This Is What 4 Years in Raw Denim Have Taught Me

Wash Your Jeans!

You don’t have to do it often but please wash your jeans. It is better for you, better for your girlfriend, and better for the denim. Simple as that.

The Bathtub Ritual

You know this one: wear your jeans in the bath then walk about in them till they are dry. Don’t do it. You certainly need to hot soak your unsanforized jeans to get the shrink out, but there is no need for you to be in them when you do it.

And, you should definitely not walk around with soaking wet jeans till they are dry.

You are just going to get uncomfortable and probably end up with the jeans settling in a weird way plus you wreck the denim!

Variety Is the Spice of Life

At the start, I heard time and time again that you should wear one pair of raw denim jeans 24/7. But how dull is that!?

Start a rotation. Get yourself two or three different pairs that are interesting to you. Different fits, different denims. One sanforized, the other unsanforized, one cheap one expensive. Whatever you like. And wear them when you like.

As the jeans break in, you will notice the subtle differences that denimheads love. A pair of straight cut jeans will produce vastly different wear patterns to a pair of skinny jeans. See how unsanforized and sanforized denim breaks in.

The most fascinating thing was when I started wearing both American and Japanese jeans. I learned more about both fabrics and the construction of jeans than all the forums and denim related literature I had read to that point.

Don’t Mollycoddle Your Denim

Finally, don’t get too precious with your denim. It is a hardwearing fabric, meant for hard toil.

If you spill something on it or spend the night in a grotty club, it can, and should, be washed. If you tear it, it can be repaired.

Just wear it and wear it hard.