub is another way of writing n00b. Its what you say if you play CZ... (I seriously doubt many people aside from myself on a denim forum play CZ, lol).

[obsessis]

when you wear the jean without washing them you slowly rub indigo off of places where there are folds in the denim, creases or places that are stressed. when you finally wash them it moves indigo off of the whole jean, making the places where indigo was previously washed off lighter than the other areas.

when you wash the jean it accentuates the wear that you put on. if you wash them without any wear the jeans will just look lighter, no accentuation. it is best to wash your jeans after you've worn them in so you get lots of contrast.

[Denim R]

check out the search function. type in anything you want and it'll find threads with that topic mentioned.

also imperial jeans provides a good resource on their website. http://www.imperial.st

there is also a sticky on raw denim i believe.

[zyphon]

I read the sticky and tons of other threads... Didn't find what I was looking for. Thanks obsessis!

[Geowu]

what do you mean by -the look of raw denim- ? is it the lustre, the shine, etc.? if it is, then yes, it disappears once you wash it. however, people usually appreciate more the eventual fading than the lustre.

[zyphon]

ya, I was talking about the fading / honeycombing, etc.

[Paul T]

As others have said, this is mostly about contrast. Wear them for a year, say, without washing, you'll see some wear in maybe a light blue, then on that first wash all the wear will zing out in white, while most of the remaining denim will still be pretty dark.

Personally, I found this worked when I really got into the look of dark dry denim, as opposed to all the prewashed light stuff that was out there. I would dry clean my jeans withouth being particualrly bothered if they ever faded. But after some time they would lose indigo even in dry cleaning, so I reverted to washing them, and they instantly looked like cool old jeans. There's a picture of an example around here somewhere.

There are some advantyages to washing shrink-to-fit jeans once before you wear them, because all the fade will stay in the same place. But I've often not done this, because I liked the sheen of newish Lee jeans, and that works fine too.

Oh, and regarding your last point, if you wore prewashed jeans for a year, assuming they started off dark, that would make little difference from wearing dry jeans for a year. It's the conventional washing that lifts the indigo off the jeans.

One fabrics expert once told me the reason denim wears so well is because indigo is a big molecule, and only sits on the surface of the yarns. With use, it literally gets chipped off bit by bit.

Edited by Paul T on Jan 12, 2006 at 06:27 AM

[boomslang20117]

i've recently purchase a dior homme raw demin jeans from F/W 2005/2006 Collection. i've yet to see anyone posting pictures of their dior being worn down. you reckon it's a good idea to not wash the jeans?