It’s soapbox time, pun intended. My first pair of raw denim were a pair of the Average Joe by Nudie Jeans. I bought these jeans several years ago, and the advice the sales guy gave me was the same advice you hear today. It went something like, “Don’t wash your jeans, but if you have to wash them, wait for at least six months of daily wear before washing them.”
I wore those jeans daily, rode my bike every day and walked vast distances in them, and eventually washed them. When I did, I expected some magical transformation, but it didn’t happen. Now, that was my first pair, and I beat the hell out of them, but they never faded the way I thought they would. After that, I had a pair of Purist Golds from Agave Jeans, a couple pairs of Sugar Canes, a pair of Strike Golds, and am now wearing a pair of Ankaras from Tellason.
Every pair of jeans I’ve had after that first one aged beautifully, and there’s a reason why. I treated each of them differently based on the fabric, the fit and what I was doing in them. My Agaves (left) saw water for the first time after a year and a half, but my Strike Golds (right) were washed by soaked three times and hand-washed twice in less than seven months (and I probably should have washed them even more than I did). I wore my Tellasons (featured on Rawr Denim) for about 8 months before washing them in the sink, and I’ll probably wash them again when they’re a year old.Over the years, the one thing I’ve learned about raw denim is that every pair is different because every fabric and every fit is different. Even if they were the same, us wearers are all different.
In the end, I’m really encouraging you to think for yourself. Don’t follow some arbitrary rule just because the sales guy tells you to. You know your body, and you know whether you’re working in a mechanic shop or if you’re sitting in your car and a cubicle all day, so you need to be the one to determine the right washing strategies. Ask yourself a few questions:
- How likely is the fabric to develop holes if you don’t wash it?
- How active are you?
- How heavy is the fabric?
- What proportion of the dye is indigo?
- How much starch or wax is in the fabric?
- What’s the weather like where you live?
- Is the fabric sanforized or shrink-to-fit?
Yes, you may end up determining that your jeans should never be washed, but at least you’ll come to the conclusion after thinking about why first. Don’t be afraid to break the mold. Now, I climb off my soapbox.